Wheels again today (and so on).
A customer dropped off a Tni Dragon 50 complete wheelset with us.
The request was pretty vague—just "make it roll better"—
but since the stock spec isn't anything special, that's totally doable.
I shot this from the left side because there's a white serial number sticker on the right side of the rim.
The hub is the original Tni-branded hub from Dragon Wheels—
it's got hook-type flanges and laced in black CX-RAY straight radial.
Paul Leu was apparently involved in the rim design,
but the manufacturing source differs from LEW rims.
When I squeezed two spokes together on one side, the deflection seemed pretty small,
so I checked the spoke tension. It turned out to be slightly lower than
the all-CX-RAY 20H Nomulabo Wheel #5 (same spoke count).
It just felt that way because the rim height is tall (meaning shorter spokes).
An even more extreme example is wheels with 20-inch or smaller-diameter rims—
sometimes the spoke deflection feels almost rigid,
but the actual tension isn't that high.
Tni's Dragon wheelset comes in two versions:
this 50mm-height tubular rim we have today,
and also a 35mm-height tubular rim.
Both rims are exclusive to this complete wheelset—
they're not sold separately.
Built.
660 hub, 20H, black CX-Sprint outpoke radial lacing.
I considered reusing the original front hub,
but the bearings were shot,
and the 660 hub has superior dimensions, so I swapped that too.
The rear wheel has the serial number sticker on the left side (non-drive side),
and the front rim (especially the brake zone) has no left-right orientation,
so I could've flipped the rim when rebuilding,
but I kept it the same as it was.
Since the front wheel is radial laced, it's just a matter of spoke material and tension,
but the real story is the rear wheel.
I've seen the Dragon 35 a few times before,
but I've never heard anyone say anything good about the rear wheel specifically.
With this Dragon 50's front and rear, if the rear were just a bit better,
there's a high probability it wouldn't have come to our shop in the first place.
A customer dropped off a Tni Dragon 50 complete wheelset with us.
The request was pretty vague—just "make it roll better"—
but since the stock spec isn't anything special, that's totally doable.
I shot this from the left side because there's a white serial number sticker on the right side of the rim.
The hub is the original Tni-branded hub from Dragon Wheels—
it's got hook-type flanges and laced in black CX-RAY straight radial.
Paul Leu was apparently involved in the rim design,
but the manufacturing source differs from LEW rims.
When I squeezed two spokes together on one side, the deflection seemed pretty small,
so I checked the spoke tension. It turned out to be slightly lower than
the all-CX-RAY 20H Nomulabo Wheel #5 (same spoke count).
It just felt that way because the rim height is tall (meaning shorter spokes).
An even more extreme example is wheels with 20-inch or smaller-diameter rims—
sometimes the spoke deflection feels almost rigid,
but the actual tension isn't that high.
Tni's Dragon wheelset comes in two versions:
this 50mm-height tubular rim we have today,
and also a 35mm-height tubular rim.
Both rims are exclusive to this complete wheelset—
they're not sold separately.
Built.
660 hub, 20H, black CX-Sprint outpoke radial lacing.
I considered reusing the original front hub,
but the bearings were shot,
and the 660 hub has superior dimensions, so I swapped that too.
The rear wheel has the serial number sticker on the left side (non-drive side),
and the front rim (especially the brake zone) has no left-right orientation,
so I could've flipped the rim when rebuilding,
but I kept it the same as it was.
Since the front wheel is radial laced, it's just a matter of spoke material and tension,
but the real story is the rear wheel.
I've seen the Dragon 35 a few times before,
but I've never heard anyone say anything good about the rear wheel specifically.
With this Dragon 50's front and rear, if the rear were just a bit better,
there's a high probability it wouldn't have come to our shop in the first place.