Another day in wheel building (hereinafter abbreviated).
I received a Shimano WH-R501 rear wheel from a customer.
The rim label still says R500,
but the sticker on the hub reads R501, and
furthermore, where normally you'd find 14-gauge plain black spokes,
this one has aero spokes instead, so
I initially thought it was the WH-R501-A model...
but it's actually the WH-R501-30,
which has a 30mm rim depth.
The 30mm version only comes in aero spoke configuration,
so there's no "-A" suffix to distinguish it in the model name.
The black paint chipping on the spokes isn't
because it's a budget model—
even Dura-Ace grade wheels end up the same way,
so it's a general characteristic of all Shimano black spokes.
The freebody is 10-speed,
but they're running it as 11-speed
using an 11-34T sprocket, which works on 10-speed freebodies.
The rim was shifted to the right,
though I suspect most of that happened over time.
This rear wheel is laced 24-hole radial cross,
and the customer wants me to replace the spokes and rebuild it with lacing.
The cost of wheel modification ends up being more than the wheel itself,
but such is life.
↑ Freewheel side
↑ Non-freewheel side
Since I'm building this wheel with equal-length spokes on both sides
and it has a dish (offset),
the spoke end protrusion relative to the nipple end face
differs between sides.
This rim doesn't have nipples that turn from the outer edge,
but the holes on the rim exterior are also drilled off-center.
It doesn't matter much on this wheel,
but on wheels like Reynolds,
when they use internal nipple design
but drill all the outer holes perfectly centered,
the shaft of the spoke wrench constantly
rubs against the hole edge.
I thought these were black brass nipples...
but when I lit up inside the rim earlier,
they showed the bright natural brass color.
So this discoloration is just from dirt and material oxidation.
I sufficiently loosened the nipples around half the wheel circumference,
then cut all the spokes.
The image above shows four spokes I removed
without loosening any nipples, arranged in rim hole order.
That crustacean who insists on wheel information disclosure rights
didn't show interest,
so I'm providing the image instead.
Built it.
WH-R501 hub, 24-hole, Champagne/Comp laced 4-cross with silver aluminum nipples.
The silver spokes are per the customer's request.
I'll do the lacing work later.
I received a Shimano WH-R501 rear wheel from a customer.
The rim label still says R500,
but the sticker on the hub reads R501, and
furthermore, where normally you'd find 14-gauge plain black spokes,
this one has aero spokes instead, so
I initially thought it was the WH-R501-A model...
but it's actually the WH-R501-30,
which has a 30mm rim depth.
The 30mm version only comes in aero spoke configuration,
so there's no "-A" suffix to distinguish it in the model name.
The black paint chipping on the spokes isn't
because it's a budget model—
even Dura-Ace grade wheels end up the same way,
so it's a general characteristic of all Shimano black spokes.
The freebody is 10-speed,
but they're running it as 11-speed
using an 11-34T sprocket, which works on 10-speed freebodies.
The rim was shifted to the right,
though I suspect most of that happened over time.
This rear wheel is laced 24-hole radial cross,
and the customer wants me to replace the spokes and rebuild it with lacing.
The cost of wheel modification ends up being more than the wheel itself,
but such is life.
↑ Freewheel side
↑ Non-freewheel side
Since I'm building this wheel with equal-length spokes on both sides
and it has a dish (offset),
the spoke end protrusion relative to the nipple end face
differs between sides.
This rim doesn't have nipples that turn from the outer edge,
but the holes on the rim exterior are also drilled off-center.
It doesn't matter much on this wheel,
but on wheels like Reynolds,
when they use internal nipple design
but drill all the outer holes perfectly centered,
the shaft of the spoke wrench constantly
rubs against the hole edge.
I thought these were black brass nipples...
but when I lit up inside the rim earlier,
they showed the bright natural brass color.
So this discoloration is just from dirt and material oxidation.
I sufficiently loosened the nipples around half the wheel circumference,
then cut all the spokes.
The image above shows four spokes I removed
without loosening any nipples, arranged in rim hole order.
That crustacean who insists on wheel information disclosure rights
didn't show interest,
so I'm providing the image instead.
Built it.
WH-R501 hub, 24-hole, Champagne/Comp laced 4-cross with silver aluminum nipples.
The silver spokes are per the customer's request.
I'll do the lacing work later.