H Plus Son TB-14 first impression

The current project is a classic box section rim build for my friend Taylor. Admittedly, I didn't approach this build with gusto. Wheelbuilding is always interesting, it's just that some builds are less interesting than others. Box section rims, 32 hole, two cross, with Sapim Race 2.0/1.8/2.0, and silver brass nipples is about as basic as it gets. That's said, this build is interesting because I haven't worked with an eyeleted box section rim for awhile--the last build was Ambrosio Nemesis tubulars on Dura Ace 7800 hubs (gorgeous!)--and I'd never worked with this rim (H Plus Son TB-14).

Pictured is the valve hole counterweight. This is a pretty rim with nice features.

First impression of the rim:

1. The rim nose is highly polished and very attractive;
2. The counterweighted valve hole is very classy; and
3. The rim wear indicator is a tiny 1-2mm hole in the sidewall similar to HED's.

For equipment I am using:

1. Rock 'N' Roll nipple cream;
2. Lineseed oil for the spoke threads; and a
3. Standard Park Tool spoke wrench.

Findings thus far:

1. There's much more friction at the nipple shoulder than what I had expected from an eyeletted rim;
2. Rock 'N' Roll nipple cream has a half-life of several days after which it dries out and fails at its mission;
3. Going back to the standard spoke wrench makes me long for the greater control/precision of building with the T-wrench and hexagonal nipples; and
4. Box rims are super responsive.

Findings #1-3 are all inter-related; it's #4 that's making this build fun. Box section rims aren't as tolerant of higher spoke tensions as say an H Plus Son Archetype or a Pacenti SL23. Why? You probably remember from junior high science class that the arch is inherently stronger than the I beam when it comes to strength-to-weight. Now consider the cross section of the rim: the box section is the I beam and the SL23 is the arch.

To prevent spokes from pulling through the box section rim, manufactures like Mavic, DT Swiss, and H Plus Son use eyelets to distribute the force the tensioned spoke and nipple apply to the rim's nose. Early carbon rims also did this too but instead used nipple washers.

The upside of box section rims are few but worth noting: they are more compliant/comfortable, they are often lighter, and they just look classy. For the builder there are additional upsides: eyelets can reduce spoke wind-up, and the rim is much more responsive to truing.

How responsive? Really f'ing responsive. Normally I despise radial truing because I'm often working with very stiff rims. At the moment Taylor's front wheel is 80% tensioned, and it is +/- 0.005" round. I've never approached that level of true on another build.

My trusty trueness gauge. The unit of measurement is 0.001".

Lightweight Builds

If you are considering buying or building a set of handbuilt alloy wheels, I suggest you don't fixate too much on weight. Why? Because it is hard to match the weight benchmarks set by the pre-built wheels from Shimano, Campy, Fulcrum, Mavic, and Easton. They all offer alloy wheelsets around 1500g at $700-1500. Going under 1500 grams usually requires $1000 on up.

If you want to build a light wheelset, getting to that 1500g benchmark can be tricky. By the time you select your rims and hubs there's not much room left before you hit 1500. The following amounts are for White Industries T11 and Pacenti rims.

Front: 100g (hub) + 450g (rim) = 550g

Rear: 250g (hub) + 450g (rim) = 700g

You can go below these amounts by about 10 percent but not much beyond that before you're soon paying double and reducing reliability. Basically, you are playing with 250g when choosing spokes and nipples.

Let's assume you want to build a 20/24 hole wheelset for training and racing. Here are some weight scenarios:

Sapim Race (2.0/1.8/2.0) for front and rear

with alloy nipples: 676 + 852 = 1528

with brass ripples: 688 + 866 = 1554

Sapim CX-Ray (1.7/0.9/1.7) for front and mixed Race and Laser (1.7/1.5/1.7) for the rear

with alloy nipples: 648 + 836 = 1484

with brass nipples: 658 + 850 = 1508

Of course the actual weights will vary by spoke length and lacing pattern. The calculations assume 280mm spokes, which is a good median value.

You could knock off about 50 grams by using a Chris King R45 hubset (215g for the rear) and Stan's Alpha 400 rims, but that would add about $200-250 and there are drawbacks.

If you're wary of the low spoke count, the numbers for 24/28 are 675g and 875g or 1550. Add 25g when you add 4 spokes/nipples.

Lightweight wheels are expensive for two reasons: 1) the components cost more; and 2) the builds take longer. Working with alloy nipples, which save 30 grams per wheelset, requires extra time because a hasty build can strip nipples. Working with light spokes is tricky because spokes will stretch, and you will be fighting spoke wind-up. Spoke wind-up is your number 1 enemy as a builder.

Weight is on my mind because my current project is a long list of shit you should avoid: 2:1 spoking, CX-Ray spokes, alloy nipples, and a center-drilled rim. More on that soon.

Pacenti SL23 vs HED Belgium C2 vs HED C2 Belgium Plus

This is click bait for nerds. Last year's post on first impressions of the Pacenti SL23 continues to be a popular one. And I frequently get the question about which wide rim is the best, so it's time to directly address the question.

I'll start by ruling out a few choices: Kinlin XR-279 (haven't ridden it; no desire to), Velocity A23 (too soft and inconsistent quality control), H Plus Son Archetype (one catastrophic rim failure, and then there's that strange anodized brake track... ).

What's left? HED and Pacenti. Now that we narrowed the field the remaining questions are:

1. What will fit your frame?
2. What spoke count do you want?
3. What is your budget?

The HED Belgium Plus may not fit your frame. Part of becoming an adult is being able to buy booze, lottery tickets, cigarettes and, yes, learning that you can't always get what you want. I can't use that wheelset on my Cannondale Six13 because it rubs the seat tube and brake bridge. (The regular C2 and SL23 should fit without any drama.)

The Belgium Plus is only available in 28 and 32 hole drillings--if you can even find it. The C2 is available in 24, 28, and 32. The SL23 wins here with 20, 24, 28, and 32 hole drillings. My current road wheelset is a 20 hole front on a SL23 with a White Industries H2; the rear is a Powertap SL 24 hole. The front is plenty solid, but I did use straight gauge spokes so that's not unexpected. The rear, with 2x, and Sapim Race spokes is a different story. That's not the fault of the rim, it's that weird Powertap narrow flange spacing that's to blame.

On budget, it is the SL23 that's the clear winner. It's just under 100 bucks at bikehubstore.com. Yep, that's a promo; Brandon is a straight-shooter. This dick is not. He should be in jail.

Bottom line: if it fits your frame and your needs, go for the HED Belgium Plus. A road rim with an internal width of 20.6 mm is a beautiful thing: It makes dog and cats get along, it brokers a two state solution, and it makes a 25 mm Conti into a 28.5 mm tire. Plus it is ready for tubeless if that's the direction you're going in.

After that it is a toss-up between the HED and Pacenti. The HED is nice to build on, but it is more expensive, and a little heavier than the Pacenti. I lean towards the HED, but they're both great choices.

Red nipples and nipple cream

Take a moment to snicker. The guys at the Bicycle Pro Shop never get tired of laughing every time I ask about anything nipple related. I wonder if the people who sell ball washers look forward to the day the way these guys do.

This wheelset had a number of firsts for me: first time using nipple cream, first time using hexagonal alloy nipples, and the first time using a hexagonal nipple wrench.

That's the Sapim 5,5 mm nipple wrench. Two problems with this piece of equipment: 1) it's not cheap; and 2) it may not work with your rims. After much grinding with the Dremel tool, the T wrench passed through the spoke holes in the rim bridge.

Notes about use: the best use for this tool is on spokes that are already under tension. Bring your wheel up to 90% tension using a regular spoke wrench. Beyond that, use this wrench for making any final adjustment to a drive side nipple, or for any alloy nipple that is under tension. I found that making minute adjustments to nipples was much easier with this tool and there was no concern I would strip a nipple. It was also much easier to see spoke wind up because working on the backside of the rim allows for an unobstructed view of the nipple/spoke.

The downside: it is slow and you can't use it near the feeler arms of the truing stand. Instead, use the feeler arms to find the untrue spot, then rotate the wheel 1/4 turn towards you, make the adjustment with the wrench, extract the wrench, re-check trueness. Sound slow? It is. Use this thing judiciously/sparingly.

Notes about hexagonal nipples: I like 'em. They're not much more expensive than regular nipples and they reduce to zero the chance of stripping a nipple. I will continue to stay away from alloy nipples--hexagonal or not--just on general principles.

Notes about nipple cream: I love the stuff. It makes for a cleaner build than soaking the nipples in Triflow. Triflow always manages to seep onto the brake track and rim bridge.

A regular 12 mm brass nipple (left) and a hexagonal allow nipple (right). The hexagonal head makes it impossible to use a nipple driver.

Pictures of Clarke's wheelset.

The best side of the WI logo.

Brass spoke head washers. Totally unnecessarily. Still, it looks awesome.

The front is radial lacing, elbows in.

Full wheel specifications....

Here comes Fun Boy!

The White Industries hubs are in; the Chris King R45 debacle is a over. What did I learn? Next time someone wants to build on Chris King I should try even harder to talk them out of the idea. #DeadHorse.

Purple? Personally, I don't get it. But my friend wants a loud wheelset. He wants it to scream Here comes fun boy! That's a direct quote. Awesome.

These things look awesome. In case you missed it (I did) White Industries has expanded its hub colors beyond polished silver and polished black. They've got blue, green, red, purple, pink, and gold. The purple is fucking gorgeous.

Purple hubs -> black spokes -> red nipples -> black HED C2 rims.

This will be my first build with hexagonal nipples. Stay tuned.

More artsy pics...

Deliciousness

The National Bike Summit is in session. I'm there because it is part of my day job. But I'm not really there because before long my mind turns to lusty thoughts of new bicycle parts. Also helping distract me from the business of the day was my lunch partner, Megan, the Cyclist Lawyer. She's a lawyer, a racer, and a bit of an equipment nerd--not necessarily in that order.

Then there's this....

Yes! Please? Not sure whether to love or hate Cannondale for pulling its track bike from the market in 2008--just in time to miss the hipster fixed gear revolution. I should love them for it I guess, because if I'd seen a beauty like this being ridden by some dude whose jeans were tighter than his chain tension,  a hate crime would surely ensue.

Next wheel project: White Industries T-11s (Gold) laced to HED Belgium C2s. Stay tuned.

Love,

Mark
ps. #ChrisKingCustomerServiceFail

Gold(?) Chris King R45s

The next project is a wheelset for my friend Clarke. He has chosen HED Belgium C2 rims and Chris King R45 hubs. We're going with 24 hole front/rear. The front will be radial; the rear NDS will be radial with stout 2.0 mm spokes; and the DS will be 2x 2.0/1.8/2.0 Sapim Race. I'm not enamored of the R45 hubs but it was the customer's choice. The local bike shop ordered the set directly from Chris King, and one week later they had arrived. One problem:

Gold?

Strike 1. The original sin + a lame explanation from the company. The bike shop calls Chris King and explains the problem. Chris King explains that hubs are plucked from the same batch and double checked to make sure that they match. Apology? Pshaw!

Strike 2. Chris King slow-boats the replacement hubs. Ten days have passed and still no hubs. A company that was serious about customer service would FedEx those hubs--which don't weigh more than a pound together--to fix their mistake. This is $600+ hub set.

Strike 3. At this point I'm looking forward to a third offense so I can swear off this product completely. Will the last straw be the proprietary hub adjustment tools? The soft 6000 series freehub body? Or something new?

I excite. Stay tuned.