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.

Back in bid'ness

Two builds happening this week.

1. HED Belgium C2s with Ultegra 6800 hubs. 32 hole, 2 cross, 12 mm brass nipples. Durable, moderate cost, 1700 grams. That steel rear axle and cassette body really keep that weight up. Those HED rims have the nicest finish on the market. Pacenti SL23s are nice; these are better.
2. Stan's Arch EX with White Industries MI-6 (front) and Eno rear. 32 hole, 3 cross, 12 mm brass nipples. No one makes prettier hubs than WI.

HED Belgium+ Measurements

I'll be upfront about my bias: I love HED Cycling. They're a Minnesota based company that was an early innovator in wheel aerodynamics. Just like Greg LeMond, who was another Minnesota based innovator in bicycle aerodynamics. You know... I was another Minnesota based innovator in bicycle aerodynamics. At the age of 16, in 1991, I purchased Profile aero bars and slapped them onto the 1991 Cannondale Crit bike (SC 300) I was riding because I'd read they would make me faster. For the guys I was riding with--handmade steel, lugged frames--it was sin compounded by sin. They taught me the norms of cycling (or at least tried to). The lessons didn't sink in until much later.

Back to HED. They are a great company, and not just for their technology, but for their people: whenever I call them with a question about ERD, or to ask when the hell the 24 hole Belgiums C2s were going to show up (2011) they always pleasantly and patiently answered my questions. Tip: use the phone to interact with people; emails are way easier to ignore.

I've been rocking out on HED rims since 2009, when I built up a set on 32 hole White Industries H2/H3 hubs. In the interim, I've built two more wheelsets on their rims. HED now has a lot more competition in wide clincher rim market, but their quality has always been better than everyone else.

Competition is good when it leads to innovation and/or lower prices for consumers. With HED's new rim it's an 'or' not an 'and': the MSRP of the HED Belgium+ is $149 versus $119 for the existing C2. That works out to 10 bucks for every extra millimeter of internal width. The C2 is 17.5 mm bead-to-bead and the new one--check your math--is 20.5 mm. Sweet!

Brake track width is just over 25 mm. There appears to be zero transition (no lip) from the rim nose to the brake track, meaning the brake track is slightly toroidal. Excellent.

The hubs show up mid week: Campy Record 32 hole.

Worth the extra 30 bucks over the C2? Or the extra 50 over a Pacenti? We'll see...

First impressions: wide carbon clinchers

Just short of 100 miles on the new wheelset. Impressions so far using the wheels on the cross rig, with 700 x 25 clinchers, 80 psi & 90 psi (front/rear), 11-28 cassette.

Stiffness: carbon rims have no issues here. These are very stiff, especially with CX-Ray spokes.

Ride: not bad considering the stiffness.

Braking: good! This was a surprise. I won't be riding these in the rain, or bombing sustained descents. Using DT Swiss yellow fronts and Gigantex cork rear.

Aerodynamics: they don't feel fast, but they're also not susceptible to crosswinds.

Looks: head turners thanks to the 12k cosmetic weave.

The test rig.

It's hard to capture the luster of the 12k weave. It does look sweet--take my word for it.

The brake track uses the 3k weave.

38 mm, U-shaped profile, Sapim spokes, DT Swiss brass nipples. Black everywhere.

Carbon everywhere!

And yet more carbon...

Head tube badge. Carl Strong is the man.

The relentless pursuit of insanity

If you happen to be a perfectionist, wheel building is not for you. You'll never get perfectly uniform spoke tension and perfect roundness, so the best you can hope for is close enough on both measures. Adding quantitative measurements can either improve your wheel building by providing additional feedback, or drive you to madness with the pursuit of perfect numbers. I use a tensiometer and that's been 90 percent positive. Today I build my first wheel with the aid of lateral and radial truing gauges from Morningstar tools. We'll see if this is a good thing.

I will say that the experience thus far has been good. The tools shipped quickly from California, and they included a handwritten note from the owner, Paul. That's awesome, right? Gauges now mounted to my TS-2, I'm diving in...

Update: first build--Powertap G3, 38 mm wide carbon clincher, Sapim CX-Ray spokes--is done. These gauges are very useful and well worth the $120. The accompanying instructions could be clearer, but soon enough you'll figure out the logic of the setup.

One trip around the dial equals 0.1" and each unit is 0.001".  The wheel I just completed indicates a tolerance of +/- 0.005". This thing is fucking brilliant. (I can't say the same about building with CX-Ray spokes. More about spokes in the subsequent posting.)

Update two: this setup may be too accurate. I can now detect flat spots on the rim that are due to manufacturing defects. The current rim has 3 and they're about 0.002". Doesn't sound like much, and it's probably not, but it's annoying knowing they are there.

Nerd alert: Rim measurements

I'm cleaning my room today. It's where I sleep; it's where I build wheels; and it's where I store wheels, rims, hubs, and spokes. I've got other work to do, but it's not as much fun as wheel building. So to procrastinate, I decided to measure the internal/external dimensions of the rims on hand.

Yoeleo U shaped 25 mm carbon clincher
25 mm external/18 mm internal

Yishun 23 mm carbon tubular
23 mm external

Gigantex/Equinox carbon tubular
20.5 mm external

Velocity A23 clincher
22.8 mm external/17.5 mm internal
(This is equivalent to the HED Belgian and H Plus Son Archetype. The Pacenti SL23 measures 18.5 mm internally.)

DT Swiss 450 (double eyelet)
19.5 mm external/14 mm internal

Flashpoint FP60 clincher
18.4 mm external/13.4 mm internal
Can you say pinch-flat? Can you say 125 psi limit?

Velocity Arrowhead
20.25 mm external/14.2 mm internal