A customer left a wheel with me.
It's a rear wheel built with a WH-R501 rim and a PowerTap Elite Plus hub.
They want me to discard the rim and spokes and rebuild it with an XR-300 rim,
so this officially becomes Nomu Lab Wheel #1.
It's laced 4-cross with black 2.0mm plain CN spokes,
but the non-freewheel side is pretty loose.
Since we're taking it apart anyway, I'm not checking centering or tension,
but the rim that came out was quite warped.
I use a window pane as a reference flat surface
and check for warping by laying the rim against it to see if there are any gaps,
and this rim was rattling around so much even just lying on the floor.
Disassembled.
Inside the hub it looks clean enough,
but this is a yellow light situation—the grease has gotten so dirty that it's washing away completely.
The customer has requested hub cleaning.
Cleaning, huh... so that means I can actually wash it, right?
The freewheel-side grease has seeped into the axle interior through the bearing gaps.
Oops, the tape peeled off when I washed the axle—
So I had no choice but to use heat-shrink tubing to fix it.
The section of the axle that runs through the hub body—
it's not rusted, don't worry.
The Elite Plus is a steel-shaft model,
and this section simply isn't polished—that's all.
↑ Oh no, that's not good.
The retaining ring that holds the freewheel pawls (like a clothespin spring)
has slipped past the anti-rotation section and shifted out of position.
↑ This is how it should be.
The timeline jumps around, but I cleaned the hub.
There was a faint grinding sensation in the non-freewheel bearing rotation,
but it mostly disappeared after cleaning, so I didn't replace the bearings.
I just dealt with it by re-greasing.
The hub shell wasn't visibly dirty, so it might not look cleaned,
but the internal condition is completely different.
Got it built.
I'll write something I mention all the time ahead of time.
A shiny silver hub really does look nice.
The lacing pattern is 4-cross on one side, radial on the other.
The customer wanted all Competition spokes,
but I took the liberty of using Sapim Strong spokes on the freewheel side.
There's a slight outbatting just inside the final cross.
If this were 32H I'd think all Competition would be fine,
but since they prioritized durability over weight savings,
I changed the spokes to incorporate left-right asymmetric diametering.
The non-freewheel side uses DT Competition spokes.
They're also tied and soldered.
At the same time, the front wheel for Nomu Lab Wheel #1 came in too.
It's currently black Competition spokes with black nipples in outpoke radial lacing,
but the customer wants it rebuilt with silver Competition spokes, silver nipples, and inpoke radial lacing.
I'm guessing they want visual consistency to match the rear wheel.
Nostalgic! An Evo hub with those aero slit holes.
Built.
It's a rear wheel built with a WH-R501 rim and a PowerTap Elite Plus hub.
They want me to discard the rim and spokes and rebuild it with an XR-300 rim,
so this officially becomes Nomu Lab Wheel #1.
It's laced 4-cross with black 2.0mm plain CN spokes,
but the non-freewheel side is pretty loose.
Since we're taking it apart anyway, I'm not checking centering or tension,
but the rim that came out was quite warped.
I use a window pane as a reference flat surface
and check for warping by laying the rim against it to see if there are any gaps,
and this rim was rattling around so much even just lying on the floor.
Disassembled.
Inside the hub it looks clean enough,
but this is a yellow light situation—the grease has gotten so dirty that it's washing away completely.
The customer has requested hub cleaning.
Cleaning, huh... so that means I can actually wash it, right?
The freewheel-side grease has seeped into the axle interior through the bearing gaps.
Oops, the tape peeled off when I washed the axle—
So I had no choice but to use heat-shrink tubing to fix it.
The section of the axle that runs through the hub body—
it's not rusted, don't worry.
The Elite Plus is a steel-shaft model,
and this section simply isn't polished—that's all.
↑ Oh no, that's not good.
The retaining ring that holds the freewheel pawls (like a clothespin spring)
has slipped past the anti-rotation section and shifted out of position.
↑ This is how it should be.
The timeline jumps around, but I cleaned the hub.
There was a faint grinding sensation in the non-freewheel bearing rotation,
but it mostly disappeared after cleaning, so I didn't replace the bearings.
I just dealt with it by re-greasing.
The hub shell wasn't visibly dirty, so it might not look cleaned,
but the internal condition is completely different.
Got it built.
I'll write something I mention all the time ahead of time.
A shiny silver hub really does look nice.
The lacing pattern is 4-cross on one side, radial on the other.
The customer wanted all Competition spokes,
but I took the liberty of using Sapim Strong spokes on the freewheel side.
There's a slight outbatting just inside the final cross.
If this were 32H I'd think all Competition would be fine,
but since they prioritized durability over weight savings,
I changed the spokes to incorporate left-right asymmetric diametering.
The non-freewheel side uses DT Competition spokes.
They're also tied and soldered.
At the same time, the front wheel for Nomu Lab Wheel #1 came in too.
It's currently black Competition spokes with black nipples in outpoke radial lacing,
but the customer wants it rebuilt with silver Competition spokes, silver nipples, and inpoke radial lacing.
I'm guessing they want visual consistency to match the rear wheel.
Nostalgic! An Evo hub with those aero slit holes.
Built.