Another day working on wheels (and so on).
A customer brought in a rear wheel built with an
AX Lightness ultra-lightweight carbon rim.
This was a wheel we built at the shop in the past.
The rim's weight is tied for 1st place in bicycle history
at around 195g, matching the EDGE/ENVE 25.
↑The rim has departed us due to buckling.
The opposite side of the same location.
It broke at Tour de Okinawa.
To be precise, the race that was supposed to happen
got canceled due to heavy rain, so
they figured they might as well go grab some food
and were just riding along when they hit a pothole
and the rim got smashed. It wasn't a crash during a race.
The original rim had
a sticker of the newer AX Lightness logo,
and the older logo was embossed into the rim itself.
But the replacement rim the customer provided
had neither logo—it was plain.
However, from the serial number label
embedded on the outer edge,
this is definitely an AX Lightness rim.
The notation "196g" is written by the manufacturer's hand.
Rim relocation in progress...
The rim was badly bent, but
once I released the spoke tension,
it straightened out somewhat.
Rebuilt it.
Leef hub, 24H, black semi-comp with four-cross lacing pattern and spoke jointing.
The spoke jointing wasn't done today—
it was already there before the rim relocation.
It's likely unrelated to the buckling incident, but
one of the comp spokes on the freewheel side was bent,
so I replaced it.
A customer brought in a rear wheel built with an
AX Lightness ultra-lightweight carbon rim.
This was a wheel we built at the shop in the past.
The rim's weight is tied for 1st place in bicycle history
at around 195g, matching the EDGE/ENVE 25.
↑The rim has departed us due to buckling.
The opposite side of the same location.
It broke at Tour de Okinawa.
To be precise, the race that was supposed to happen
got canceled due to heavy rain, so
they figured they might as well go grab some food
and were just riding along when they hit a pothole
and the rim got smashed. It wasn't a crash during a race.
The original rim had
a sticker of the newer AX Lightness logo,
and the older logo was embossed into the rim itself.
But the replacement rim the customer provided
had neither logo—it was plain.
However, from the serial number label
embedded on the outer edge,
this is definitely an AX Lightness rim.
The notation "196g" is written by the manufacturer's hand.
Rim relocation in progress...
The rim was badly bent, but
once I released the spoke tension,
it straightened out somewhat.
Rebuilt it.
Leef hub, 24H, black semi-comp with four-cross lacing pattern and spoke jointing.
The spoke jointing wasn't done today—
it was already there before the rim relocation.
It's likely unrelated to the buckling incident, but
one of the comp spokes on the freewheel side was bent,
so I replaced it.