Another wheel day (and so on).
I received a front wheel from a customer—a current generation Ultegra C36.
It had been used for cyclocross, and
whether related to that or not, the hub was grinding quite badly.
The ball races are actually pitted,
so the customer is requesting a hub change and complete rebuild.
But before that, something not directly related to this job.
About this front wheel—its original list price was
66,000 yen before tax / 72,600 yen including tax.
If you were to buy at list price with 220,000 yen in hand
and head to the shop, you could have bought exactly three of these wheels.
The original pricing held through the end of 2022,
so I sourced eight front wheels right at that deadline window, and
in early January 2023, I rebuilt four of them as rear wheels
and sold them at a special price.
I didn't source rear wheels because Optibar's 2:1 lacing
isn't a particularly good building method.
Currently, this front wheel's list price, after two price increases,
is now 96,667 yen before tax / 106,334 yen including tax.
If you head to the shop with 220,000 yen in hand
and buy at list price, you can only buy exactly two wheels.
What once meant buying three wheels with minimal change
now means buying only two with the same amount—
that's roughly a 1.5x price increase.
And from November 2024 onwards,
Shimano's overseas-produced items will see another price hike.
Road-use upper-tier component products from Dura-Ace down to 105
are mostly domestic Japanese production, so they're exempt,
but completed wheelsets alone have been Malaysian-made across all grades
since the original 7700 series,
so they'll see price increases at the overseas production revision timing.
Lower-tier component parts see roughly 3.5% price increases across the board,
but the R8170 wheelset shows 12.5–14.8% increases,
and the R9270 wheelset shows 16.3–16.7% increases.
For the WH-R8170-C36-TL front wheel,
the new list price is 108,759 yen before tax / 119,635 yen including tax.
You can't buy two wheels with 220,000 yen anymore.
By the way, that special price for the front and rear R8170-C36-TL wheelset
we rebuilt here at the shop from a front wheel
was 139,000 yen including tax. Just to be clear, that's for both wheels.
Back to this wheel.
The hub shell shows the kind of dirt buildup typical of cyclocross use, and
fine sand was starting to work its way into
the rim holes once the wheel was disassembled.
The drainage holes on either side of the rim
had been taped over by the customer.
For road bike use on basically paved roads only,
even if you ride in the rain, these holes shouldn't be sealed.
There are tubeless-ready rims with
much larger versions of these holes, and
in that case, the intention seems to be
to reduce the chance of internal explosion from rim air at tire pressure
suddenly building up via the rim tape gaps
(→ here).
ENVE makes a Pressure Relief Valve Stem Nut—
a tubeless valve that releases air from inside the rim
through the valve nut area in such situations.
Built.
Tni Duro Disc Hub, 24H, black half CX sprint.
64 reverse Italian lacing.
I'll do the truing later.
I received a front wheel from a customer—a current generation Ultegra C36.
It had been used for cyclocross, and
whether related to that or not, the hub was grinding quite badly.
The ball races are actually pitted,
so the customer is requesting a hub change and complete rebuild.
But before that, something not directly related to this job.
About this front wheel—its original list price was
66,000 yen before tax / 72,600 yen including tax.
If you were to buy at list price with 220,000 yen in hand
and head to the shop, you could have bought exactly three of these wheels.
The original pricing held through the end of 2022,
so I sourced eight front wheels right at that deadline window, and
in early January 2023, I rebuilt four of them as rear wheels
and sold them at a special price.
I didn't source rear wheels because Optibar's 2:1 lacing
isn't a particularly good building method.
Currently, this front wheel's list price, after two price increases,
is now 96,667 yen before tax / 106,334 yen including tax.
If you head to the shop with 220,000 yen in hand
and buy at list price, you can only buy exactly two wheels.
What once meant buying three wheels with minimal change
now means buying only two with the same amount—
that's roughly a 1.5x price increase.
And from November 2024 onwards,
Shimano's overseas-produced items will see another price hike.
Road-use upper-tier component products from Dura-Ace down to 105
are mostly domestic Japanese production, so they're exempt,
but completed wheelsets alone have been Malaysian-made across all grades
since the original 7700 series,
so they'll see price increases at the overseas production revision timing.
Lower-tier component parts see roughly 3.5% price increases across the board,
but the R8170 wheelset shows 12.5–14.8% increases,
and the R9270 wheelset shows 16.3–16.7% increases.
For the WH-R8170-C36-TL front wheel,
the new list price is 108,759 yen before tax / 119,635 yen including tax.
You can't buy two wheels with 220,000 yen anymore.
By the way, that special price for the front and rear R8170-C36-TL wheelset
we rebuilt here at the shop from a front wheel
was 139,000 yen including tax. Just to be clear, that's for both wheels.
Back to this wheel.
The hub shell shows the kind of dirt buildup typical of cyclocross use, and
fine sand was starting to work its way into
the rim holes once the wheel was disassembled.
The drainage holes on either side of the rim
had been taped over by the customer.
For road bike use on basically paved roads only,
even if you ride in the rain, these holes shouldn't be sealed.
There are tubeless-ready rims with
much larger versions of these holes, and
in that case, the intention seems to be
to reduce the chance of internal explosion from rim air at tire pressure
suddenly building up via the rim tape gaps
(→ here).
ENVE makes a Pressure Relief Valve Stem Nut—
a tubeless valve that releases air from inside the rim
through the valve nut area in such situations.
Built.
Tni Duro Disc Hub, 24H, black half CX sprint.
64 reverse Italian lacing.
I'll do the truing later.