Wheelworks.co.nz, Handbuilt wheels by Tristan Thomas

Tim wanted to convert a pair of old road Shamal wheels into something he could use on the track. The rims were showing their age but after being chromed they shine like a hotrod’s bumper.

I re-built the front hub using new round-section spokes. The rear hub is a 32 hole Record Pista hub which I skipped every second hole to lace to the 16 hole Shamal rim. This isn’t as easy as it first seems as the holes between the left and right flanges are offset incorrectly when using only 16 spokes so the lacing pattern needs to be ‘symmetrical’ in order for the spokes to be the correct length.

The Shamal rims are a real pain to build as each spoke has a small rectangular washer under the nipple, and this washer is only just big enough to fit in through the drilled nipple hole. Spoke nipples are hex-head DT Swiss 12mm brass.

The end result is a stunning pair of neo-retro track wheels.

Stu wanted a durable rear wheel for training with power.

I laced a 2012 matt black Pro wireless hub to a Kinlin XR-270 rim. The spokes on both sides are round-section DT Swiss Competitions with black brass nipples.  The wireless PowerTap hubs are plug-and-play with Garmin headunits so they’re a simple way to add power to your riding.

The decals are a dark blue colour which gets lost a little in the photos but looks really subtle in real life.

Angry Clive’s ZTR Gold 29er rear wheel needed a full re-build with new spokes and spoke nipples.

For all rebuilds I take some before photos in case I need to reference anything like the valve hole position, details of the lacing pattern etc. Normally these photos are in focus :-)

A combination of DT Swiss Competition and Revolution spokes will add some stiffness to the factory wheelbuild, at a weight increase of 32 grams.

Aluminium spoke nipples keep things light and right.

Race reports form the boys and girls at Wheelworks Racing. Check out facebook.com/WheelworksRacing for more photos of a great weekend away.

The Wheelworks Women’s Elite team is ecstatic this evening after doubling team numbers (now at 2) in a stellar morning race in tough conditions. Kirsten Price debuted in the women’s elite race, with not even a puncture able to hold her back.

Janine went on the attack before the final climb, and hit the bottom with a 30s lead. Hatepe heartbreak saw the chasing pack catch her at the top.

Janine ticked off her race goals, and is happy with the way the race went. Kirst was fizzing after being comfortable in to the peloton.

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A tough head wind start saw about 20 dropped from the bunch in the first 5km. At 6km, WWR turned WWF. Two riders went down mid bunch, Tristan had nowhere to go except over his handlebars and with a bodyslam that Brett ‘the hitman’ Hart would be proud of, landed in the waiting chest of PBR’s Fraser Gough. We don’t think Gough got back up (hope he’s okay!).

The crash split the bunch, and about 10 riders continued around the lake with the first bunch of the rec riders, including Tristan.

At the pointy end, the pace was sustained while the downed riders dusted themselves off. The surging pace and relentless attacks for about 60km saw more riders shelled from the bunch. WWR were well represented in most of the attacks, and when the break of 12 finally stuck Andy was right in the mix.

Andy rode really well, and as the front group fragmented, managed to stay up the front. Torckler attacked the break at the bottom of Kuratau with 75 to go, and Cooper bridged across. Andy and Mike Northey attacked at Turangi, and caught Cooper on Hatepe. Torckler put 2 ½ minutes into the chasing three overthe final 20km. Northey sprinted in for second, Cooper third, and Andy in 4th. The rest of the boys came in in the chasing bunches. All in all, a successful day.

After asking a whole lot of tech questions Chris wanted a pair of do-everything road wheels and we settled on the White Ind H2 hubs and 23mm wide Hed C2 rims.

The silver hubs are laced with black DT Swiss Competition spokes and two spokes at each valve are red. This colour combination could be to celebrate Lewis Hamilton finding his way back onto a Formula1 podium, or it could be because it looks awesome.  Given these wheels are off to Australia it’s more likely Chris would be a Mark Webber fan….but I digress….

Front spoke nipples are aluminium to save weight, and the rear ones are brass to add some durability.

There aren’t too many truly sub-1600 gram road wheels in this price range, and none designed to suit a 110kg rider.

While away I had the chance to read NZ Road Cyclist cover-to-cover…as always there is lots of good content with a distinctly New Zealand focus.

The article on Teams shows Wheelworks Racing in a unique light compared to the other Elite-level teams. I’m really proud of the culture and attitude which has developed in the team.

As always Kah and I wrote and shot the Workshop section – this issue is checking for chain wear.

And there is this awesome ad which Gary put together.  The subtle colour and fantastic image from Joe Kelly looked great on the proof and on the computer screen, but the ad doesn’t pop from the magazine which is a real shame.  Lesson learned: next issue will be a bolder, more colourful ad.

I don’t do a lot of bike building or bike repairs these days, but I always enjoy it – especially when it’s  building up a DI2 Roubaix!

One of the paramount questions with DI2 is where to mount the battery.  In this case we choose to mount it under the bottom bracket, off the cable-guide bolt.  I wasn’t 100% sure if the frame’s hardpoint was designed for this so I machined a 46mm diameter PTFE plug, and then cut off a small arc – this will support the batteries weight from the inside of the bottom bracket shell.  The photos were taken before I trimmed the bole and cleaned-up the part.

I mounted the control box under the stem.  I’m not a fan of seeing these zip-tied to the stem so I used foam mounting tape which will stand up well to the vibrations of road riding.  The stem is just a loaner to dial in fit.

On this bike the crankset and brakes came from Neil’s old mechanical 7900 groupset, and the new DI2 shifters and derailleur were added.

Stay tuned for a nice pair of Chris King / Enve wheels for this bike.

Chris King hubs are magical – the deep colours look almost wet, and the sound of the 72 engagement point rear hub has been likened to a swarm of angry bees. King make all of their hubs in a high-tech, eco-friendly factory in Portland, USA.

This pair of 20mm front / 150x12mm rear hub is laced to Stans Flow rims in white. Spokes are DT Swiss Competitions and I used aluminium nipples on the front wheel and brass on the rear wheel.  Originally we were going to use blue spoke nipples but the King hubs were a much darker shade of blue than the Wheelsmith or DT nipples I have and it didn’t look right so I opted for black.

This pair is heading up the Kapiti Coast for Hayden’s new DH bike.

After 1287 km in the Falcoon and 832 km on the bike I’m back from my K2 holiday.

Wheelworks Racing had a pretty good day at K2 -  undercover-brother Silias was 5th, Andy had the legs for 6th, Stu was 12th, Kendall spent a big chunk of the day in the break and finished 16th, and I punctured on the descent into Coromandale and went on to finish last in the Elite field :-(  Janine was 7th in the Elite woman, Kirsten was 2nd in the womans K1, and Julia was 2nd in the Nicholas Browne Challenge.

The weather for the race was perfect for us Wellingtonians with about half of the distance being done in the rain.

The K2 is one of the best-organized events we go to and we’re all looking forward to coming back next year.

I’m back in the workshop and making my way through emails.  Please give me a day or two to respond, or feel free to call on 04 387 3592 if you think a phone discussion would be easier.

Cheers,

Tristan