New wheels, again!

[JhnBssll]

My new park tools portable dishing tool arrived today so predictably I spent a few hours this evening playing with the wheels. I've got them running about as close to perfectly central and true as I can hope to achieve now so next step will be rim tape and valves when they arrive tomorrow I've got the afternoon off work to do some building work so hope to get these all built up and on the bike too

 

[JhnBssll]

This afternoon's progress:

Rims taped and new red cushcore valves fitted...

Cushcores stretched over the rims...

Tire wrestled over the rim in preparation of seating the beads...

First bead wrestled in to place...

Second bead in place and sealant added... Job's a good'un!

So for a comparison. This is the bike with it's original 650b's fitted...

And this is it now with its new 650b rear and 29er front...

I'm really happy with it so far after scooting around on the lawn, you can feel the difference in steering angle already. Unfortunately I made another error, and didnt realise my original hub had an XD freehub So I've just had to order a hope XD freehub which has stung me for another 70 quid, an expensive error Oh well, I'll have the shimano freehub if I ever want to upgrade and I am considering 1x XTR Di2 on this one at some point I also noticed the rear mech cable is frayed so I've ordered a new stainless inner cable. When that arrives I'll give her a bit of a strip clean as she's looking a bit grubby Then she'll be all sparkly clean when the XD driver arrives so I can take her out and get her filthy dirty again

 

[JhnBssll]

I swapped the freehub over this evening and refitted the cassette 😊 When I get a chance to play in the sunlight I'll give her a wash and replace the frayed cable then take her for a maiden mullet voyage