Another day with wheels (and so on...).
I built a Nomu Lab Wheel #5 with an Akamatsu Systema (narrow-flange front hub) today.
We stock the hub at our shop.
At Kobo Akamatsu (Akamatsu Workshop), we keep them in a state without spoke holes drilled,
so you can order with your desired spoke count.
（Although I don't think 36H is possible since the flange diameter is on the small side）
This time it's 24H.
The spokes are CX-RAY.
I built it with inverted non-radial lacing.
I also build wheels with this hub myself (→here),
and for my personal wheels, unless the hub has some reason that prevents non-radial lacing,
I basically build radial lacing non-radially.
Even so, I build the Systema hub with inverted non-radial lacing.
The reason is that even with non-radial lacing,
the flange width at the point where spokes emerge from the flange
falls far short of what you get with standard inverted non-radial lacing on a normal front hub.
With such a narrow flange width, I think it's more interesting to abandon lateral stiffness
and instead aim for minimizing the frontal projection area.
Since I explained this reasoning to the customer, this wheel also got inverted non-radial lacing.
When building a Nomu Lab Wheel #5 with a Tni 24H hub,
I tensioned the spokes at a tension ratio of 105–110%, but
during the "seating-in" process where you lay the wheel flat on the floor and press the rim,
the deformation is indeed quite large.
This deformation generally correlates with how prone the front wheel is to flex in downhill corners,
and with how easily the rear wheel develops brake rub.
Lateral stiffness depends almost entirely on flange width.
Some people say "just tension the spokes more," but
tensioning the spokes even more than at the finish of wheel building
doesn't do much to reduce wheel deformation.
Looking purely at lateral stiffness, that's true,
but it's also clear that this is a hub where you can really feel the pleasant air flow through the spokes.
This is partly because it's a front hub.
Even though it has a narrow flange, it's not a driving wheel hub,
so it doesn't have the critical weakness that a rear hub would.
I use one myself, and as long as you don't push it to the absolute limit,
you can handle it with the same feel as a normal hub wheel.
Man, it's narrow.
The spokes are almost completely hidden in the shadow of the rim.
I've got this hub on a bike that actually weighs in the mid-4kg range,
and even though there are lighter hubs out there, I go with this one because
I just kind of like the shape.
I built a Nomu Lab Wheel #5 with an Akamatsu Systema (narrow-flange front hub) today.
We stock the hub at our shop.
At Kobo Akamatsu (Akamatsu Workshop), we keep them in a state without spoke holes drilled,
so you can order with your desired spoke count.
（Although I don't think 36H is possible since the flange diameter is on the small side）
This time it's 24H.
The spokes are CX-RAY.
I built it with inverted non-radial lacing.
I also build wheels with this hub myself (→here),
and for my personal wheels, unless the hub has some reason that prevents non-radial lacing,
I basically build radial lacing non-radially.
Even so, I build the Systema hub with inverted non-radial lacing.
The reason is that even with non-radial lacing,
the flange width at the point where spokes emerge from the flange
falls far short of what you get with standard inverted non-radial lacing on a normal front hub.
With such a narrow flange width, I think it's more interesting to abandon lateral stiffness
and instead aim for minimizing the frontal projection area.
Since I explained this reasoning to the customer, this wheel also got inverted non-radial lacing.
When building a Nomu Lab Wheel #5 with a Tni 24H hub,
I tensioned the spokes at a tension ratio of 105–110%, but
during the "seating-in" process where you lay the wheel flat on the floor and press the rim,
the deformation is indeed quite large.
This deformation generally correlates with how prone the front wheel is to flex in downhill corners,
and with how easily the rear wheel develops brake rub.
Lateral stiffness depends almost entirely on flange width.
Some people say "just tension the spokes more," but
tensioning the spokes even more than at the finish of wheel building
doesn't do much to reduce wheel deformation.
Looking purely at lateral stiffness, that's true,
but it's also clear that this is a hub where you can really feel the pleasant air flow through the spokes.
This is partly because it's a front hub.
Even though it has a narrow flange, it's not a driving wheel hub,
so it doesn't have the critical weakness that a rear hub would.
I use one myself, and as long as you don't push it to the absolute limit,
you can handle it with the same feel as a normal hub wheel.
Man, it's narrow.
The spokes are almost completely hidden in the shadow of the rim.
I've got this hub on a bike that actually weighs in the mid-4kg range,
and even though there are lighter hubs out there, I go with this one because
I just kind of like the shape.