I took in a wheel that I built about eight years ago.
Both front and rear hubs are 7700 Dura-Ace, the rims are Mavic GP4 final version,
and the spokes are DT black competition.
The front wheel is built two-cross with straight-pull spokes.
I think that arranging the spokes toward the motor side (Yamaarashi direction) more to the inside is what you'd call the "pseudo-Italian lacing" in two-cross straight-pull lacing.
Where the spokes cross, with a CX-RAY it would hit the aerobatted section, so ideally it would be better to build it with a CX-RAY or similar.
The rear wheel is four-cross lacing with reverse straight-pull spokes.
The 7700 is a hub from an era when radial lacing wasn't yet permitted.
That said, the HB-7700 has round holes in 36, 32, 28, and 24H, and slit holes in 32, 28, 24, 20, 18, 16, and 12H, while the FH-7700 has round holes in 36, 32, 28, 24, and 20H, and slit holes in 32, 28, 24, 20, 16, and 12H—basically anything goes in the lineup. So the restriction of only doing tangent lacing on small hole-count hubs doesn't really hold up. With a front 18H, for instance, building it radial would actually make the spoke balance worse.
The first Shimano hub to allow radial lacing was the 5501-A, which is the 5501 (the late model of the 5500 hub from the 105 of the 7700 era) with an aero "A" added. But there were countless examples of radial lacing being done before that, from both pro and amateur builders.
Not that I'm saying "if everyone runs a red light together..."
I've used red nipples for half the wheel and gold nipples for the other half.
Not alternating, but half in one phase and half in the opposite 180° phase.
This way the rim sparkles when it rotates.
Red and blue actually look better color-wise than red and gold.
It's hard to see under fluorescent lights, but in sunlight it really sparkles.
I almost forgot what I was supposed to do here.
"True up the wheel and install the tire." That was it.
This tire is made by Lion Tires, isn't it?
The glossy finish of the black tread, the stitching below the fundoshi, the amber-colored sidewalls—I'm almost certain.
Tires marked "Made in Thailand," especially budget tubulars regardless of the stated brand, are almost certainly made by Lion Tires.
Oh, sorry, this tire is actually a Continental Giro.
Please forget what I just wrote.
(Not that I'm saying it's wrong.)
The downside is that the valve core can't be removed—which means you can't use an extension valve to lengthen it. Some cap-type extenders don't fit through the rim's valve hole anyway
(Campagnolo, Fulcrum, etc.), so without a removable valve core, this tire is essentially limited to use on low-profile rims.
Such a shame.
Oh, and this valve also looks like it's definitely made by Lion—
Hmm, who's that at the door at this hour? A customer maybe?
Whoa what the heck qawsedrftgyhfujikol
Edit: It seems some Giro tires do have removable valve cores.
When I checked just now, all the Giro tires we have in stock have non-removable cores.
It's hard to imagine different specs being mixed in the same batch, so it's possible that the design was recently changed either to removable or to non-removable cores.
(The Giro tires in our shop are from recent stock received from our distributor.)
Or, it's possible that the Giro has always had two different valve core specs, and the spec that our Japanese distributor imports happens to be the non-removable type.
Both front and rear hubs are 7700 Dura-Ace, the rims are Mavic GP4 final version,
and the spokes are DT black competition.
The front wheel is built two-cross with straight-pull spokes.
I think that arranging the spokes toward the motor side (Yamaarashi direction) more to the inside is what you'd call the "pseudo-Italian lacing" in two-cross straight-pull lacing.
Where the spokes cross, with a CX-RAY it would hit the aerobatted section, so ideally it would be better to build it with a CX-RAY or similar.
The rear wheel is four-cross lacing with reverse straight-pull spokes.
The 7700 is a hub from an era when radial lacing wasn't yet permitted.
That said, the HB-7700 has round holes in 36, 32, 28, and 24H, and slit holes in 32, 28, 24, 20, 18, 16, and 12H, while the FH-7700 has round holes in 36, 32, 28, 24, and 20H, and slit holes in 32, 28, 24, 20, 16, and 12H—basically anything goes in the lineup. So the restriction of only doing tangent lacing on small hole-count hubs doesn't really hold up. With a front 18H, for instance, building it radial would actually make the spoke balance worse.
The first Shimano hub to allow radial lacing was the 5501-A, which is the 5501 (the late model of the 5500 hub from the 105 of the 7700 era) with an aero "A" added. But there were countless examples of radial lacing being done before that, from both pro and amateur builders.
Not that I'm saying "if everyone runs a red light together..."
I've used red nipples for half the wheel and gold nipples for the other half.
Not alternating, but half in one phase and half in the opposite 180° phase.
This way the rim sparkles when it rotates.
Red and blue actually look better color-wise than red and gold.
It's hard to see under fluorescent lights, but in sunlight it really sparkles.
I almost forgot what I was supposed to do here.
"True up the wheel and install the tire." That was it.
This tire is made by Lion Tires, isn't it?
The glossy finish of the black tread, the stitching below the fundoshi, the amber-colored sidewalls—I'm almost certain.
Tires marked "Made in Thailand," especially budget tubulars regardless of the stated brand, are almost certainly made by Lion Tires.
Oh, sorry, this tire is actually a Continental Giro.
Please forget what I just wrote.
The downside is that the valve core can't be removed—which means you can't use an extension valve to lengthen it. Some cap-type extenders don't fit through the rim's valve hole anyway
(Campagnolo, Fulcrum, etc.), so without a removable valve core, this tire is essentially limited to use on low-profile rims.
Such a shame.
Oh, and this valve also looks like it's definitely made by Lion—
Hmm, who's that at the door at this hour? A customer maybe?
Whoa what the heck qawsedrftgyhfujikol
Edit: It seems some Giro tires do have removable valve cores.
When I checked just now, all the Giro tires we have in stock have non-removable cores.
It's hard to imagine different specs being mixed in the same batch, so it's possible that the design was recently changed either to removable or to non-removable cores.
(The Giro tires in our shop are from recent stock received from our distributor.)
Or, it's possible that the Giro has always had two different valve core specs, and the spec that our Japanese distributor imports happens to be the non-removable type.