Back to wheels again today (abbreviated hereinafter).
This is the rear wheel from my personal DT XC MTB complete wheelset, the X1900 model, which I previously tried (and failed) to build into a rear wheel with a left-side freebody.
This time I only need the hub.
The internals of the hub still have the ratchet teeth installed in reverse orientation, but I'll correct that later when I swap in the SRAM XDR freebody.
The DT rim tape that came pre-applied has this odd way of cutting the valve hole—it's like they left the last bit of a can opener behind. That remaining round portion causes problems: cracks can propagate from the peeling seal, or when you insert a tubeless valve the round part gets severed and falls into the rim, making noise when you shake the wheel (though you wouldn't notice while riding). This happens surprisingly often, so I wish they'd either cut it out cleanly from the start or just not put on tape at all.
The rim is shifted toward the freewheel side, but oh well.
This is a rim with eyelets, but the grip edge is oddly short and the nipple has ribs...
Sure enough, it's a Squorx nipple. With DT road rims, there are R (Road) and RR (Road Racing) designations. Originally, the difference came down to whether there were eyelets (inner-side only half-eyelet design). For example, the RR415 rim has eyelets while the R450 rim doesn't. Since Squorx nipples came out, rims using PHR washers are classified as RR models (like RR411 and R411db). That means the PHR washer can be interpreted as an "add-on eyelet," so with DT rims that have eyelets like this one, it seems you can use Squorx nipples directly. Prime's complete wheels with carbon rims (which naturally have no eyelets) also use Squorx nipples directly.
The contact points against the eyelets are split into two places, creating an unusual wear pattern.
I thought the rim would weigh around 500g, but it turned out to be surprisingly light. If it were a bit lighter, I might have changed out the spokes and rebuilt the wheel with this rim.
This is the DT RR411db rim. DT's first rim models were the RR1.1 and RR1.2, which were later renamed RR415 and RR585 respectively. After that, for road rims, the numbers have represented the stated weight. In reality they're usually underselling it a bit—they're rarely lighter than the number, though they don't usually overstate by much. I considered using this rim, but the RR411db is actually discontinued and has been replaced by the RR421db. Japanese wholesaler stock has also dried up, so
I decided to build with the Tni AL22W rim instead. This rim has a stated weight of 445g, but between rim brake and disc brake versions, the rim brake version is heavier, and between non-offset and offset rims, the offset is heavier—yet the wholesaler's stated weight is the same across all variants. This rim is the disc brake/offset specification, and I didn't specifically cherry-pick it for weight; I sourced it over a year ago. It just happens to be a relatively light individual unit.
All built.
X1900 hub for straight spokes, 28H. Built with Campagnolo/CX Sprint forced left-right 2-cross pattern and green aluminum nipples. I'll do the truing later.
The freewheel side uses 14-gauge (2.0mm) plain spokes. I would have liked to reuse the black 14-gauge from the original wheel, but
These spokes have a crimped section to prevent nipple rotation. While the original and new rims had similar height and inner diameter, when switching from Squorx nipples to standard 12mm nipples (both DT brand), the length adjustment worked out such that the thread end would catch on the crimped section—roughly 4mm shorter—so I couldn't reuse them. With butted spokes, you'd carefully disassemble and preserve them, but 14-gauge plain black straight spokes are available from both DT and Sapim, so I let off some tension and cut them.
On an unrelated note, I had a customer with an AL22W rim brake wheelset who bought Alloy Road UST tubeless tires, rode them a few times, then immediately resold them on auction while they still had value. That's separate from another customer who had Wheel #1 and Wheel #5, decided that was all they needed, and sold off their Leasing Zero. I told that customer: "If you had to choose between Wheel #5 and a Leasing Zero for free, I'd definitely pick the Leasing Zero." Wheel #8 this time doesn't have a standard spec, but if it did (non-offset rim with Tni hub, half-CX Sprint front and semi-Compete rear), compared to Lovari's CLX50—the rim weights are similar and the aerodynamics lose out, but the front wheel doesn't get blown around in crosswinds, and the deformation resistance from the structural differences between hub and rim is far superior (hand-made wheels like these are actually harder to build than Lovari's off-the-shelf), so the engagement is better, and for climbing and flat sections under 35 km/h I think Wheel #8 is actually better. But if I could only get one for free, I'd still choose the CLX50.
This is the rear wheel from my personal DT XC MTB complete wheelset, the X1900 model, which I previously tried (and failed) to build into a rear wheel with a left-side freebody.
This time I only need the hub.
The internals of the hub still have the ratchet teeth installed in reverse orientation, but I'll correct that later when I swap in the SRAM XDR freebody.
The DT rim tape that came pre-applied has this odd way of cutting the valve hole—it's like they left the last bit of a can opener behind. That remaining round portion causes problems: cracks can propagate from the peeling seal, or when you insert a tubeless valve the round part gets severed and falls into the rim, making noise when you shake the wheel (though you wouldn't notice while riding). This happens surprisingly often, so I wish they'd either cut it out cleanly from the start or just not put on tape at all.
The rim is shifted toward the freewheel side, but oh well.
This is a rim with eyelets, but the grip edge is oddly short and the nipple has ribs...
Sure enough, it's a Squorx nipple. With DT road rims, there are R (Road) and RR (Road Racing) designations. Originally, the difference came down to whether there were eyelets (inner-side only half-eyelet design). For example, the RR415 rim has eyelets while the R450 rim doesn't. Since Squorx nipples came out, rims using PHR washers are classified as RR models (like RR411 and R411db). That means the PHR washer can be interpreted as an "add-on eyelet," so with DT rims that have eyelets like this one, it seems you can use Squorx nipples directly. Prime's complete wheels with carbon rims (which naturally have no eyelets) also use Squorx nipples directly.
The contact points against the eyelets are split into two places, creating an unusual wear pattern.
I thought the rim would weigh around 500g, but it turned out to be surprisingly light. If it were a bit lighter, I might have changed out the spokes and rebuilt the wheel with this rim.
This is the DT RR411db rim. DT's first rim models were the RR1.1 and RR1.2, which were later renamed RR415 and RR585 respectively. After that, for road rims, the numbers have represented the stated weight. In reality they're usually underselling it a bit—they're rarely lighter than the number, though they don't usually overstate by much. I considered using this rim, but the RR411db is actually discontinued and has been replaced by the RR421db. Japanese wholesaler stock has also dried up, so
I decided to build with the Tni AL22W rim instead. This rim has a stated weight of 445g, but between rim brake and disc brake versions, the rim brake version is heavier, and between non-offset and offset rims, the offset is heavier—yet the wholesaler's stated weight is the same across all variants. This rim is the disc brake/offset specification, and I didn't specifically cherry-pick it for weight; I sourced it over a year ago. It just happens to be a relatively light individual unit.
All built.
X1900 hub for straight spokes, 28H. Built with Campagnolo/CX Sprint forced left-right 2-cross pattern and green aluminum nipples. I'll do the truing later.
The freewheel side uses 14-gauge (2.0mm) plain spokes. I would have liked to reuse the black 14-gauge from the original wheel, but
These spokes have a crimped section to prevent nipple rotation. While the original and new rims had similar height and inner diameter, when switching from Squorx nipples to standard 12mm nipples (both DT brand), the length adjustment worked out such that the thread end would catch on the crimped section—roughly 4mm shorter—so I couldn't reuse them. With butted spokes, you'd carefully disassemble and preserve them, but 14-gauge plain black straight spokes are available from both DT and Sapim, so I let off some tension and cut them.
On an unrelated note, I had a customer with an AL22W rim brake wheelset who bought Alloy Road UST tubeless tires, rode them a few times, then immediately resold them on auction while they still had value. That's separate from another customer who had Wheel #1 and Wheel #5, decided that was all they needed, and sold off their Leasing Zero. I told that customer: "If you had to choose between Wheel #5 and a Leasing Zero for free, I'd definitely pick the Leasing Zero." Wheel #8 this time doesn't have a standard spec, but if it did (non-offset rim with Tni hub, half-CX Sprint front and semi-Compete rear), compared to Lovari's CLX50—the rim weights are similar and the aerodynamics lose out, but the front wheel doesn't get blown around in crosswinds, and the deformation resistance from the structural differences between hub and rim is far superior (hand-made wheels like these are actually harder to build than Lovari's off-the-shelf), so the engagement is better, and for climbing and flat sections under 35 km/h I think Wheel #8 is actually better. But if I could only get one for free, I'd still choose the CLX50.