Our Nomu Lab wheels have been experiencing serious delivery delays.
I sincerely apologize.
The cause is long-term shortages of materials like hubs and rims,
and I'm still in the process of building the June orders (at the old price).
Currently we're experiencing stockouts of the Tni Evolution hub in front 20H and rear 24H,
and the next shipment won't arrive until the end of January next year.
Obviously that's not ideal, so our shop has been searching for various hub options that could substitute for the Tni Evolution,
but it turns out to be quite difficult.
The rear of the Tni Evo hub is equivalent to the Novatec 482,
but the hub dimensions are exceptionally good.
When you look at it statically as a finished wheel, it has advantages over Dura-Ace, Record, DT, and Gokiso.
The flange width and high-low shape are the reasons.
When you look at it dynamically (like how smoothly the hub spins, or how little bearing wear shows up after heavy use),
the evaluation changes somewhat, but with the caveat of "for the price,"
it still comes out as an exceptionally superior hub.
I build wheels with the attitude that the Tni Evo hub is "the one I want," not "it'll do,"
not just "it'll do."
So if I'm going to provide a replacement, the hub needs to be dimensionally satisfying to me when the wheel is built.
Price is also crucial.
Using a cheap substitute would be disrespectful to customers taking a replacement,
and if it's too expensive we won't be able to make it work financially.
Actually, the old Nomu Lab wheel price was right at the break-even line anyway,
So I went ahead and ordered just a small quantity to test.
Thinking that if the product is good I'll keep ordering it, I built a wheel with it just now,
and it had that solid Tni Evo hub feel,
so I've decided to go with this for a while.
For now I'm considering this strictly as a replacement for the Tni Evo hub front 20H rear 24H,
so I'm not selling it as an individual product.
And I have no plans to stock other spoke hole counts.
Unless there's demand, in which case... maybe.
The price will be the same as the Tni Evo hub.
For the foreseeable future, our Nomu Lab wheels in front 20H rear 24H configuration
will be built with this replacement hub. Please understand.
Front hub
Actual measured weight is 64g.
The flange hole diameter is the same as the Evo hub,
and the flange width is slightly over 1mm wider on this hub.
That said, it's not enough difference to create any noticeable change in lateral stiffness.
If the flanges are too wide it actually creates more complications.
When doing radial lacing you have to check for fork interference.
With this flange width, that issue doesn't exist at all.
As for the rear hub,
the freewheel-side flange hole diameter is the same as the Evo hub,
but the non-freewheel side is smaller than the Evo hub.
The flange width is about 2mm wider than the Evo hub.
That's roughly equivalent to one flange width.
The left end cap looks visually longer so I thought it might be narrower,
but actually it was wider—quite a surprise.
The Shimano freehub is 11-speed, and with the included spacers it's compatible with 10, 9, and 8-speed.
I've also stocked the Campagnolo freehub version.
Both have an actual measured weight of 186g.
I've been calling it "replacement hub" or "this hub," but
without a proper name it gets inconvenient, so going forward I'll call it the "Leaf Hub."
Leaf refers to the word "Leaf"
If you search for "Leaf Hub" or "Leaf Hubs" you won't find anything.
There is apparently something with the same name (Leaf Cycle) that comes up, but it's different.
I didn't name it myself—I was asked to "sell it under this name,"
so I'm just following that.
Separate from this hub topic, but right now I'm declining bicycle assembly work.
I have too many wheel jobs to get around to anything else.
Until the wheel workload settles down (if it ever does?), I'll have to keep it that way.
Right now I'm in the middle of an "assemble the frames we're holding and hand them over to free up shop space" campaign.
I handed one over yesterday.
I still have several frames in stock,
but since assembling them involves wheel building, they're running a bit behind.
The reason I don't write many articles about "built this bike" the way I do with wheels is
to keep it under the radar of that petty shop
that half-accuses people of being traitors for buying from our place.
The real reason customers leave that shop is the serious mistakes they make
(like left crank coming loose mid-ride, or hand-built wheels falling apart)
and those are on the customers' conscience, not mine to worry about.
I sincerely apologize.
The cause is long-term shortages of materials like hubs and rims,
and I'm still in the process of building the June orders (at the old price).
Currently we're experiencing stockouts of the Tni Evolution hub in front 20H and rear 24H,
and the next shipment won't arrive until the end of January next year.
Obviously that's not ideal, so our shop has been searching for various hub options that could substitute for the Tni Evolution,
but it turns out to be quite difficult.
The rear of the Tni Evo hub is equivalent to the Novatec 482,
but the hub dimensions are exceptionally good.
When you look at it statically as a finished wheel, it has advantages over Dura-Ace, Record, DT, and Gokiso.
The flange width and high-low shape are the reasons.
When you look at it dynamically (like how smoothly the hub spins, or how little bearing wear shows up after heavy use),
the evaluation changes somewhat, but with the caveat of "for the price,"
it still comes out as an exceptionally superior hub.
I build wheels with the attitude that the Tni Evo hub is "the one I want," not "it'll do,"
not just "it'll do."
So if I'm going to provide a replacement, the hub needs to be dimensionally satisfying to me when the wheel is built.
Price is also crucial.
Using a cheap substitute would be disrespectful to customers taking a replacement,
and if it's too expensive we won't be able to make it work financially.
So I went ahead and ordered just a small quantity to test.
Thinking that if the product is good I'll keep ordering it, I built a wheel with it just now,
and it had that solid Tni Evo hub feel,
so I've decided to go with this for a while.
For now I'm considering this strictly as a replacement for the Tni Evo hub front 20H rear 24H,
so I'm not selling it as an individual product.
And I have no plans to stock other spoke hole counts.
Unless there's demand, in which case... maybe.
The price will be the same as the Tni Evo hub.
For the foreseeable future, our Nomu Lab wheels in front 20H rear 24H configuration
will be built with this replacement hub. Please understand.
Front hub
Actual measured weight is 64g.
The flange hole diameter is the same as the Evo hub,
and the flange width is slightly over 1mm wider on this hub.
That said, it's not enough difference to create any noticeable change in lateral stiffness.
If the flanges are too wide it actually creates more complications.
When doing radial lacing you have to check for fork interference.
With this flange width, that issue doesn't exist at all.
As for the rear hub,
the freewheel-side flange hole diameter is the same as the Evo hub,
but the non-freewheel side is smaller than the Evo hub.
The flange width is about 2mm wider than the Evo hub.
That's roughly equivalent to one flange width.
The left end cap looks visually longer so I thought it might be narrower,
but actually it was wider—quite a surprise.
The Shimano freehub is 11-speed, and with the included spacers it's compatible with 10, 9, and 8-speed.
I've also stocked the Campagnolo freehub version.
Both have an actual measured weight of 186g.
I've been calling it "replacement hub" or "this hub," but
without a proper name it gets inconvenient, so going forward I'll call it the "Leaf Hub."
Leaf refers to the word "Leaf"
If you search for "Leaf Hub" or "Leaf Hubs" you won't find anything.
There is apparently something with the same name (Leaf Cycle) that comes up, but it's different.
I didn't name it myself—I was asked to "sell it under this name,"
so I'm just following that.
Separate from this hub topic, but right now I'm declining bicycle assembly work.
I have too many wheel jobs to get around to anything else.
Until the wheel workload settles down (if it ever does?), I'll have to keep it that way.
Right now I'm in the middle of an "assemble the frames we're holding and hand them over to free up shop space" campaign.
I handed one over yesterday.
I still have several frames in stock,
but since assembling them involves wheel building, they're running a bit behind.
The reason I don't write many articles about "built this bike" the way I do with wheels is
to keep it under the radar of that petty shop
that half-accuses people of being traitors for buying from our place.
The real reason customers leave that shop is the serious mistakes they make
(like left crank coming loose mid-ride, or hand-built wheels falling apart)
and those are on the customers' conscience, not mine to worry about.