Wheelworks.co.nz, Handbuilt wheels by Tristan Thomas

In a surprise chain of events Ash, Butch and myself managed to step on the podium at the Day Night Thriller in Taupo last weekend.

Butch and I were seriously undercooked going into the event with neither of us having much riding in the legs. Ash had completed two 2-week nutritional trials at Massey University and was the opposite; he was in great shape but physically burned out from the trial. The goal of us doing the event was simply to post some half decent lap times and have a whole lot of fun doing so.

With about 5 hours to go Rhys stopped by our camp and mentioned that we were currently running in 4th place, which was a shock to all of us. I went to the timing tent to confirm and upon my arrival back at the campsite the mood changed: We went from casually enjoying the event to getting full-on serious. Pens and calculators emerged and we started plotting lap times needed to hold off the close running 5th and 6th place teams and gain 10 minutes on Kah’s team which were running 3rd.

Even with the sun going down and the trails getting dark we managed to keep the lap times consistent but seeing Kah riding past the campsite made me think they were holding us off.

We switched from double-laps to singles with about 2h left to race. I ended up drawing the short straw for completing the final lap…if I was quick I might be able to get two laps in before the 10:30pm cut-off. I pushed as hard as I could for the final lap (and set my fastest lap of the day) but we were still 3 minutes short to get that last lap in.

We wandered over to prizegiving hoping that the money went down to 5th but were shocked when Wheelworks was called up in 3rd place! We celebrated with a nice bottle of vino and I shouted the boys a big ol-fashioned breakfast fry up at the local cafe the next morning.

It was nice to get out of the workshop for a couple of day, and what better way than to ride your bike and hangout with friends? A big thanks to Ash and Butch for making it a great weekend!

Polished Phil Wood bottom bracket and Chris King headset :-)

These have to be the ultimate daily-driver wheelset for larger fellows.

DT Swiss 240s hubs strike a great balance of light weight and excellent durability.  The new white decals look great and match well to a wide range of bikes.

DT Swiss Competition spokes and black brass spoke nipples (which are remarkably hard to find) are laced to Kinlin XR-300 rims.  Rear lacing is 32×3 and the front is laced 28×2 (which I personally think is the nicest looking lacing pattern)

These wheels are remarkably similar to these but with a few important differences:

These use an earlier generation hub.  I believe this model is the first of the 9 speed hubs and is also compatible with modern 10 (and 11) speed drivetrains.  This particular hub is fitted with teh ultra-rare Shimano freehub body so will take 8, 9 or 10 speed Shimano cassettes.

Spokes for this wheelset are DT Swiss Revolutions on the front and non-driveside and the stiffer, heavier Competition spokes on the driveside rear.  This adds a bit of lateral stiffness to the wheels.  Nipples are a combo of brass and alloy.

Rims are Alex R400…410g alloy clinchers.  We had originally been waiting for a pair of white Velocity Aeroheads but unfortunately Velocity have been swamped with order for purple Deep V’s and couldn’t deliver on time.  We tried some new ’stealth’ decals….gloss black decals on gloss black rims.  The outcome was a bit too subtle and they’re almost invisible.

This pair of wheels is destined for my friend Kah’s white Moser refurbishment with period Chorus and Record parts.  It’s going to be one hell of a nice bike.

Tune Mig70 / Mag180 hubs with Shimano freehub body.  Sapim CX-Ray black spokes and SILs nipples and Kinlin XR-300 alloy clincher rims.  1400g.

The rear is laced in a “triplet” pattern using 16 driveside spokes and 8 non-drive spokes (24 spoke total.)  The triplet balances the spoke tension between the drive and non-drive sides and also yields near-perfect tangential spoke bracing angle.

Gold

Rohloff Speedhub 14 speed internal gearbox.

DT Swiss 240s front hub:  A great visual match to the Rohloff and of similar quality.

Stan’s ZTR Flow 29er rims.  Stiff, light and tubeless ready.

DT Swiss Competition black spokes and black brass nipples.

These wheels are for a custom Lenz 29er with special dropouts for the Rohloff hub’s dogbone.  Unfortunately for the owner the frame is still being built so these wheels will be sitting around for a while before being put into use.

Powertap SL2.4 wireless powermeter matched to a 72 gram Tune Mig70 front hub.

Rear wheel is laced 28×2 to a Kinlin XR-300 with DT Swiss Competition spokes and black brass nipples.

Front wheel is laced 28×2 to a Kinlin XR-270 with Sapim Laser spokes and black brass nipples.  By using this combination of spoke and rim the lateral stiffness and weight of the wheel are reduced to improve the ride feel.

The Powertap hub is amazingly light for the functionality it brings.  These wheels were paired with 90 gram hollow steel quick release levers and an Ultegra cassette.

A rebuild of some polished Campagnolo Record hubs laced to Alex R400 clincher rims with Sapim Laser spokes and a combination of brass and alloy nipples.

The R400 is a 410 gram box-section clincher rim.  It’s nice and light and available in a lot of drillings right down to 20h, it’s reasonably stiff and durable.  Sapim Lasers are the lightest of the Sapim range with a 2.0mm diameter at head and thread and a 1.5mm center section.

These are the last of the ‘oldskool’ Record hubs with grease ports and the smooth, polished shell….newer versions are black with the square shell and non grease port.