Another day, another wheel (and so on).
I built a front wheel using a vintage Aero 1 rim from Araya.
The hub is a large flange fixed gear hub from a Shimano Tourney Superb Pro,
and the spokes are the current Hoshi Aero Star Bright #14 (non-NJS)
28H with a 6x6 Italian lacing pattern.
I'll do the spoke tying later. Both sides.
Compared to the hard-anodized Aero 1, the polished finish rim is clearly more delicate,
and since the Aero 1 itself doesn't tension like modern aluminum rims
(if you tension it like Nomu Lab Wheel #5, the rim holes would blow out),
I was pretty nervous while tensioning it.
I think this rim is tensioned pretty well for what it is.
Since it's the vintage Aero 1 and not the ADX-1S,
it requires a special kamaboko-shaped (dome-shaped) washer.
The current Hoshi Aero Star Bright #14 (non-NJS) spokes are sold
in sets of either 18 or 36 pieces.
At our shop, we sell them individually.
Unlike the poor-quality Star Bright from a while back, there are no issues with magnetism,
and they're not untrustworthy as wheel-building materials.
It's a strange thing to say, but I can vouch for that aspect myself.
However, while I do use them when customers request them,
the truth is I personally don't build my own wheels with them
or feel inclined to actively recommend them.
Regarding spoke specific gravity: 36 spokes of 300mm weighed 254g,
working out to 0.0235185185... per mm.
My calculator only goes this far,
and I was curious if the "185" repeats, so I checked—
and indeed it does repeat.
Anyway, the spoke specific gravity came out to 91.51%.
I've been saying these spokes are about 91% when explaining verbally,
so that's roughly correct.
If future testing continues to show 91.5% or higher,
there's a possibility I'll revise it to about 92%.
I built a front wheel using a vintage Aero 1 rim from Araya.
The hub is a large flange fixed gear hub from a Shimano Tourney Superb Pro,
and the spokes are the current Hoshi Aero Star Bright #14 (non-NJS)
28H with a 6x6 Italian lacing pattern.
I'll do the spoke tying later. Both sides.
Compared to the hard-anodized Aero 1, the polished finish rim is clearly more delicate,
and since the Aero 1 itself doesn't tension like modern aluminum rims
(if you tension it like Nomu Lab Wheel #5, the rim holes would blow out),
I was pretty nervous while tensioning it.
I think this rim is tensioned pretty well for what it is.
Since it's the vintage Aero 1 and not the ADX-1S,
it requires a special kamaboko-shaped (dome-shaped) washer.
The current Hoshi Aero Star Bright #14 (non-NJS) spokes are sold
in sets of either 18 or 36 pieces.
At our shop, we sell them individually.
Unlike the poor-quality Star Bright from a while back, there are no issues with magnetism,
and they're not untrustworthy as wheel-building materials.
It's a strange thing to say, but I can vouch for that aspect myself.
However, while I do use them when customers request them,
the truth is I personally don't build my own wheels with them
or feel inclined to actively recommend them.
Regarding spoke specific gravity: 36 spokes of 300mm weighed 254g,
working out to 0.0235185185... per mm.
My calculator only goes this far,
and I was curious if the "185" repeats, so I checked—
and indeed it does repeat.
Anyway, the spoke specific gravity came out to 91.51%.
I've been saying these spokes are about 91% when explaining verbally,
so that's roughly correct.
If future testing continues to show 91.5% or higher,
there's a possibility I'll revise it to about 92%.