Another day with wheels (you know the drill).
A customer brought in the front wheel of a chikuwa wheel—built with a carbon hookless rim with no holes on the outer edge except for the valve hole and carbon spokes.
One spoke had already been removed from the flange and was held in place with tape.
The carbon around the spoke head was cracked, and the steel section—driven in like a nail—was exposed.
The customer wanted it repaired, but since our shop couldn't source these spokes, I told them that if they could provide replacement carbon spokes, the work itself was doable. I'm not sure what happened with their contact to the manufacturer, but they ended up asking if I could rebuild it with steel spokes instead. The rim holes are standard nipple-compatible, but they said if the hub flange holes turned out to be specific to those carbon spokes, I could replace the hub too.
When I examined the actual wheel, it turned out to be a standard straight-spoke hub, so I could rebuild it with just spoke replacement.
A rim with no holes on the outer edge. Theoretically, I could make the work easier by swapping out spokes one at a time without dropping the nipples inside the rim, but
these definitely weren't DT nipples, and the anodize was flaking off—they looked sketchy. So I swapped all the nipples for DT black aluminum ones too.
All built up.
Unmarked hub, 24H, black half CX Sprint. Forced left-right 2-cross with spoke tie-in.
I had the perfect moment to weigh just the rim after I'd pulled all the original nipples out, but I forgot. Oops.
Before
After (before lacing)
But I did weigh the entire wheel. Carbon spokes really are light, aren't they? Still, I'm confident the rebuilt wheel will ride better.
The rim and hub stayed the same, and the nipples have almost no weight difference, so that 74g difference comes almost entirely from the spokes alone. Calculating the specific gravity of the original carbon spokes, it came out to about 29%.
↑ The splintering carbon spoke
This is what happened when I pressed it against a board, but I noticed the steel part was rotating against the carbon part, and when I twisted it with a little pulling tension
the nail-like spoke head section popped right out.
↑ It had a tapered conical form, like two sharp cones stacked on top of each other.
A customer brought in the front wheel of a chikuwa wheel—built with a carbon hookless rim with no holes on the outer edge except for the valve hole and carbon spokes.
One spoke had already been removed from the flange and was held in place with tape.
The carbon around the spoke head was cracked, and the steel section—driven in like a nail—was exposed.
The customer wanted it repaired, but since our shop couldn't source these spokes, I told them that if they could provide replacement carbon spokes, the work itself was doable. I'm not sure what happened with their contact to the manufacturer, but they ended up asking if I could rebuild it with steel spokes instead. The rim holes are standard nipple-compatible, but they said if the hub flange holes turned out to be specific to those carbon spokes, I could replace the hub too.
When I examined the actual wheel, it turned out to be a standard straight-spoke hub, so I could rebuild it with just spoke replacement.
A rim with no holes on the outer edge. Theoretically, I could make the work easier by swapping out spokes one at a time without dropping the nipples inside the rim, but
these definitely weren't DT nipples, and the anodize was flaking off—they looked sketchy. So I swapped all the nipples for DT black aluminum ones too.
All built up.
Unmarked hub, 24H, black half CX Sprint. Forced left-right 2-cross with spoke tie-in.
I had the perfect moment to weigh just the rim after I'd pulled all the original nipples out, but I forgot. Oops.
Before
After (before lacing)
But I did weigh the entire wheel. Carbon spokes really are light, aren't they? Still, I'm confident the rebuilt wheel will ride better.
The rim and hub stayed the same, and the nipples have almost no weight difference, so that 74g difference comes almost entirely from the spokes alone. Calculating the specific gravity of the original carbon spokes, it came out to about 29%.
↑ The splintering carbon spoke
This is what happened when I pressed it against a board, but I noticed the steel part was rotating against the carbon part, and when I twisted it with a little pulling tension
the nail-like spoke head section popped right out.
↑ It had a tapered conical form, like two sharp cones stacked on top of each other.