Another day of wheel building (and so on).
I built a front wheel using the front rim of the SES3.4.
Building a front wheel "with a front rim" seems like it should be obvious,
but Smart Envi Systems (a wheelset manufacturer) designates
the front rim for front/rear use as 20H only, and the rear rim as 24H.
The formal model names of the SES3.4 rims I have on hand are
38AC and 42AC, but the 42AC, which is designated for rear rims,
is not an offset rim and has no left/right orientation specifications,
so some people might build both front and rear wheels as 24H using 42AC.
In that case, the expression "I built a front wheel with the SES3.4 rear rim" would also be possible.
The reason ENVE rims can be tensioned to extremely high tension
is partly due to the internal nipple design,
but the bigger reason is the manufacturing method:
rather than creating a rim without holes and then drilling holes afterward,
the rim holes are molded into the mold beforehand,
so the rim holes already exist when the rim is completed.
In other words, even with the same rim model, if the spoke hole count differs,
a separate mold is required,
which means that SES and later rims
only come in one spoke hole count per model—
a cost-focused specification.
Older rims like the "45" had 28H options
and were useful for cyclocross wheels and such,
but perhaps they didn't sell well enough to recover the tooling costs
through 20H and 24H sales alone.
White with black T11 hub, 20H, CX-RAY spokes, reverse radial lacing
Silver spokes on both sides of the valve hole and two more going clockwise,
with all the rest in black.
It's a rim brake rim with file texture in the brake zone,
a hooked carbon rim rather than hookless,
and tubeless ready compatible.
... There's a lot to explain here.
Just a little while ago, when road rims only came with rim brakes,
had no hookless options, and tubeless ready rims barely existed,
this would have been information I wouldn't have needed to spell out.
The stickers around the valve are marked "Handmade in the USA" on both sides,
different from the versions without serial numbers on one side.
The white sticker just to the side of this
has the serial number and barcode,
and the same serial number marking also appears
on the label embedded in the outer edge of the rim.
I built a front wheel using the front rim of the SES3.4.
Building a front wheel "with a front rim" seems like it should be obvious,
but Smart Envi Systems (a wheelset manufacturer) designates
the front rim for front/rear use as 20H only, and the rear rim as 24H.
The formal model names of the SES3.4 rims I have on hand are
38AC and 42AC, but the 42AC, which is designated for rear rims,
is not an offset rim and has no left/right orientation specifications,
so some people might build both front and rear wheels as 24H using 42AC.
In that case, the expression "I built a front wheel with the SES3.4 rear rim" would also be possible.
The reason ENVE rims can be tensioned to extremely high tension
is partly due to the internal nipple design,
but the bigger reason is the manufacturing method:
rather than creating a rim without holes and then drilling holes afterward,
the rim holes are molded into the mold beforehand,
so the rim holes already exist when the rim is completed.
In other words, even with the same rim model, if the spoke hole count differs,
a separate mold is required,
which means that SES and later rims
only come in one spoke hole count per model—
a cost-focused specification.
Older rims like the "45" had 28H options
and were useful for cyclocross wheels and such,
but perhaps they didn't sell well enough to recover the tooling costs
through 20H and 24H sales alone.
White with black T11 hub, 20H, CX-RAY spokes, reverse radial lacing
Silver spokes on both sides of the valve hole and two more going clockwise,
with all the rest in black.
It's a rim brake rim with file texture in the brake zone,
a hooked carbon rim rather than hookless,
and tubeless ready compatible.
... There's a lot to explain here.
Just a little while ago, when road rims only came with rim brakes,
had no hookless options, and tubeless ready rims barely existed,
this would have been information I wouldn't have needed to spell out.
The stickers around the valve are marked "Handmade in the USA" on both sides,
different from the versions without serial numbers on one side.
The white sticker just to the side of this
has the serial number and barcode,
and the same serial number marking also appears
on the label embedded in the outer edge of the rim.