Another day, another wheel (abbreviating the rest).
A customer left me a Velomax hub to work with.
It's not a special hub for straight-pull or double-threaded spokes,
but a standard hub for regular spokes with holes that don't have radial phase alignment,
so I can build a wheel using an ordinary rim with the same spoke count.
I'll be building the wheel with a TB-25 tubular rim.
Velomax was acquired by Easton.
When Easton was expanding their bicycle parts business,
buying out Velomax for their wheel division made practical sense.
For about a year after the acquisition, they operated under the dual brand "Easton-Velomax,"
but after that it became purely the Easton brand.
Easton has traditionally been strong in sports equipment using various alloys,
and holds considerable market share in things like baseball bats and hockey sticks.
Parts like the inner legs of RockShox front suspension forks and
the non-seat-lug portions of Dura-Ace seatposts have also been made by Easton.
The rear wheel is finished.
All Campagnolo 1.6mm spoke lacing pattern.
The front wheel is also done.
The customer wanted two-cross radial lacing,
but with those thick flanges, I was worried there might be clearance issues if I went with two-cross...
but it worked out fine in the end.
Thick flanges in themselves are a good thing since they make spoke breakage less likely.
(Dura-Ace hubs and the like have traditionally been a bit thicker in this regard)
"Affordable aluminum rim tubular wheels" are a niche demand,
but precisely because they're niche, they don't exist as complete wheels.
In today's era where carbon rims are the norm,
I'd actually say tubular demand is somewhat higher than it was a while back,
but from a profitability standpoint, it must be difficult to justify.
A customer left me a Velomax hub to work with.
It's not a special hub for straight-pull or double-threaded spokes,
but a standard hub for regular spokes with holes that don't have radial phase alignment,
so I can build a wheel using an ordinary rim with the same spoke count.
I'll be building the wheel with a TB-25 tubular rim.
Velomax was acquired by Easton.
When Easton was expanding their bicycle parts business,
buying out Velomax for their wheel division made practical sense.
For about a year after the acquisition, they operated under the dual brand "Easton-Velomax,"
but after that it became purely the Easton brand.
Easton has traditionally been strong in sports equipment using various alloys,
and holds considerable market share in things like baseball bats and hockey sticks.
Parts like the inner legs of RockShox front suspension forks and
the non-seat-lug portions of Dura-Ace seatposts have also been made by Easton.
The rear wheel is finished.
All Campagnolo 1.6mm spoke lacing pattern.
The front wheel is also done.
The customer wanted two-cross radial lacing,
but with those thick flanges, I was worried there might be clearance issues if I went with two-cross...
but it worked out fine in the end.
Thick flanges in themselves are a good thing since they make spoke breakage less likely.
(Dura-Ace hubs and the like have traditionally been a bit thicker in this regard)
"Affordable aluminum rim tubular wheels" are a niche demand,
but precisely because they're niche, they don't exist as complete wheels.
In today's era where carbon rims are the norm,
I'd actually say tubular demand is somewhat higher than it was a while back,
but from a profitability standpoint, it must be difficult to justify.