Another day with wheels (and so on).
A customer brought in the front wheel of a Rovaal
Alpinist CL for me to work on.
It's slack, so they're requesting a rebuild.
But from my perspective—or rather,
from Nomu Lab's wheel philosophy—
this wheel has better structure than the Alpinist CLX of the same generation,
which uses a ridiculous 2:1 spoke pattern (※),
and since it doesn't differentiate through rim weight,
even used off-the-shelf, the CL is superior.
※The 2:1 pattern itself isn't all bad—
it's specifically Rovaal's 2:1 pattern that's ridiculous
Even looking at it as material for rebuilding,
the rim has symmetrical spoke holes on both sides,
so if someone offered me either the Alpinist CLX or CL,
I'd choose the CL.
It might just be this particular wheel, but it's slack even on the high-tension side.
When I squeeze it, I can see that the contact point of the final cross is worn down.
Most brass valves naturally have negative tolerances for a 6mm valve hole,
but TPU tubes that aim for further weight reduction by using plastic valve sections
often end up with positive tolerances instead,
and where the valve core threads in,
some actually measure around 6.3mm.
This tube's valve section was also plastic,
and before even getting to the valve core,
the valve section wouldn't come off by hand.
How are you supposed to deal with this out on the road?
So I'm going to teach you
a simple, reliable method that won't cause damage, even out on the road.
Though I suppose this is really trade secret material...
Install a Schrader valve on the valve core
and tap it lightly with a plastic hammer—it comes off easily.
If you want to reliably remove a TPU tube while out riding,
carry a hammer with you.
By the way, if you pull too hard,
this is an image from a separate Cosmic wheel,
but this can happen.
This is first-generation Alpinist class, so it doesn't support tubeless.
If you're not using tubeless tires,
this version is lighter on the rim
(↑it took me a while to confirm that with sources),
and if you use a TPU tube of 30g or less,
it's practically impossible to make the outer rim weight lighter with tubeless than with tubed tires.
By the way, for sealant, figure around 1g per 1ml
(→here).
Rebuilt it.
The Alpinist CL, unlike the CL50 to the CLX50,
uses aluminum nipples rather than brass,
so I reused the nipples as-is
and changed only the spokes on the disc rotor side from Aerolight
to CX Sprint.
I'll lace it later.
↑The original Aerolight spokes from the disc rotor side,
but one was bent.
Well, that's fine though...
The final cross is worn beyond just the paint,
to the point where you can feel a depression when you scrape it with your nail.
After about 10 years of use, this could cause
spoke fracture in the middle section.
Knowing this, the Alpinist CLX II stopped lacing the final cross,
but that's actually a performance downgrade (→here).
A customer brought in the front wheel of a Rovaal
Alpinist CL for me to work on.
It's slack, so they're requesting a rebuild.
But from my perspective—or rather,
from Nomu Lab's wheel philosophy—
this wheel has better structure than the Alpinist CLX of the same generation,
which uses a ridiculous 2:1 spoke pattern (※),
and since it doesn't differentiate through rim weight,
even used off-the-shelf, the CL is superior.
※The 2:1 pattern itself isn't all bad—
it's specifically Rovaal's 2:1 pattern that's ridiculous
Even looking at it as material for rebuilding,
the rim has symmetrical spoke holes on both sides,
so if someone offered me either the Alpinist CLX or CL,
I'd choose the CL.
It might just be this particular wheel, but it's slack even on the high-tension side.
When I squeeze it, I can see that the contact point of the final cross is worn down.
Most brass valves naturally have negative tolerances for a 6mm valve hole,
but TPU tubes that aim for further weight reduction by using plastic valve sections
often end up with positive tolerances instead,
and where the valve core threads in,
some actually measure around 6.3mm.
This tube's valve section was also plastic,
and before even getting to the valve core,
the valve section wouldn't come off by hand.
How are you supposed to deal with this out on the road?
So I'm going to teach you
a simple, reliable method that won't cause damage, even out on the road.
Though I suppose this is really trade secret material...
Install a Schrader valve on the valve core
and tap it lightly with a plastic hammer—it comes off easily.
If you want to reliably remove a TPU tube while out riding,
carry a hammer with you.
By the way, if you pull too hard,
this is an image from a separate Cosmic wheel,
but this can happen.
This is first-generation Alpinist class, so it doesn't support tubeless.
If you're not using tubeless tires,
this version is lighter on the rim
(↑it took me a while to confirm that with sources),
and if you use a TPU tube of 30g or less,
it's practically impossible to make the outer rim weight lighter with tubeless than with tubed tires.
By the way, for sealant, figure around 1g per 1ml
(→here).
Rebuilt it.
The Alpinist CL, unlike the CL50 to the CLX50,
uses aluminum nipples rather than brass,
so I reused the nipples as-is
and changed only the spokes on the disc rotor side from Aerolight
to CX Sprint.
I'll lace it later.
↑The original Aerolight spokes from the disc rotor side,
but one was bent.
Well, that's fine though...
The final cross is worn beyond just the paint,
to the point where you can feel a depression when you scrape it with your nail.
After about 10 years of use, this could cause
spoke fracture in the middle section.
Knowing this, the Alpinist CLX II stopped lacing the final cross,
but that's actually a performance downgrade (→here).