Another wheel day (and so on...).
Continuing from the other day.
I'm rebuilding the front wheel with an EDGE 45 rim that a customer (technically speaking) left with me.
Evo hub, 18H, CX-RAY outpoke radial lacing.
The reason this rim is called just "45" and not "1-45" is because it's from before the naming convention changed to distinguish it from the later "2-45" model. The 25 rim never got a heavier, more durable version, but both the 45 and 65 rims had 2-45 and 2-65 variants released later—slightly heavier but sturdier. According to the manufacturer's explanation, they wanted riders to choose based on intended use rather than body weight, and they recommended the 2 version for cyclocross. But from what I've seen, even after 2-45 came out, 1-45 continued to be used in cyclocross builds. Part of that was probably just that the 2-series wasn't as well-known.
The serial number is in the 95,000 range—five digits.
The rear wheel had a Hyperion hub, but for the front wheel—goodness knows where they dug this up from—I'm rebuilding it with an 18H Bora hub. This one also had steel ball bearings originally, which were later swapped out for a ceramic ball retainer. I considered the possibility that it might have the HB-HY023, which had an extremely short parts availability window as a spare, but the bearings in both these hubs are almost certainly the HB-HY123, the successor version. So this isn't in "first-generation Hyperion state" but rather in "early USB state."
After I built the rear wheel, the customer (technically speaking) contacted me asking if it might've been better to go with a CULT setup, but
I'm rebuilding the front wheel in black one-piece, just like the rear. If I'd determined it was in first-generation Hyperion state, I would've gone with either the current silver one-piece for steel balls/USB or the CULT one-piece.
Going back in the timeline a bit: the internal nipples on the rear wheel from the other day were second-generation, but on today's front wheel they're first-generation.
There's nylon embed on the outer circumference to prevent loosening, so at least the orientation wasn't wrong.
On the inner side, though,
unlike the second-generation, there's no relief dimension—the threads basically start right away. Since EDGE rims have thin rim-hole walls on the inner side too, the first-generation nipple puts pretty tight constraints on spoke length. You can end up with a length where the spoke threads are visibly sticking out past the rim and it's still proper.
↑Inner side of the second-generation nipple from the article the other day
Built!
Built it as a true rim, same as the rear wheel. With 18 spokes I was torn between CX Sprint and CX-RAY, but I went with black CX-RAY.
The mark on the spoke indicating "this is the right side" is there because
once you install the dust caps, this wheel has no distinguishing left-right attributes. I mean, technically the rim's serial number and model name are oriented to read correctly from the right side, but in this case those two markings just happened to align—
on the rear wheel, those two markings are reversed relative to each other and just kind of haphazardly embedded in the rim, so they're not really reliable as a left-right reference.
As for these 45 tubular rims in both front and rear wheels, based on the serial numbers and the era of the nipples that came with the rims, the rear wheel is mid-period and the front wheel is early-period among the early/mid/late (and ENVE) variants. The typical measured weights are roughly: early-period 278g, mid-period 294g, late-period and ENVE 315g.
But the actual measured weights had the rear wheel turning out to be late-period and the front wheel matching the mid-period weight. As for the specific actual weights—well, I have no intention of telling you.
↑man, what a jerk
Apologies for the wait! Please take a look at this image!
It's the rear rim!
It's the front rim!
↑Stooooop it!
Continuing from the other day.
I'm rebuilding the front wheel with an EDGE 45 rim that a customer (technically speaking) left with me.
Evo hub, 18H, CX-RAY outpoke radial lacing.
The reason this rim is called just "45" and not "1-45" is because it's from before the naming convention changed to distinguish it from the later "2-45" model. The 25 rim never got a heavier, more durable version, but both the 45 and 65 rims had 2-45 and 2-65 variants released later—slightly heavier but sturdier. According to the manufacturer's explanation, they wanted riders to choose based on intended use rather than body weight, and they recommended the 2 version for cyclocross. But from what I've seen, even after 2-45 came out, 1-45 continued to be used in cyclocross builds. Part of that was probably just that the 2-series wasn't as well-known.
The serial number is in the 95,000 range—five digits.
The rear wheel had a Hyperion hub, but for the front wheel—goodness knows where they dug this up from—I'm rebuilding it with an 18H Bora hub. This one also had steel ball bearings originally, which were later swapped out for a ceramic ball retainer. I considered the possibility that it might have the HB-HY023, which had an extremely short parts availability window as a spare, but the bearings in both these hubs are almost certainly the HB-HY123, the successor version. So this isn't in "first-generation Hyperion state" but rather in "early USB state."
After I built the rear wheel, the customer (technically speaking) contacted me asking if it might've been better to go with a CULT setup, but
I'm rebuilding the front wheel in black one-piece, just like the rear. If I'd determined it was in first-generation Hyperion state, I would've gone with either the current silver one-piece for steel balls/USB or the CULT one-piece.
Going back in the timeline a bit: the internal nipples on the rear wheel from the other day were second-generation, but on today's front wheel they're first-generation.
There's nylon embed on the outer circumference to prevent loosening, so at least the orientation wasn't wrong.
On the inner side, though,
unlike the second-generation, there's no relief dimension—the threads basically start right away. Since EDGE rims have thin rim-hole walls on the inner side too, the first-generation nipple puts pretty tight constraints on spoke length. You can end up with a length where the spoke threads are visibly sticking out past the rim and it's still proper.
↑Inner side of the second-generation nipple from the article the other day
Built!
Built it as a true rim, same as the rear wheel. With 18 spokes I was torn between CX Sprint and CX-RAY, but I went with black CX-RAY.
The mark on the spoke indicating "this is the right side" is there because
once you install the dust caps, this wheel has no distinguishing left-right attributes. I mean, technically the rim's serial number and model name are oriented to read correctly from the right side, but in this case those two markings just happened to align—
on the rear wheel, those two markings are reversed relative to each other and just kind of haphazardly embedded in the rim, so they're not really reliable as a left-right reference.
As for these 45 tubular rims in both front and rear wheels, based on the serial numbers and the era of the nipples that came with the rims, the rear wheel is mid-period and the front wheel is early-period among the early/mid/late (and ENVE) variants. The typical measured weights are roughly: early-period 278g, mid-period 294g, late-period and ENVE 315g.
But the actual measured weights had the rear wheel turning out to be late-period and the front wheel matching the mid-period weight. As for the specific actual weights—well, I have no intention of telling you.
↑man, what a jerk
Apologies for the wait! Please take a look at this image!
It's the rear rim!
It's the front rim!
↑Stooooop it!