Another day working on wheels (and so on).
A customer dropped off the front wheel from their Nomulab Wheel #5 (a custom wheelbuilding service).
A while back, they'd bought a Nomulab Wheel #5 about five years ago
and called asking if they could get an additional front wheel,
but when I asked more details,
it turned out that "even if we bought another one separately, the front wheel we have now has a bent rim"
and "we don't need to keep one permanently on each of two bikes"
so I told them a repair would be cheaper,
and took the front wheel in for work.
If the rim is shot we'll replace it, if the hub is shot
we'll either replace the bearings or swap out the hub itself.
The spokes we'll reuse if they're not bent.
With this particular wheel, the 20 spokes cost more than either the rim or the hub,
so it made sense to see if just replacing the rim would do the job.
And that turned out to be the case.
Since it was about five years old, I didn't reuse the aluminum nipples.
Sure enough, the original rim had visible deformation.
Rim relocation in progress...
Bobbin-style relocation, artistic merit ★★★☆☆
↑ With spoke tension completely released like this,
it's the same as laying out two rims side by side with no tension pulling on them.
When I aligned the new rim precisely at the phase opposite the valve hole,
there was a slight gap at the valve hole phase.
The lighter color on one rim is from the blurred spokes
in the foreground of the photo.
Got it built up.
With the rim and labor it comes to a little over 8000 yen,
which is better than buying a whole new wheel.
A customer dropped off the front wheel from their Nomulab Wheel #5 (a custom wheelbuilding service).
A while back, they'd bought a Nomulab Wheel #5 about five years ago
and called asking if they could get an additional front wheel,
but when I asked more details,
it turned out that "even if we bought another one separately, the front wheel we have now has a bent rim"
and "we don't need to keep one permanently on each of two bikes"
so I told them a repair would be cheaper,
and took the front wheel in for work.
If the rim is shot we'll replace it, if the hub is shot
we'll either replace the bearings or swap out the hub itself.
The spokes we'll reuse if they're not bent.
With this particular wheel, the 20 spokes cost more than either the rim or the hub,
so it made sense to see if just replacing the rim would do the job.
And that turned out to be the case.
Since it was about five years old, I didn't reuse the aluminum nipples.
Sure enough, the original rim had visible deformation.
Rim relocation in progress...
Bobbin-style relocation, artistic merit ★★★☆☆
↑ With spoke tension completely released like this,
it's the same as laying out two rims side by side with no tension pulling on them.
When I aligned the new rim precisely at the phase opposite the valve hole,
there was a slight gap at the valve hole phase.
The lighter color on one rim is from the blurred spokes
in the foreground of the photo.
Got it built up.
With the rim and labor it comes to a little over 8000 yen,
which is better than buying a whole new wheel.