New wheels, again!

[JhnBssll]

My Ti bike has 50mm deep section wheels which makes gusty winds entertaining. Until this morning I had a set of Mavic Aksium Disc's to use in these conditions - I sold them because they weren't anywhere near as nice as the summer wheels, weren't tubeless ready and I never used them Instead I've decided to build up a new set of wheels with shallower rim profiles for use in inclement weather

The summer wheels use purple Hope RS4 straight pull hubs - I'm going to stick with these for the new wheels as I really rate them but in black rather than purple. This will allow me to share the wheelset with the Bianchi, which also has fairly deep section rims. Both bikes are 12x100 front and 12x142 rear with 160mm rotors which is handy I also plan to sell the Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon SL UST Disc wheels currently on the Bianchi and build another best summer set, again with Hope RS4 straight pull hubs but this time in orange. The rims this time will be 65mm rear and 55mm front, its an aero machine afterall, and I will have the spare wheels to throw on if needed

I built the 50mm wheels (as well as the wheels on my Bianchi mountain bike) with chinese carbon rims which have held up really well. This time after further research I'm looking to use a different Chinese supplier - Light Bicycle. They seem to have a good reputation and their pricing is fairly reasonable. I should be able to cover a large amount of the total cost with the sale of the Cosmic's, or at least that's the plan

For the deep section rims I'm going to try and use Sapim CX-Ray aero profile spokes and am considering orange alloy nipples as they'll be fair-weather wheels For the shallow section rims I'll be using standard spokes, something like DT double butted, and brass nipples as they'll likely see the worst conditions.

So far the only bits I have ordered are the black RS4 hubs, and only the front has actually arrived It seems to be pretty hard to get hold of Hope bits at the moment, with most places out of stock. Here's the RS4 front hub, straight pull with 6-bolt disc fitment.

Here are the current 50mm rims built on to my purple hubs that I've shown before - hopefully soon I'll have a little family of hope-hubbed carbon-rimmed wheels

I'll update this as I order bits and things start to arrive

 

[Gunk]

Would they not be better on a set of Open Pro rims?

 

[JhnBssll]

Would they not be better on a set of Open Pro rims?

I've been round the houses a bit on this. I've considered open pro's, as well as various DT Swiss options, but keep coming back to the carbon option. I will likely build a set of 650b's with aluminium rims to use on the Ti bike at some point in the future for a little gravel and bikepacking use

 

[JhnBssll]

I've ordered the rims today I'm expecting them to take around 2 months to arrive from what the supplier has told me. The styles I've ordered aren't available off the shelf so they'll be made specifically for me as soon as there's a slot in their production schedule.

These are the specs of rims I've ordered:

The AR36's will be laced to the black Hope hubs and will be used on both bikes when the weather is a bit grim but probably predominantly on the Ti.

The R55 will go on the front of the Bianchi, with the R65 on the back. I went with the 12k weave on these as I think the wider strips (12k simply means 12,000 filaments per strip of weave, or 'tow') will look better on the larger surface of the deep section rims. I've gone with a 3k weave on the other pair 😊 Both in matte finish, here's an example of the two types:

Technically UD is stronger than both weave patterns, but they use this for the vast majority of the rim anyway with the 3k or 12k only being used for the top layer for aesthetics My existing 50mm wheelset is matte UD so I will not have a pair of each type

I now need to keep my eyes peeled for a pair of Orange Hope RS4 hubs, not much available at the moment unless I want to pre-order at full price. There doesnt seem to be much point in doing that right now, as the rims are still 2 months away

 

[rogerzilla]

Would they not be better on a set of Open Pro rims?

Nothing is better on a set of Open Pro rims. Overpriced mediocrity

 

[JhnBssll]

I've now done the spoke length calcs on wheelpro.co.uk and ordered them all up 😊

The Bianchi is getting Sapim CX Ray aero bladed spokes in black and Sapim double square alloy nipples in a rather fetching orange to match the hubs

The winter set are getting Sapim Leader spokes in black with silver brass nipples - these are more likely to see grim conditions than the others so corrosion is more of a concern.

I've also ordered a park tool SW-16 square spoke driver so I can try and build the orange nipples up without damaging the visible surfaces

 

[JhnBssll]

Well that was quick - the spokes I ordered yesterday from "Ryan builds wheels" arrived this morning

So I now have the front hub for one wheelset and the spokes for another Another set of spokes should be arriving later in the week, then I'll have a bit of a wait on my hands

 

[JhnBssll]

More spokes arrived today, along with the spoke driver for the orange nipples

These are the Sapim Leader straight pull spokes with silver brass nipples for the all road all weather wheels

I've just remembered I broke the little retention spring on the end of my other spoke driver last time i used I'll order another to save faffing around losing nipples inside the rims as is bound to happen if i try to keep using it without the spring

 

[JhnBssll]

I just spent a bit of time in the garage measuring and counting the spokes and nipples. Good job I did too, as I've come across a bit of a problem

Seems the seller has had a bit of a mixup in the stockroom, as I've received a mix of 12mm and 14mm orange nipples

That might have caused a bit of an issue I found 23 14mm nipples in total, so I've requested some more 12's are posted out and will return these

I've also ordered a bag of purple nipples to rebuild the Veturi's summer wheels with They'll be arriving within a few days hopefully so I'll have something to do while I wait for the other rims 😊

I noticed a big difference in weight between the Leaders and the CX Ray's, thought id take a photo of the difference in cross section

Its no wonder they're light and aerodynamic, there's nothing to them theyre also known as one of the most durable steel spokes available, I like clever engineering

 

[JhnBssll]

Another new arrival this morning, spotted an orange front hub in stock at tredz and on offer so snapped it up

The replacement orange nipples are being sent out today along with the purple ones I ordered last night. There's a slim chance they will arrive tomorrow which would mean I can rebuild the Veturi wheels over the weekend which would be a result but no big deal if not 😊

 

[JhnBssll]

Minor update, I popped the orange hub on the front of the Bianchi this evening just for a little look see I think its going to look rather special 😊

And here are the bits and pieces that have arrived so far alongside my wheel building jig

Waiting on 2 hubs and 4 rims now 😊

 

[JhnBssll]

Replacement orange nipples arrived today, along with the purple ones I ordered for the existing wheelset. They were only dispatched yesterday but I'd left the day open on the off chance they arrived so was straight to the garage

Quick 'before' shot with the boring silver nipples...

I removed the tyre and cleaned the old sealant out then removed the rim tape. Here is the wheel in the stand with the various bits and pieces laid out ready to start...

First job was to take the tension out of the wheels evenly by slackening each spoke one turn at a time. Once I'd been round the wheel a few times the spokes were relatively slack so I could start swapping the nipples one at a time. After losing the first few silver nipples in to the hollow section of the rim and spending an age trying to shake them back out of the valve hole I concocted a method of removing them with a spare spoke screwed in to the back allowing them to be easily pulled out

With the old nipple removed, I popped a new purple nipple on to the spoke driver and put a dab of 3in1 oil on the seating surface.

I then popped the end of the free spoke in my trusty tub of copper slip

With the nipple lubed and the thread treated I would the nipple on until all the threads were covered and then tightened a further 6 full turns for each one.

Once all were done I knew that all should have a similar tension and that only small adjustments should be needed to get it true. Fortunately this time this was the case, but isnt always Since my wheel stand is a bit pants I tend to dish the wheels in the bike, so at this point I popped it back in the bike and centred the rim by tightening each spoke on one side to pull the rim across. Back in to the wheel stand for another quick whizz around to adjust it back in to 'true' before a final time around to get the tension right and it was done, and perfectly straight 😊

I'll do the rear wheel shortly 😊 Quite a lot of effort for a small amount of extra purple but it keeps me busy

 

[Gunk]

I do like a fiddlearsing around job like that! Not sure about all that purple though

 

[JhnBssll]

I do like a fiddlearsing around job like that! Not sure about all that purple though

Whats that? You think I should add more purple? Good idea

I've done the back wheel now too

Joking aside, I love a bit of colour on my bikes as you've no doubt guessed by now As soon as you back away a few feet you barely notice them, just a nice little detail 😊

I've had a fun day of fettling in the garage if nothing else, and my wheels are perfectly true again - not that they were bad before I started mind

As a practice run with the new spoke driver and double square nipples it went faultlessly though so I'm pleased with that. Looking forward to receiving the new rims now According to the tracking page, two of my four rims have now been moulded and one has had the spoke holes CNC machined 😊 The progress tracker is quite a neat little feature from Light Bicycle, although I can see myself checking it multiple times a day for the foreseeable

 

[Nigelnightmare]

How about adding some nice Hope lights (in purple of course).

Re: Availability of Hope bits.
Have you thought about/tried ordering 'direct' from Hope?