Wheelworks.co.nz, Handbuilt wheels by Tristan Thomas

Rhys always asks a lot of questions after I work on his bike (a good thing) so I though I’d document the fork upgrade from a Reba to a 2010 Fox F29RLC and the fitting of his new Wheelworks 29er wheels with QR15mm Hope hubs.

One of the big downsides with 29ers is their higher handlebar height.  Compared to the Reba the new Fox was 10mm taller (bad) but has 20mm more travel (good) so once the forks sag into their travel the ride height should be only be a few mm higher.

I was surprised how light the new Fox was with the FIT cartridge.

The net result is 459g weight loss and a better performing fork and wheelset….win!

At first glance this looks like a pretty standard Anthem X1…take a closer look and you’ll notice the white F32 fork, full XT drivetrain, and white ODI grips and Selle Italia saddle.

The week before this year’s Karapoti Ian’s Specialized Epic frame developed a crack.  Ian had purchased this 575 frame ready for a long-travel build but with just two days to spare I swapped his Epic’s XTR build kit and Wheelworks wheels onto the new frame.  Ian had never ridden a long travel bike before and he only had one chance to ride the bike prior to race day.  Showing his class he won his age group.

Nick’s super-bling road wheelset: Edte 68mm carbon clincher rims laced to the new-model PowerTap SL2.4 with Ant+ support.  The Ant+ version talks with a Garmin Edge 705 computer / GPS unit to record heartrate, gps position, as well as speed, power being produced etc etc.

The front hub is a light weight 16 hole Tune Mig70.   Spokes are DT Swiss Aerolite with Pillar internal nipples.

Wheelset weight was 1653 grams which sounds heavy until you realize that these wheels are clincher, have a huge aero advantage,  measure power, and are still lighter than a Ksyrium SL :-)

Getting the rims was a nightmare and took a lot longer than it should have – Nick was patient and the finished pair was hopefully worth the wait.

Italian-made Bianchi carbon mountain bike built with a XT drivetrain.  No Wheelworks wheels on it yet though ;-)

The Oetzi carbon frames were some of the last of Bianchi’s “Reparto Corse” Italian-made carbon frames.  This is a rare model as there aren’t too many in existence.  Olympic gold medalist Julien Absolon rode a similar frame before moving to Orbea.

Fox RLC fork, Easton EC90 carbon handlebar, Ritchey WCS seatpost and Maxxis High Roller eXCeption series tubeless tyres.