Another day in the wheel (etc.) department.
A customer brought me two front wheels
from an SES (Smart Envi System) 2.2
for rebuild work.
The one in the foreground of the image:
Tubular rim spec
Chris King R45 hub
White-text sticker
Not a factory-built wheel
The one in the background:
WO rim spec
ENVE original hub
Black-text sticker
Factory-built wheel
These have different specs.
The customer says the wheels might be
from the same era, but
The WO rim is tubeless-ready,
so the WO rim might actually be from a later year.
DT tape is applied rather than ENVE tape,
but since the customer isn't the original owner of either wheel,
the history is unclear.
The WO rim is factory-made ENVE,
but the spoke length was on the long side.
If you apply soft rim tape (like Stans) in a single layer,
and the tape compresses, the spokes could poke through the back—that's how long they are.
This wouldn't happen with the higher-profile WO rim,
and with the tubular rim spec, even at the same rim height,
the hole in the inner rim is much farther from the spoke,
so this is a problem that only occurs with
the WO rim spec of the SES 2.2.
With ENVE factory-built wheels, spoke length
does protrude from the nipple somewhat, but it's not as if
the manufacturer has consistent philosophy about it—
the minimum is flush with the nipple end face,
and in some cases the longest sticks out about 5 threads past the nipple end.
This one looks to be about 3 threads.
ENVE lists using original nipples as one of their warranty conditions,
but the thread-seating depth of those original nipples
is considerably shorter than a standard nipple
(what I call the "periodontal pocket"),
and the thread length is also short, so
the amount of spoke length variation ENVE nipples tolerate
is quite narrow.
If the spoke threads stuck out 5 threads from the nipple,
it would be hard-bottomed, basically using up all the threads.
ENVE probably doesn't think too seriously about spoke length.
Of the disassembled parts,
the ENVE hub and tubular rim
won't be rebuilt this time.
The reason I can infer that the WO rim wheel with the ENVE hub
is factory-built is:
The CX-RAY spokes used have
a special custom-made square crimp mark
immediately after the thread end.
I can't be sure if the spoke in the upper image
is the same as the one in the previous image
(I didn't deliberately sort them,
and with 20 spokes the probability is about 5%),
but the dirty spots mark where
the rim hole and nipple seating depth meet.
Looking at that, you can see it's less than
1 thread away from hard-bottoming.
The spoke crimp mark isn't definitive proof
of factory assembly, but there is
proof that isn't mere inference:
On the outer rim edge, on the rim-tape surface,
an ENVE builder's name was
embedded in the rim.
Of course, there's still a non-zero chance that
this wheel I'm about to build will end up like
"rebuilt with a rim that has an ENVE builder's signature,
but assembled last by someone else"—
but that's the nature of the work.
Built it.
Chris King hub paired with WO rim.
As for spoke length,
the rim inner diameter measured 1.6mm larger
in radius on the tubular rim compared to my measurements.
I'd prefer to reuse the spokes,
but depending on the situation, the cuttable
CX-RAY that was on the old Chris King hub—
if I put them on the WO rim with its larger inner diameter,
the length should fall short.
However, the spokes on the old Chris King hub
with tubular rim were even longer
than the factory-built set this time,
so cutting 1mm would give exactly the right length.
Before cutting, it was an even-millimeter length
with no cut history, so maybe it was built by
a shop or individual without a spoke cutter.
A customer brought me two front wheels
from an SES (Smart Envi System) 2.2
for rebuild work.
The one in the foreground of the image:
Tubular rim spec
Chris King R45 hub
White-text sticker
Not a factory-built wheel
The one in the background:
WO rim spec
ENVE original hub
Black-text sticker
Factory-built wheel
These have different specs.
The customer says the wheels might be
from the same era, but
The WO rim is tubeless-ready,
so the WO rim might actually be from a later year.
DT tape is applied rather than ENVE tape,
but since the customer isn't the original owner of either wheel,
the history is unclear.
The WO rim is factory-made ENVE,
but the spoke length was on the long side.
If you apply soft rim tape (like Stans) in a single layer,
and the tape compresses, the spokes could poke through the back—that's how long they are.
This wouldn't happen with the higher-profile WO rim,
and with the tubular rim spec, even at the same rim height,
the hole in the inner rim is much farther from the spoke,
so this is a problem that only occurs with
the WO rim spec of the SES 2.2.
With ENVE factory-built wheels, spoke length
does protrude from the nipple somewhat, but it's not as if
the manufacturer has consistent philosophy about it—
the minimum is flush with the nipple end face,
and in some cases the longest sticks out about 5 threads past the nipple end.
This one looks to be about 3 threads.
ENVE lists using original nipples as one of their warranty conditions,
but the thread-seating depth of those original nipples
is considerably shorter than a standard nipple
(what I call the "periodontal pocket"),
and the thread length is also short, so
the amount of spoke length variation ENVE nipples tolerate
is quite narrow.
If the spoke threads stuck out 5 threads from the nipple,
it would be hard-bottomed, basically using up all the threads.
ENVE probably doesn't think too seriously about spoke length.
Of the disassembled parts,
the ENVE hub and tubular rim
won't be rebuilt this time.
The reason I can infer that the WO rim wheel with the ENVE hub
is factory-built is:
The CX-RAY spokes used have
a special custom-made square crimp mark
immediately after the thread end.
I can't be sure if the spoke in the upper image
is the same as the one in the previous image
(I didn't deliberately sort them,
and with 20 spokes the probability is about 5%),
but the dirty spots mark where
the rim hole and nipple seating depth meet.
Looking at that, you can see it's less than
1 thread away from hard-bottoming.
The spoke crimp mark isn't definitive proof
of factory assembly, but there is
proof that isn't mere inference:
On the outer rim edge, on the rim-tape surface,
an ENVE builder's name was
embedded in the rim.
Of course, there's still a non-zero chance that
this wheel I'm about to build will end up like
"rebuilt with a rim that has an ENVE builder's signature,
but assembled last by someone else"—
but that's the nature of the work.
Built it.
Chris King hub paired with WO rim.
As for spoke length,
the rim inner diameter measured 1.6mm larger
in radius on the tubular rim compared to my measurements.
I'd prefer to reuse the spokes,
but depending on the situation, the cuttable
CX-RAY that was on the old Chris King hub—
if I put them on the WO rim with its larger inner diameter,
the length should fall short.
However, the spokes on the old Chris King hub
with tubular rim were even longer
than the factory-built set this time,
so cutting 1mm would give exactly the right length.
Before cutting, it was an even-millimeter length
with no cut history, so maybe it was built by
a shop or individual without a spoke cutter.