And The Winner Is...

[Aoiree]

Grats!

I like the wheel!

[Patrick C.]

Thanks guys- I've never built a wheel before, but have wanted to.  I'm thinking this is a good reason to go ahead and do it.  I'm about 200 lbs/90 kg plus water and riding gear.  I don't ride aggressively, but I don't always pick the cleanest line either so durability will be important.  Any suggestions on hubs, spokes, etc.?  How many spokes should I go with for front and rear?

The other option would be to just have IPlay build them up, but I'd still have the same questions on hubs, spoke count, etc. 

[Sitar_Ned]

Hey Patrick.. I just started this thread asking about hubs for my weight (same as yours) for a carbon wheelset.. http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,212.0.html

[Sitar_Ned]

Hope you don't mind.. I separated your post into it's own thread on the "Components" board.

I'm also interested in hearing people's thoughts on the Novatech hubs, and I'm sure many others are, as well.. giving it it's own thread will yield more replies.

The thread: http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,218.0.html

[manmythlegend]

Ha! Great video. Congrats to PatC.

[Patrick C.]

I received the rims today.  The main delay was me deciding whether to build them myself or order a full wheel set-  I finally decided to try building them myself.  Peter shipped the next day, and EMS shipping took 8 days.

The rims weigh 405 and 410 g on my cheap hanging scale.  So far the plan is to build them up with DT Swiss 350 hubs and Revolution spokes.  After reading a bit, I'm leaning toward getting the hubs in and doing a spoke measurement before ordering a full set of spokes.

[Patrick C.]

[Carbon_Dude]

Nice rims!  Looking forward to seeing them being built up.

[Patrick C.]

The 1" Gorilla tape is almost a perfect fit for these rims.


The tape is almost exactly the same width as the channel, but since the bottom of the channel isn't flat there is a small gap (~1 mm) on each side.

I got the hubs ordered; should come one day next week.

[Carbon_Dude]

Looking at your picture, I had an interesting though for you weight weenies out there.  I suppose you could use 28 or 32 individual pieces of Gorilla tape rather than a continuous length of tape to cover the holes.  Would be interesting, as I see no reason why it wouldn't work, and save weight .

[arrjay]

@Carbon_Dude - I once tried that very thing when my weight weenie-dom ran full-on into my neurotic desire for optimization (plus Gorilla Tape's expensive!).  Unfortunately, the WTB rims I was using wouldn't set up right.  This proved to be tough even with a standard all-the-way-around gorilla tape rimstrip though, and the extra thickness at the bead provided by the contiguous tape was the only way to get tubeless set up to hold air.  Neither the rim nor the tire were tubeless-specific, however, so I'd like to see a second running of the experiment.  And I just so happen to be in the process of a new build...

[carbonazza]

Anyone tried or heard about using silicone sealant, polyurethane foam, or some adequate glue to just plug the holes, instead of the tape?

[Patrick C.]

To confirm the ERD,  I picked up two spokes and nipples for $2 at an REI and did the measurements with the spokes threaded in even with the bottom of the slot in the nipple.  I measured an ERD of 596 compared to iplay's 597, so their number is good.  Both rims measured the same all the way around (measuring 4 places, or every 45°).  DT's spoke calculator calls for 289/291 in the front, and 289/290 in the rear.  I ordered all 290 mm to make it easier, since the 1 mm difference should not cause a problem.

I have all the pieces in now, and have started playing with them.  I laced up the front to see how it would go- pretty tedious, but not that difficult following the procedure on Sheldon Brown's website http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html .  Here it is laced up, but not tensioned at all.  Total weight for the front is 730 g; based on the weight of the DT 350 rear hub the rear should weigh about 850 making the set 1580 g. 



The gorilla tape costs $3 for a roll and adds about 20 g, so it really isn't worth trying to futz with individual pieces or plugs for the holes.  Somewhere in the mtbr carbon rim thread there are some posts about plugs and problems getting them to seal, so I'd stick with the tape [rimshot]. 

[Carbon_Dude]

You've made some good progress Patrick!  I like that you chose DT Swiss 350 hubs, that's what I would have went with also.

Looking forward to you getting the wheels tensioned up and hear how you like them.  I will definitely go with Gorilla tape in the future, so much cheaper than Stan's rim tape.

[Patrick C.]

They are now complete and holding air- the tensioning and truing wasn't difficult, it's just very tedious.  I assume it gets faster when you know what you're doing, but right now if I was making wheels to sell I would have to charge Enve's prices

I got a Park truing stand, but decided to go by feel and sound for the spoke tension.  The only ones that seem super tight are the front wheel, brake side spokes.  These seem quite tight and the nipples are a bit hard to turn, but I'm using a tiny spoke wrench off a Crank brothers multi tool so that may be part of the problem.  Otherwise, they make a nice twang and sound/feel like all of my machine built wheels. 

For dishing and truing, I was able to get the wheel within the tolerances listed in the Barnett manual without much trouble.  (The wheel truing section is free online at https://www.bbinstitute.com/dl/dx_demo_chapter_17.pdf ) I used an old set of feeler gauges to confirm how out of round they are.  They look very good side to side, but there is a bit of a hop in the front wheel.  Barnett's recommends a tolerance of 0.5 mm (0.020") and it is within this, but it is still noticeable when you spin the wheel on a stand. 

I got a pair of Rocket Rons, figuring I may as we'll go light and see for myself how they hold up. The RoRos were easy to put on the rims, but they leaked air very badly until I put sealant in even though they are the Evo tubeless ready version.  There seemed to be holes all around the sidewall to tread seam- when I rubbed soapy water on them, I could see miniature geysers spraying up.  With about 2 oz of Stans in each they sealed up, and so far are holding well.

Weights are as follows-
Front- 730 g
Rear- 840 g
Rocket Ron Evo- 530 and 535 g
Add 45 g to each for 1" wide Gorilla tape and Stans valves
Front with tire and Stans sealant- 1360 g
Rear with tire and Stans sealant- 1495 g

I need to switch over the brake rotors and cassette, and will try to get a ride in this weekend.  The weight difference is about a pound and a half compared to my Shimano wheels with Conti X-kings.