Another wheel day (and so on).
A customer (technically) brought in
a front wheel from a Bontrager Aeolos RSL 51
for me to work on.
The hub shell has "Bontrager" printed across both sides,
and "RSL" wrapping around the direction of rotation
—it's a DT Swiss front hub,
but according to the customer, this hub has
some kind of flaw.
I can't say what it is, but
when I checked it myself, it was something like
"maybe it's just your imagination."
I don't mean to be rude to the customer, but
it's like the difference between seeing a white blur in a photo
and deciding it's a ghost.
↑This Bontrager front hub turned out to be
the same as DT Swiss's 1400 die-cast front hub.
The internal bearing sizes are identical,
and the only differences are the hub shell markings and the finish—
DT uses semi-gloss black while
Bontrager uses gloss black anodizing.
Personally, I didn't see any need for this,
but the customer wanted a hub swap for
"peace of mind,"
so
I rebuilt it.
All-black aero spokes, straight-pull, two-cross lacing on both sides.
I reused the original spokes and nipples.
I didn't switch the left-side spokes to CX Sprint
or add spoke joins on the right side final crossing.
This rim is 51mm high as the name suggests,
but it was heavier than a Roval CLX 50 rim (measured 435g).
That said, this rim
definitely allowed for more satisfying spoke tension.
Also, according to the customer, the rim's aerodynamic performance
is noticeably better than the Roval CLX 50.
The Roval front wheel has
a drum-shaped hub shell and
one side (the side where spokes flare outward) is radial-laced
with fewer total spokes,
so if we believe that the aerodynamic difference is noticeable,
then the rim's width and shape must be
excellent enough to overcome that.
What? You don't care about aerodynamics—just tell me the rim's actual weight?
I'm not giving that out for free, buddy
↑Man, this guy's got a bad attitude
Soooorry for the wait!
Pleeeease check out this image!
↑Knock it off already!
A customer (technically) brought in
a front wheel from a Bontrager Aeolos RSL 51
for me to work on.
The hub shell has "Bontrager" printed across both sides,
and "RSL" wrapping around the direction of rotation
—it's a DT Swiss front hub,
but according to the customer, this hub has
some kind of flaw.
I can't say what it is, but
when I checked it myself, it was something like
"maybe it's just your imagination."
I don't mean to be rude to the customer, but
it's like the difference between seeing a white blur in a photo
and deciding it's a ghost.
↑This Bontrager front hub turned out to be
the same as DT Swiss's 1400 die-cast front hub.
The internal bearing sizes are identical,
and the only differences are the hub shell markings and the finish—
DT uses semi-gloss black while
Bontrager uses gloss black anodizing.
Personally, I didn't see any need for this,
but the customer wanted a hub swap for
"peace of mind,"
so
I rebuilt it.
All-black aero spokes, straight-pull, two-cross lacing on both sides.
I reused the original spokes and nipples.
I didn't switch the left-side spokes to CX Sprint
or add spoke joins on the right side final crossing.
This rim is 51mm high as the name suggests,
but it was heavier than a Roval CLX 50 rim (measured 435g).
That said, this rim
definitely allowed for more satisfying spoke tension.
Also, according to the customer, the rim's aerodynamic performance
is noticeably better than the Roval CLX 50.
The Roval front wheel has
a drum-shaped hub shell and
one side (the side where spokes flare outward) is radial-laced
with fewer total spokes,
so if we believe that the aerodynamic difference is noticeable,
then the rim's width and shape must be
excellent enough to overcome that.
What? You don't care about aerodynamics—just tell me the rim's actual weight?
I'm not giving that out for free, buddy
↑Man, this guy's got a bad attitude
Soooorry for the wait!
Pleeeease check out this image!
↑Knock it off already!