Another day working on wheels (and so on).
A customer brought in a front wheel built with a Tni AL300 rim.
Evo Lite hub, 24H, black CX-RAY
Four-cross lacing pattern.
Since this wasn't built with a rim we sourced at the shop,
it's not one of our Nomunlab Wheels #1.
I thought we'd only done a tightness check on this front wheel,
but
with CX-RAY spokes from Sapim but
DT aluminum nipples, there's no way this is anyone else's work but ours,
so this front wheel must have been rebuilt in the past.
CX-RAY used to come with matching Sapim 14mm aluminum nipples,
but using them as-is is a trap.
We realized this early on with the very first Nomunlab wheels,
stopped using them, and based on the interpretation that
"switching to DT aluminum nipples is my choice,"
we covered the cost of silver aluminum nipples for about 10 years
and charged a difference for colored aluminum nipples.
The spoke length was flush with the nipple slot,
but the shop that originally built this wheel
builds really sloppy, loose wheels,
so "long enough to reach flush when tensioned" means
the original state was less than that.
Like the rear wheel, probably from hitting a pothole or gap
on a descent,
the rim is deformed,
and since it takes the hit first, it's warped worse than the rear wheel.
In the image above, you can see
the rim outline serpentining left and right.
From another angle, there's also serpentine deformation,
and rim-impact scuffing too.
↑I loosened the nipples seven turns each, so
the hub can rock side-to-side relative to the rim.
What I'm trying to show is
the rim at the top of the image is the original rim, the bottom is a new one,
but the original rim has no spoke tension on it.
So when you line up the rim perfectly at one phase,
there's this much gap at the opposite phase.
Rim swap in progress...
The rim at the top of the image is the original,
and you can see the deformation with your own eyes.
All built up.
The title is a bit confusing, but
this is the second rim for this front hub,
and the third time it's been built.
A customer brought in a front wheel built with a Tni AL300 rim.
Evo Lite hub, 24H, black CX-RAY
Four-cross lacing pattern.
Since this wasn't built with a rim we sourced at the shop,
it's not one of our Nomunlab Wheels #1.
I thought we'd only done a tightness check on this front wheel,
but
with CX-RAY spokes from Sapim but
DT aluminum nipples, there's no way this is anyone else's work but ours,
so this front wheel must have been rebuilt in the past.
CX-RAY used to come with matching Sapim 14mm aluminum nipples,
but using them as-is is a trap.
We realized this early on with the very first Nomunlab wheels,
stopped using them, and based on the interpretation that
"switching to DT aluminum nipples is my choice,"
we covered the cost of silver aluminum nipples for about 10 years
and charged a difference for colored aluminum nipples.
The spoke length was flush with the nipple slot,
but the shop that originally built this wheel
builds really sloppy, loose wheels,
so "long enough to reach flush when tensioned" means
the original state was less than that.
Like the rear wheel, probably from hitting a pothole or gap
on a descent,
the rim is deformed,
and since it takes the hit first, it's warped worse than the rear wheel.
In the image above, you can see
the rim outline serpentining left and right.
From another angle, there's also serpentine deformation,
and rim-impact scuffing too.
↑I loosened the nipples seven turns each, so
the hub can rock side-to-side relative to the rim.
What I'm trying to show is
the rim at the top of the image is the original rim, the bottom is a new one,
but the original rim has no spoke tension on it.
So when you line up the rim perfectly at one phase,
there's this much gap at the opposite phase.
Rim swap in progress...
The rim at the top of the image is the original,
and you can see the deformation with your own eyes.
All built up.
The title is a bit confusing, but
this is the second rim for this front hub,
and the third time it's been built.