Another day with wheels (and so on).
A customer dropped off a Rovalé Rapide CLX front wheel.
It's loose, so they want it rebuilt.
Instead of 2:1 lacing x 7 pairs with 21H,
it has the ridiculous spoke count of 6 pairs, 18H.
Also, unlike other Rovalé wheels, it uses Ж (reverse cross) lacing instead of XI lacing.
The preliminary centering is hard to tell, but
the rim was offset toward the left side (the many-spoke side).
Though honestly, that doesn't tell us much.
As I loosened the tension to disassemble the wheel,
I found a bent spoke.
Before disassembly, I only checked the centering from one position with the gauge,
without checking for lateral runout,
so I can't tell if the position I saw the preliminary centering at
is directly below the runout or not.
With this much bend, lateral runout would definitely show up on the truing stand.
If only the lateral runout had been corrected while leaving the spoke bent,
there should be radial runout at this position.
Fortunately, the bent spoke is on the few-spoke side,
which gets replaced in the reverse unequal-diameter lacing,
so it'll be gone after the rebuild.
I disassembled it.
The bearing rotation was grinding, so the customer wanted them replaced.
I removed both bearings,
but ideally you should replace them one at a time,
since the bearing already in the hub body serves as a guide for inserting the other side straight.
Some nipples showed anodize discoloration
as if an alkaline cleaner or chemical had sat on them for a long time.
It might be where the chemical dribbled down at the end after rinsing with water,
and the most discolored nipple showed
discoloration on the hub flange side as well.
This is a Rovalé hub. Even on the CLX50 and similar models,
the front hub's tangent lacing side has offset holes in the flange.
The difference is that on CLX50s and such, the spoke coming out from the inner hole
is on the outside at the final crossing and is interwoven,
but on this Rapide CLX it wasn't interwoven.
However, since the final crossing is close to the hub,
the spokes did make slight contact.
This time I'm tying the spokes, so I interwove them.
The reason I say "this time" is because there was a previous time (here).
Not that it matters much, but
last time it was a ROVAL rim with a black logo.
In the linked post I wrote "it seems better not to interweave,"
but even when I tried interwoven crossing,
there was no left-right waviness at the spoke crossing,
so this time I'm interwoven.
Even on CLX50s and such, the rear hub flange holes
don't have left-right offset.
So the spokes aren't interwoven but make contact as if they were.
Since the outside of the final crossing is oriented toward the reverse porcupine direction,
it's designed with reverse Italian lacing in mind.
This is the near-completion state of a wheel with dish,
where "radial and lateral runout have been removed and the rim is deliberately offset toward the side with upright spoke angles."
At this point, the many-spoke side tension is higher than before the rebuild.
For some reason, before the rebuild the many-spoke side tension was extremely low,
lower than even the Nomulabo Wheel #5, and lower than the CLX50.
Whether it sagged or was loosened during some so-called truing, I don't know.
From here I'll bring the center into true by one-sided tightening on the few-spoke side,
but since that side uses different gauge spokes, even if the tension matched the original,
the spoke deformation would be less.
This time it's higher than the original,
and it's tighter than most wheels in as-hung condition.
The center came in.
I thought the center might come in with the nipples turned about 3/4 of a turn,
so I only tightened a half turn at first,
and the center was already true at that point.
Is this because the rim height is tall, the spokes are short,
and the angle difference from the dish is large?
Done building.
I changed just the few-spoke side from all Aero Lites to CX Sprints
and tied the many-spoke side.
Normally on the same wheel, the tangent-lacing side has longer spokes,
but on this wheel the tangent-lacing side is large-flange,
so the radial-lacing side spokes are longer.
The plain portion length on the threaded end is also longer than usual,
so the 6 removed spokes from the few-spoke side
could be spares for the 12-spoke side, but...
↑Replaced spokes
The 12 spokes I reused also showed traces of white precipitate
from an alkaline chemical fizzing reaction,
transferred to the spokes.
I cleaned the reused spokes.
Aside from that, the spoke third from the top in the image
is clearly deformed, but
this is the head end of the spoke sixth from the top, the bottom one, and
from the side view, there's severe deformation from tremendous lateral force.
So only 4 spokes are usable as spares.
Though I'll return all of them to the customer anyway.
The Rapide CLX has the same bead hook thickness at the rear rim as on CLX50s and similar,
but the front rim is aerodynamic-focused with a shape that extends from the tire sidewall,
so the bead hook area is extremely thick.
When mounting the tire, the tire bead has to slide over this,
so it's slightly harder to fit.
Whether this specification outweighs the weight penalty, I have no idea
(the rim height is 1mm taller than CLX50 and weighs about 25g more).
Actual measured weight? Just look at that same rim in the linked post.
You think I can just hand over another sample that easily?
↑Man, this guy's got an attitude problem.
Sorry for the wait! Please check out this image!
Here's the weight of this front rim!
I'm also pasting the image from the linked article here!
↑Stop it already!
A customer dropped off a Rovalé Rapide CLX front wheel.
It's loose, so they want it rebuilt.
Instead of 2:1 lacing x 7 pairs with 21H,
it has the ridiculous spoke count of 6 pairs, 18H.
Also, unlike other Rovalé wheels, it uses Ж (reverse cross) lacing instead of XI lacing.
The preliminary centering is hard to tell, but
the rim was offset toward the left side (the many-spoke side).
Though honestly, that doesn't tell us much.
As I loosened the tension to disassemble the wheel,
I found a bent spoke.
Before disassembly, I only checked the centering from one position with the gauge,
without checking for lateral runout,
so I can't tell if the position I saw the preliminary centering at
is directly below the runout or not.
With this much bend, lateral runout would definitely show up on the truing stand.
If only the lateral runout had been corrected while leaving the spoke bent,
there should be radial runout at this position.
Fortunately, the bent spoke is on the few-spoke side,
which gets replaced in the reverse unequal-diameter lacing,
so it'll be gone after the rebuild.
I disassembled it.
The bearing rotation was grinding, so the customer wanted them replaced.
I removed both bearings,
but ideally you should replace them one at a time,
since the bearing already in the hub body serves as a guide for inserting the other side straight.
Some nipples showed anodize discoloration
as if an alkaline cleaner or chemical had sat on them for a long time.
It might be where the chemical dribbled down at the end after rinsing with water,
and the most discolored nipple showed
discoloration on the hub flange side as well.
This is a Rovalé hub. Even on the CLX50 and similar models,
the front hub's tangent lacing side has offset holes in the flange.
The difference is that on CLX50s and such, the spoke coming out from the inner hole
is on the outside at the final crossing and is interwoven,
but on this Rapide CLX it wasn't interwoven.
However, since the final crossing is close to the hub,
the spokes did make slight contact.
This time I'm tying the spokes, so I interwove them.
The reason I say "this time" is because there was a previous time (here).
Not that it matters much, but
last time it was a ROVAL rim with a black logo.
In the linked post I wrote "it seems better not to interweave,"
but even when I tried interwoven crossing,
there was no left-right waviness at the spoke crossing,
so this time I'm interwoven.
Even on CLX50s and such, the rear hub flange holes
don't have left-right offset.
So the spokes aren't interwoven but make contact as if they were.
Since the outside of the final crossing is oriented toward the reverse porcupine direction,
it's designed with reverse Italian lacing in mind.
This is the near-completion state of a wheel with dish,
where "radial and lateral runout have been removed and the rim is deliberately offset toward the side with upright spoke angles."
At this point, the many-spoke side tension is higher than before the rebuild.
For some reason, before the rebuild the many-spoke side tension was extremely low,
lower than even the Nomulabo Wheel #5, and lower than the CLX50.
Whether it sagged or was loosened during some so-called truing, I don't know.
From here I'll bring the center into true by one-sided tightening on the few-spoke side,
but since that side uses different gauge spokes, even if the tension matched the original,
the spoke deformation would be less.
This time it's higher than the original,
and it's tighter than most wheels in as-hung condition.
The center came in.
I thought the center might come in with the nipples turned about 3/4 of a turn,
so I only tightened a half turn at first,
and the center was already true at that point.
Is this because the rim height is tall, the spokes are short,
and the angle difference from the dish is large?
Done building.
I changed just the few-spoke side from all Aero Lites to CX Sprints
and tied the many-spoke side.
Normally on the same wheel, the tangent-lacing side has longer spokes,
but on this wheel the tangent-lacing side is large-flange,
so the radial-lacing side spokes are longer.
The plain portion length on the threaded end is also longer than usual,
so the 6 removed spokes from the few-spoke side
could be spares for the 12-spoke side, but...
↑Replaced spokes
The 12 spokes I reused also showed traces of white precipitate
from an alkaline chemical fizzing reaction,
transferred to the spokes.
I cleaned the reused spokes.
Aside from that, the spoke third from the top in the image
is clearly deformed, but
this is the head end of the spoke sixth from the top, the bottom one, and
from the side view, there's severe deformation from tremendous lateral force.
So only 4 spokes are usable as spares.
Though I'll return all of them to the customer anyway.
The Rapide CLX has the same bead hook thickness at the rear rim as on CLX50s and similar,
but the front rim is aerodynamic-focused with a shape that extends from the tire sidewall,
so the bead hook area is extremely thick.
When mounting the tire, the tire bead has to slide over this,
so it's slightly harder to fit.
Whether this specification outweighs the weight penalty, I have no idea
(the rim height is 1mm taller than CLX50 and weighs about 25g more).
Actual measured weight? Just look at that same rim in the linked post.
You think I can just hand over another sample that easily?
↑Man, this guy's got an attitude problem.
Sorry for the wait! Please check out this image!
Here's the weight of this front rim!
I'm also pasting the image from the linked article here!
↑Stop it already!