Wheels again today (and so on).
A customer brought me the front and rear wheels of a Zentis Squad 4.2 Race.
Today I'm only working on the front wheel.
The number after Squad indicates rim depth (cm).
The previous generation models had 25mm deep 2.5 and 42mm deep 4.2,
with rims available as tubular or WO (non-tubeless).
But with this generation, rim depths come in four sizes: 2.5, 4.2, 5.8, and 7.5,
and rims are either tubular or tubeless-ready
(the 7.5 is tubeless-ready only).
Rim widths also got wider.
The higher-end model has an SL designation based on hub differences,
while the lower-end is the Race model, which doesn't come in 7.5.
Within this lineup, the
Squad 4.2 Race Tubeless-Ready
is the wheel we have here.
When Zentis wheels use their own brand hubs,
they have "XH" in the name, which presumably means Zentis Hub,
but many of them have structural issues.
The XH003 doesn't cause particular problems (→here)
while the rear XH003 hub had hub shaft corrosion (→here)
With this generation's SL, the front hub is XH003
and the rear hub is DT 240 straight,
while the Race uses DT 350 straight for both front and rear.
I don't think there's an extreme weight difference between these hubs,
and the spokes are the same, yet for the 4.2's claimed wheel weight,
the SL is 1176g and the Race is 1383g,
so the rim weights between SL and Race definitely differ.
By the way, the narrow-rim era original Squad 2.5's WO rim
is the lightest WO rim I'm aware of (→here).
And within the range of currently available products that are readily obtainable,
for rim-brake-compatible rims with a brake zone,
the lightest rim, beating out carbon rims,
is the Nomu Lab Wheel No.5's rim, the
Kinlin XR200 (with the OEM's Tnni name being AL22).
Oh, I wrote "within the range of readily obtainable products,"
but the black 20H is currently out of stock at wholesalers due to hoarding.
I can't explain why I'm so confident the shortage is due to hoarding.
The spokes are CX-RAY,
and if you look closely, they also have SAPIM stamped on them.
The hub is DT, but the spokes are Sapim.
I've written this many times before, but
wheel manufacturers tend to prefer
Sapim spokes over DT.
More precisely, "they prefer CX-RAY" would be more accurate.
Reynolds had a period when they adopted DT-made hubs for their wheels,
and during that period used DT spokes,
but before and after that there were periods with non-DT hubs,
following a Sapim → reluctantly DT → Sapim progression.
ZIPP has consistently used Sapim since way back.
Current Bontrager, GIANT, Roval, and such use DT hubs,
so for political reasons, or to avoid being discourteous,
they adopt DT for spokes too.
Shimano uses mac spokes,
and even current Dura-Ace R9270 wheels
develop rust spots within a couple of years,
but that's not relevant here so never mind.
Relatively small brands without the fear of offending DT
that still use DT hubs but adopt Sapim (or rather CX-RAY)
are brands like Zentis and OneAir.
As mentioned earlier, the hub is
a DT 350 straight-pull,
but this hub has a hook-style flange.
↑This is my personal wheel, a same-generation 240 straight-pull,
and this hub flange is through-style.
↑This is the original Racing 3's ribbon spokes,
and the flattened butted section won't fit through
round holes, let alone slotted holes, the dimensions are so large,
so it only works with hook-style hubs.
I've been wanting to build my personal front wheel with these someday.
Anyway, the front wheel isn't exactly loose, but if it could be made tighter,
the customer wants me to rebuild it with different spokes,
so I'm rebuilding it with CX-Sprint.
The rim's outer-side holes are quite small,
just barely large enough to fit the nipple through.
By the way, it was built with Squorx nipples.
Only the spokes are Sapim—they're doing whatever they want.
Using Squorx nipples without PHR washers
is seen on Prime wheels and such too.
Since the hub has hook-style flanges,
I loosened all the nipples fairly well
and removed the spoke heads from the hub flanges
to disassemble the original wheel.
I didn't completely remove the nipple from any spokes—
I disassembled it by pulling the nipple-equipped spokes out through the rim's outer side.
Because the rim's outer holes are so small,
if I accidentally dropped a nipple inside the rim,
retrieving it through the spoke holes would be very difficult,
but the valve hole (right side of the image) has a slightly larger diameter,
so there's no problem.
By the way, I didn't mess up during the work.
It's built.
All-black CX-Sprint straight,
and DT universal 12mm black aluminum nipples.
Squorx nipples can be turned from the outside with good grip without slipping,
but they have high friction with the rim holes
and at high tension, the reverse-torx grip section can actually break off.
The universal nipple ultimately allows higher tension
(with the caveat of Meshinotane-kodo conditioning),
so I built it with universal nipples.
↑This is the original spokes and nipples.
Squorx nipples have a short vertical width on the inner grip section
and oddly rounded corners, so during rough assembly it's fine,
but at the spoke tension of a completed wheel,
gripping from the inside and turning it easily strips.
On rims without stretch-band-type rim tape,
like tubulars or tubeless-taped rims,
unless it's a DT rim specified with PHR washer use,
it's better to avoid using Squorx nipples altogether.
A customer brought me the front and rear wheels of a Zentis Squad 4.2 Race.
Today I'm only working on the front wheel.
The number after Squad indicates rim depth (cm).
The previous generation models had 25mm deep 2.5 and 42mm deep 4.2,
with rims available as tubular or WO (non-tubeless).
But with this generation, rim depths come in four sizes: 2.5, 4.2, 5.8, and 7.5,
and rims are either tubular or tubeless-ready
(the 7.5 is tubeless-ready only).
Rim widths also got wider.
The higher-end model has an SL designation based on hub differences,
while the lower-end is the Race model, which doesn't come in 7.5.
Within this lineup, the
Squad 4.2 Race Tubeless-Ready
is the wheel we have here.
When Zentis wheels use their own brand hubs,
they have "XH" in the name, which presumably means Zentis Hub,
but many of them have structural issues.
The XH003 doesn't cause particular problems (→here)
while the rear XH003 hub had hub shaft corrosion (→here)
With this generation's SL, the front hub is XH003
and the rear hub is DT 240 straight,
while the Race uses DT 350 straight for both front and rear.
I don't think there's an extreme weight difference between these hubs,
and the spokes are the same, yet for the 4.2's claimed wheel weight,
the SL is 1176g and the Race is 1383g,
so the rim weights between SL and Race definitely differ.
By the way, the narrow-rim era original Squad 2.5's WO rim
is the lightest WO rim I'm aware of (→here).
And within the range of currently available products that are readily obtainable,
for rim-brake-compatible rims with a brake zone,
the lightest rim, beating out carbon rims,
is the Nomu Lab Wheel No.5's rim, the
Kinlin XR200 (with the OEM's Tnni name being AL22).
Oh, I wrote "within the range of readily obtainable products,"
but the black 20H is currently out of stock at wholesalers due to hoarding.
I can't explain why I'm so confident the shortage is due to hoarding.
The spokes are CX-RAY,
and if you look closely, they also have SAPIM stamped on them.
The hub is DT, but the spokes are Sapim.
I've written this many times before, but
wheel manufacturers tend to prefer
Sapim spokes over DT.
More precisely, "they prefer CX-RAY" would be more accurate.
Reynolds had a period when they adopted DT-made hubs for their wheels,
and during that period used DT spokes,
but before and after that there were periods with non-DT hubs,
following a Sapim → reluctantly DT → Sapim progression.
ZIPP has consistently used Sapim since way back.
Current Bontrager, GIANT, Roval, and such use DT hubs,
so for political reasons, or to avoid being discourteous,
they adopt DT for spokes too.
Shimano uses mac spokes,
and even current Dura-Ace R9270 wheels
develop rust spots within a couple of years,
but that's not relevant here so never mind.
Relatively small brands without the fear of offending DT
that still use DT hubs but adopt Sapim (or rather CX-RAY)
are brands like Zentis and OneAir.
As mentioned earlier, the hub is
a DT 350 straight-pull,
but this hub has a hook-style flange.
↑This is my personal wheel, a same-generation 240 straight-pull,
and this hub flange is through-style.
↑This is the original Racing 3's ribbon spokes,
and the flattened butted section won't fit through
round holes, let alone slotted holes, the dimensions are so large,
so it only works with hook-style hubs.
I've been wanting to build my personal front wheel with these someday.
Anyway, the front wheel isn't exactly loose, but if it could be made tighter,
the customer wants me to rebuild it with different spokes,
so I'm rebuilding it with CX-Sprint.
The rim's outer-side holes are quite small,
just barely large enough to fit the nipple through.
By the way, it was built with Squorx nipples.
Only the spokes are Sapim—they're doing whatever they want.
Using Squorx nipples without PHR washers
is seen on Prime wheels and such too.
Since the hub has hook-style flanges,
I loosened all the nipples fairly well
and removed the spoke heads from the hub flanges
to disassemble the original wheel.
I didn't completely remove the nipple from any spokes—
I disassembled it by pulling the nipple-equipped spokes out through the rim's outer side.
Because the rim's outer holes are so small,
if I accidentally dropped a nipple inside the rim,
retrieving it through the spoke holes would be very difficult,
but the valve hole (right side of the image) has a slightly larger diameter,
so there's no problem.
By the way, I didn't mess up during the work.
It's built.
All-black CX-Sprint straight,
and DT universal 12mm black aluminum nipples.
Squorx nipples can be turned from the outside with good grip without slipping,
but they have high friction with the rim holes
and at high tension, the reverse-torx grip section can actually break off.
The universal nipple ultimately allows higher tension
(with the caveat of Meshinotane-kodo conditioning),
so I built it with universal nipples.
↑This is the original spokes and nipples.
Squorx nipples have a short vertical width on the inner grip section
and oddly rounded corners, so during rough assembly it's fine,
but at the spoke tension of a completed wheel,
gripping from the inside and turning it easily strips.
On rims without stretch-band-type rim tape,
like tubulars or tubeless-taped rims,
unless it's a DT rim specified with PHR washer use,
it's better to avoid using Squorx nipples altogether.