A customer dropped off a set of front and rear wheels that appear to be for use on a TT bike.
The front wheel is a Colima 47mm deep-section rim wheel
called the "47mm".
Tubular tires are already mounted,
and with the internally-threaded nipple design, I can't true it.
If the hub bearings are bad, replace them.
If they're not bad, the customer wanted a grease-up anyway.
I didn't really feel it was necessary
(adding grease just makes rotation heavier),
but I applied something that wouldn't impact rotation too much.
I was planning to end the front wheel work with just a bearing check,
but
the Panaracer Agilist tubular tire
didn't appear to be properly mounted.
It came off pretty easily.
There are traces of rim cement on the rim side,
but near the valve hole, no rim cement was applied at all.
I've seen people do this with rim tape too,
but it's a life hack (laugh) for making the tire easier to remove.
Certainly, around where the valve passes through,
the tire shouldn't laterally slip off the rim,
but it does move slightly front and back.
I myself sometimes prioritize ease of removal and apply cement only to the rim (not the tire) on the rear wheel,
but that's completely different from applying no cement or tape whatsoever in one section.
The label directly below the valve shows the manufacturer name (Panaracer),
and no rim cement is attached to it.
On the opposite side, the model name label (Agilist) shows
the tire wasn't properly secured on that side.
Since there's no rim cement on the entire tire bed,
only the rim side has cement applied (avoiding the valve area) in a single, thin coat.
The tire mounting history on this wheel probably numbers three times at most.
The customer is not the original owner of these wheels.
After acquiring these wheels,
the condition wasn't trustworthy, sothey sent them in before using them.
"If the tire had been mounted properly, we wouldn't need to remove it,
but if we're going to remove it anyway, we might as well true it while we're at it"—
there was enough lateral runout that I trued it.
The image above is after the work, but there was no center offset originally.
The tire shows almost no signs of use—
not only is the centerline intact,
but even the mold injection flash on the rubber remains.
The tread pattern is center slick with
cedar-grain siping on the sides, and since there are two "彡" characters,
the general rotation direction would be
→→→toward the right side of the image→→→
but
the manufacturer's specified direction is the opposite,
so I'll follow that.
After this, the rim cement applied to the rim side
is a single coat, but I applied it quite thickly.
I also applied rim cement to the tire side.
Now for the rear wheel.
It's a Lightweight disc wheel.
The freewheel body is a DT Star Ratchet version for Campagnolo,
but the customer wants it changed to Shimano 11-speed (12-speed compatible).
The customer doesn't have a freewheel body on hand,
so our shop ordered one.
The customer had also noticed
that the valve is tilted at an odd angle.
The stretching force of the tire after inserting the valve
must not have been evenly distributed left and right.
The reason for the pixelation is
because the serial number is clearly visible.
This one also came off easily.
The rim cement has turned dark brown and
hardened to a crisp,
so several years must have passed,
but since the tire is an Agilist, it can't be that old.
Like the front wheel, no rim cement
was applied near the valve hole,
but the extent of it is ridiculous.
When I use my usual center gauge,
the rim registers as abnormally offset to the left,
but
this is because the gauge contacts the lens-shaped bulge of the disc section,
and there's a left-right difference in how much it bulges.
So, using a Park Tool center gauge,
which has slightly lower accuracy as a gauge
but can contact only the outermost edge of the rim,
↑it looks like this.
Naturally, disc wheels and aero wheels
can't be trued or centered.
DT calls the freewheel body + right quick-release end set a "rotor kit",
and Shimano 10-speed (currently still healthy as the MTB 11-speed version),
Shimano 11-speed, and Campagnolo all have
different right-end widths.
When converting from a Shimano 10-speed to Shimano 11-speed rotor kit,
the hub's over-locknut dimension
expands only on the right end,
so the rim's lateral position relative to the new width
shifts left compared to before.
When Shimano components went from 7900 to 9000,
many non-Shimano 10-speed complete wheels adapted to 11-speed (→here),
but when Trek equipped wheels with DT-made Star Ratchet hubs were converted to 11-speed,
Trek Japan at the time said not to correct the rim offset that resulted from the rim shifting left
via centering work.
I understand the reasoning to some degree.
If incompetent shops that can barely build wheels across the country all attempt
centering adjustments related to 11-speed conversion,
complaints could easily pile up.
The old Bontrager complete wheels were rim-brake only (←you have to write it this way,
which tells you something about the times),
with aero lacing on both sides: 40 all-light and same-count paired spokes—
essentially 40-count-equivalent lacing, meaning straight-gauge on the non-drive side
and 3x on the drive side.
To shift the rim rightward, the easiest method is to loosen the non-drive-side spokes,
but that would lower already-low tension even further,
creating spokes loose enough to rattle when pinched by hand.
That leaves tensioning the drive side, but the drive side is cranked tight,
and the lateral movement per nipple rotation is smaller than on the non-drive side,
so correcting the same amount of center offset requires
more nipple turns on the drive side.
In other words, Bontrager rear wheels from that era
had a very inconvenient design when it came to re-centering.
This rear wheel comes with a Campagnolo freewheel body,
but since the customer is not the original owner,
they don't have a Shimano 11-speed freewheel body.
However, the wheel's original specification was likely
a Shimano freewheel body.
Before I explain the reasoning...
Recently, since many right ends are through-axle type,
instead of rotor kits,
they sell the rotor (the freewheel body section, as it's called) and right end
as separate parts.
Reason 1: The bamboo-shoot spring orientation on the freewheel body was wrong.
If it had been this freewheel body from the start,
this couldn't have happened.
The hub-body orientation was correct.
The correct orientation is "the side facing the ratchet parts is smaller diameter".
Reason 2: No dedicated Star Ratchet grease remained at all.
The image above is after re-application,
but there were zero traces of dedicated grease on the original ratchet parts.
Budget-grade ratchet parts have no lightening holes,
but mid-range and higher grades have U-section lightening.
Dedicated grease remains pink in those hollow sections,
but there was none. Even if the dedicated grease had been soiled,
its characteristic gray would still be identifiable,
but that was absent too.
The only way this condition arises is if someone
removed the grease with parts cleaner during freewheel body replacement
but failed to reapply dedicated grease.
Therefore, it's impossible that it had a Campagnolo freewheel body from the start.
After swapping to the Shimano 11-speed rotor kit,
I applied the center gauge again.
The rim still trends left,
and the offset amount even appears greater.
Since there's also runout, if I look carefully at the right phase,
the center offset might appear unchanged or even slightly less, but...
The Shimano 10-speed right quick-release end is the shortest,
so using that would move the rim relatively rightward.
Even with that end, an over-locknut dimension of at least 130mm is naturally maintained.
With the Shimano 11-speed rotor kit,
it's about 132mm, which is right at the edge of what fits a nominally-130mm frame.
Frame makers typically don't accept anything under 130mm (not even 0.1mm margin),
and many allow up to 132mm on the plus side.
Tnei's Evolite hubs change left-right spacers depending on freewheel body choice, so washer clearance changes, but over-locknut dimension stays constant—
though it's actually around 131mm.
Rear hubs exceeding 130mm are actually fairly common.
If only the right end were Shimano 10-speed,
the rim could be brought closer to wheel center,
but with a Campagnolo freewheel body,
the right end's face would be nearly flush with the sprocket lockring,
and the rear wheel wouldn't rotate.
So we have to accept the condition as it was when the customer brought it in.
Well, there are workarounds even then via modification, but
I didn't go with a Shimano 11-speed freewheel body + Shimano 10-speed right end combo
because it would be "wheel-specific shift adjustment".
But do people owning a TT frame and a lightweight disc wheel
really swap wheels back and forth?
If not, wouldn't "wheel-specific shift positions" be fine?
I thought so, but since this is needed for a duathlon this weekend,
and since a triathlon bike might use a different rear wheel besides the disc wheel,
I went with the factory-standard rotor kit state.
While I'm at it: DT Star Ratchet hubs' lowest gear engagement point—
sprocket lateral position—is outside of Shimano's spec and rather unconventional.
However, DT-built wheels and wheels from brands like Rovel, Bontrager, and GIANT that have DT manufacture their hubs work fine together,
so for certain individuals there's no issue.
Pairing with Fulcrum or Mavic is a bit of a hassle.
From 10-speed to 11-speed, and 11-speed to 12-speed,
shift adjustment becomes more sensitive.
Shimano's electronic derailleur position settings follow the formula 2n+1 phases
of adjustment in ±n steps from initial position.
For 9070-series 11-speed, this is n=12, giving 25 phases
(initial plus ±12 steps each).
If this phase count stayed the same while sprocket count increased,
each adjustment step would become coarser.
So current 12-speed components use n=18,
allowing 37 adjustment phases.
For some reason, 6770 (10-speed) is n=15 with 31 phases,
allowing finer adjustments than the later 9070 thanks to fewer sprockets,
but let's not dwell on that.
Also, R9150 (11-speed) is n=16 with 32 phases (not 33) above 9070.
Since there are two factors—sprocket count and adjustment phase count—
it's not absolute, but when swapping from a DT hub rear wheel
to most other rear wheels,
with Shimano electronic components you might need
around 3 phases of position adjustment.
I installed this rear wheel on my personal frame.
Since the relationship is loose,
I considered securing it with a quick-release,
but the over-locknut dimension's plus tolerance is large,
so it fits snugly in the frame.
In the image above, the freewheel body is on the left end,
so I've installed the rear wheel in reverse of normal orientation.
Looking around the BB area,
I can see the rim is offset toward the bottom of the image
relative to the gaps on both chainstays.
Since the center gauge showed the rim shifted left,
this result is consistent.
Next, I'll install the wheel in the opposite orientation,
but it doesn't matter whether the chainstays have identical shapes,
or whether the frame has no misalignment.
If the wheel center were true,
flipping the wheel and reinstalling it
(which is essentially what I'm doing now)
would show no visible difference anyway.
I've installed the wheel
so the wheel's left end matches the frame's left end.
The rim position has shifted
further left (up in the image) compared to before.
I lack precision in capturing the same phase
(I could have positioned it better, like getting the valve hole in roughly the same place),
but even with a more tightly sculpted chainstay shape,
there's clearance enough that the tubular tire doesn't look like it would rub.
I remounted the tire
so the valve stands straight.
There are other examples of Lightweight rear wheels with DT freewheel bodies
where we got the center nearly perfect (→here),
but naturally the details are kept confidential.
By the way, in that example,
the final state became "wheel-specific shift positions".
The front wheel is a Colima 47mm deep-section rim wheel
called the "47mm".
Tubular tires are already mounted,
and with the internally-threaded nipple design, I can't true it.
If the hub bearings are bad, replace them.
If they're not bad, the customer wanted a grease-up anyway.
I didn't really feel it was necessary
(adding grease just makes rotation heavier),
but I applied something that wouldn't impact rotation too much.
I was planning to end the front wheel work with just a bearing check,
but
the Panaracer Agilist tubular tire
didn't appear to be properly mounted.
It came off pretty easily.
There are traces of rim cement on the rim side,
but near the valve hole, no rim cement was applied at all.
I've seen people do this with rim tape too,
but it's a life hack (laugh) for making the tire easier to remove.
Certainly, around where the valve passes through,
the tire shouldn't laterally slip off the rim,
but it does move slightly front and back.
I myself sometimes prioritize ease of removal and apply cement only to the rim (not the tire) on the rear wheel,
but that's completely different from applying no cement or tape whatsoever in one section.
The label directly below the valve shows the manufacturer name (Panaracer),
and no rim cement is attached to it.
On the opposite side, the model name label (Agilist) shows
the tire wasn't properly secured on that side.
Since there's no rim cement on the entire tire bed,
only the rim side has cement applied (avoiding the valve area) in a single, thin coat.
The tire mounting history on this wheel probably numbers three times at most.
The customer is not the original owner of these wheels.
After acquiring these wheels,
"If the tire had been mounted properly, we wouldn't need to remove it,
but if we're going to remove it anyway, we might as well true it while we're at it"—
there was enough lateral runout that I trued it.
The image above is after the work, but there was no center offset originally.
The tire shows almost no signs of use—
not only is the centerline intact,
but even the mold injection flash on the rubber remains.
The tread pattern is center slick with
cedar-grain siping on the sides, and since there are two "彡" characters,
the general rotation direction would be
→→→toward the right side of the image→→→
but
the manufacturer's specified direction is the opposite,
so I'll follow that.
After this, the rim cement applied to the rim side
is a single coat, but I applied it quite thickly.
I also applied rim cement to the tire side.
Now for the rear wheel.
It's a Lightweight disc wheel.
The freewheel body is a DT Star Ratchet version for Campagnolo,
but the customer wants it changed to Shimano 11-speed (12-speed compatible).
The customer doesn't have a freewheel body on hand,
so our shop ordered one.
The customer had also noticed
that the valve is tilted at an odd angle.
The stretching force of the tire after inserting the valve
must not have been evenly distributed left and right.
The reason for the pixelation is
because the serial number is clearly visible.
This one also came off easily.
The rim cement has turned dark brown and
hardened to a crisp,
so several years must have passed,
but since the tire is an Agilist, it can't be that old.
Like the front wheel, no rim cement
was applied near the valve hole,
but the extent of it is ridiculous.
When I use my usual center gauge,
the rim registers as abnormally offset to the left,
but
this is because the gauge contacts the lens-shaped bulge of the disc section,
and there's a left-right difference in how much it bulges.
So, using a Park Tool center gauge,
which has slightly lower accuracy as a gauge
but can contact only the outermost edge of the rim,
↑it looks like this.
Naturally, disc wheels and aero wheels
can't be trued or centered.
DT calls the freewheel body + right quick-release end set a "rotor kit",
and Shimano 10-speed (currently still healthy as the MTB 11-speed version),
Shimano 11-speed, and Campagnolo all have
different right-end widths.
When converting from a Shimano 10-speed to Shimano 11-speed rotor kit,
the hub's over-locknut dimension
expands only on the right end,
so the rim's lateral position relative to the new width
shifts left compared to before.
When Shimano components went from 7900 to 9000,
many non-Shimano 10-speed complete wheels adapted to 11-speed (→here),
but when Trek equipped wheels with DT-made Star Ratchet hubs were converted to 11-speed,
Trek Japan at the time said not to correct the rim offset that resulted from the rim shifting left
via centering work.
I understand the reasoning to some degree.
If incompetent shops that can barely build wheels across the country all attempt
centering adjustments related to 11-speed conversion,
complaints could easily pile up.
The old Bontrager complete wheels were rim-brake only (←you have to write it this way,
which tells you something about the times),
with aero lacing on both sides: 40 all-light and same-count paired spokes—
essentially 40-count-equivalent lacing, meaning straight-gauge on the non-drive side
and 3x on the drive side.
To shift the rim rightward, the easiest method is to loosen the non-drive-side spokes,
but that would lower already-low tension even further,
creating spokes loose enough to rattle when pinched by hand.
That leaves tensioning the drive side, but the drive side is cranked tight,
and the lateral movement per nipple rotation is smaller than on the non-drive side,
so correcting the same amount of center offset requires
more nipple turns on the drive side.
In other words, Bontrager rear wheels from that era
had a very inconvenient design when it came to re-centering.
This rear wheel comes with a Campagnolo freewheel body,
but since the customer is not the original owner,
they don't have a Shimano 11-speed freewheel body.
However, the wheel's original specification was likely
a Shimano freewheel body.
Before I explain the reasoning...
Recently, since many right ends are through-axle type,
instead of rotor kits,
they sell the rotor (the freewheel body section, as it's called) and right end
as separate parts.
Reason 1: The bamboo-shoot spring orientation on the freewheel body was wrong.
If it had been this freewheel body from the start,
this couldn't have happened.
The hub-body orientation was correct.
The correct orientation is "the side facing the ratchet parts is smaller diameter".
Reason 2: No dedicated Star Ratchet grease remained at all.
The image above is after re-application,
but there were zero traces of dedicated grease on the original ratchet parts.
Budget-grade ratchet parts have no lightening holes,
but mid-range and higher grades have U-section lightening.
Dedicated grease remains pink in those hollow sections,
but there was none. Even if the dedicated grease had been soiled,
its characteristic gray would still be identifiable,
but that was absent too.
The only way this condition arises is if someone
removed the grease with parts cleaner during freewheel body replacement
but failed to reapply dedicated grease.
Therefore, it's impossible that it had a Campagnolo freewheel body from the start.
After swapping to the Shimano 11-speed rotor kit,
I applied the center gauge again.
The rim still trends left,
and the offset amount even appears greater.
Since there's also runout, if I look carefully at the right phase,
the center offset might appear unchanged or even slightly less, but...
The Shimano 10-speed right quick-release end is the shortest,
so using that would move the rim relatively rightward.
Even with that end, an over-locknut dimension of at least 130mm is naturally maintained.
With the Shimano 11-speed rotor kit,
it's about 132mm, which is right at the edge of what fits a nominally-130mm frame.
Frame makers typically don't accept anything under 130mm (not even 0.1mm margin),
and many allow up to 132mm on the plus side.
Tnei's Evolite hubs change left-right spacers depending on freewheel body choice, so washer clearance changes, but over-locknut dimension stays constant—
though it's actually around 131mm.
Rear hubs exceeding 130mm are actually fairly common.
If only the right end were Shimano 10-speed,
the rim could be brought closer to wheel center,
but with a Campagnolo freewheel body,
the right end's face would be nearly flush with the sprocket lockring,
and the rear wheel wouldn't rotate.
So we have to accept the condition as it was when the customer brought it in.
I didn't go with a Shimano 11-speed freewheel body + Shimano 10-speed right end combo
because it would be "wheel-specific shift adjustment".
But do people owning a TT frame and a lightweight disc wheel
really swap wheels back and forth?
If not, wouldn't "wheel-specific shift positions" be fine?
I thought so, but since this is needed for a duathlon this weekend,
and since a triathlon bike might use a different rear wheel besides the disc wheel,
I went with the factory-standard rotor kit state.
While I'm at it: DT Star Ratchet hubs' lowest gear engagement point—
sprocket lateral position—is outside of Shimano's spec and rather unconventional.
However, DT-built wheels and wheels from brands like Rovel, Bontrager, and GIANT that have DT manufacture their hubs work fine together,
so for certain individuals there's no issue.
Pairing with Fulcrum or Mavic is a bit of a hassle.
From 10-speed to 11-speed, and 11-speed to 12-speed,
shift adjustment becomes more sensitive.
Shimano's electronic derailleur position settings follow the formula 2n+1 phases
of adjustment in ±n steps from initial position.
For 9070-series 11-speed, this is n=12, giving 25 phases
(initial plus ±12 steps each).
If this phase count stayed the same while sprocket count increased,
each adjustment step would become coarser.
So current 12-speed components use n=18,
allowing 37 adjustment phases.
For some reason, 6770 (10-speed) is n=15 with 31 phases,
allowing finer adjustments than the later 9070 thanks to fewer sprockets,
but let's not dwell on that.
Also, R9150 (11-speed) is n=16 with 32 phases (not 33) above 9070.
Since there are two factors—sprocket count and adjustment phase count—
it's not absolute, but when swapping from a DT hub rear wheel
to most other rear wheels,
with Shimano electronic components you might need
around 3 phases of position adjustment.
I installed this rear wheel on my personal frame.
Since the relationship is loose,
I considered securing it with a quick-release,
but the over-locknut dimension's plus tolerance is large,
so it fits snugly in the frame.
In the image above, the freewheel body is on the left end,
so I've installed the rear wheel in reverse of normal orientation.
Looking around the BB area,
I can see the rim is offset toward the bottom of the image
relative to the gaps on both chainstays.
Since the center gauge showed the rim shifted left,
this result is consistent.
Next, I'll install the wheel in the opposite orientation,
but it doesn't matter whether the chainstays have identical shapes,
or whether the frame has no misalignment.
If the wheel center were true,
flipping the wheel and reinstalling it
(which is essentially what I'm doing now)
would show no visible difference anyway.
I've installed the wheel
so the wheel's left end matches the frame's left end.
The rim position has shifted
further left (up in the image) compared to before.
I lack precision in capturing the same phase
(I could have positioned it better, like getting the valve hole in roughly the same place),
but even with a more tightly sculpted chainstay shape,
there's clearance enough that the tubular tire doesn't look like it would rub.
I remounted the tire
so the valve stands straight.
There are other examples of Lightweight rear wheels with DT freewheel bodies
where we got the center nearly perfect (→here),
but naturally the details are kept confidential.
By the way, in that example,
the final state became "wheel-specific shift positions".
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Original Japanese post: のむラボ日記 #7196