Another day with wheels (and so on).
Had a Novatec rear wheel brought in for work.
The rim is 24-hole, but the customer wants it rebuilt with a 24-hole PowerTap hub.
Even though it's 24-hole, it's actually 16:8 hole alternating spokes — asymmetrical.
(So with an XF562 hub you could build it 2:1?)
We're rebuilding it as 12:12 hole symmetrical, but
the rim's spoke hole pattern is designed for 2:1 lacing.
Looking at the image, the holes go left, right, right from the front.
The thing is, on the inside of the rim the holes are drilled at the rim crown, so
I thought it would be fine if I just threaded the nipples through —
but the holes themselves had directional bias for 2:1 building,
so we had to work around that a bit.
The rebuild itself isn't impossible.
Off-topic, but this rim also has bead-seat dips and a hump.
It's designed to work as a tubeless rim.
↑What I mean is, if the holes weren't drilled from the start, it would be tubeless-ready —
not that adding rim tape would make it tubeless-compatible.
So maybe "clincher rim derived from tubeless design"
would be a more accurate way to describe it.
Bit of a tangent here, but Lightning Alpine wheels have
rear rim spoke holes drilled 2:1 on the outer side.
Yet they build wheels with symmetrical spoke counts.
I think it was Lightning (maker) Alpine (model), but
it might have been Alpine (maker) Lightning (model).
It's like that phenomenon where you look at a minor band's CD and can't figure out
which is the band name and which is the song title.
The hub I had been keeping.
Of course, it didn't come in completely disassembled.
Well, your determination is clearly "just a little different from the others!" —
you can tell that at a glance —
but once I open it, the rules say I have to deal with it,
regardless of how motivated you are.
Got it built.
All Sapim CX-RAY spokes, Italians/radial on the non-freehub side with cross-lacing. Black nipples per customer request.
They were black before the rebuild too, but we didn't reuse them.
Looking at the brake zone, it looks brand new, but...
Anyway, this rim has three distinctive features.
First, the rim sidewalls aren't straight — they curve outward in an arched profile.
Not quite as dramatic as a ZIPP carbon rim, but it has a squat, pronounced curve.
Second, the anodizing has a rough finish with a unique texture to the touch.
Third, the rim graphics are painted directly on, not stickers.
There's another brand out there making rims with virtually identical finishing on these three points,
but since they're a competitor I'll refrain from mentioning them.
Edit:
Got a comment asking "Doesn't the crab light show appear? (^^;)"
so let me redo this.
Looking at the brake zone, it looks brand new, but...
Anyway, this rim has three distinctive features.
(continuation omitted)
There's another brand out there making rims with virtually identical finishing on these three points,
but since they're a competitor I'll refrain from mentioning them.
Sorry for the wait!
Please take a look at this image!
↑Stop it, quit it, noooo!
Had a Novatec rear wheel brought in for work.
The rim is 24-hole, but the customer wants it rebuilt with a 24-hole PowerTap hub.
Even though it's 24-hole, it's actually 16:8 hole alternating spokes — asymmetrical.
We're rebuilding it as 12:12 hole symmetrical, but
the rim's spoke hole pattern is designed for 2:1 lacing.
Looking at the image, the holes go left, right, right from the front.
The thing is, on the inside of the rim the holes are drilled at the rim crown, so
I thought it would be fine if I just threaded the nipples through —
but the holes themselves had directional bias for 2:1 building,
so we had to work around that a bit.
The rebuild itself isn't impossible.
Off-topic, but this rim also has bead-seat dips and a hump.
It's designed to work as a tubeless rim.
↑What I mean is, if the holes weren't drilled from the start, it would be tubeless-ready —
not that adding rim tape would make it tubeless-compatible.
So maybe "clincher rim derived from tubeless design"
would be a more accurate way to describe it.
Bit of a tangent here, but Lightning Alpine wheels have
rear rim spoke holes drilled 2:1 on the outer side.
Yet they build wheels with symmetrical spoke counts.
I think it was Lightning (maker) Alpine (model), but
it might have been Alpine (maker) Lightning (model).
It's like that phenomenon where you look at a minor band's CD and can't figure out
which is the band name and which is the song title.
The hub I had been keeping.
Of course, it didn't come in completely disassembled.
Well, your determination is clearly "just a little different from the others!" —
you can tell that at a glance —
but once I open it, the rules say I have to deal with it,
regardless of how motivated you are.
Got it built.
All Sapim CX-RAY spokes, Italians/radial on the non-freehub side with cross-lacing. Black nipples per customer request.
They were black before the rebuild too, but we didn't reuse them.
Looking at the brake zone, it looks brand new, but...
Anyway, this rim has three distinctive features.
First, the rim sidewalls aren't straight — they curve outward in an arched profile.
Not quite as dramatic as a ZIPP carbon rim, but it has a squat, pronounced curve.
Second, the anodizing has a rough finish with a unique texture to the touch.
Third, the rim graphics are painted directly on, not stickers.
There's another brand out there making rims with virtually identical finishing on these three points,
but since they're a competitor I'll refrain from mentioning them.
Edit:
Got a comment asking "Doesn't the crab light show appear? (^^;)"
so let me redo this.
Looking at the brake zone, it looks brand new, but...
Anyway, this rim has three distinctive features.
(continuation omitted)
There's another brand out there making rims with virtually identical finishing on these three points,
but since they're a competitor I'll refrain from mentioning them.
Sorry for the wait!
Please take a look at this image!
↑Stop it, quit it, noooo!