Wheelworks.co.nz, Handbuilt wheels by Tristan Thomas

Spring seems to be a popular time of year to buy a Rohloff – a winter’s worth of drivetrain maintenance catches up and the simplicity of the gearbox suddenly makes sense. I’ve had four of these hubs to build in the last two weeks!

The Salsa rims work really well with the large flanges of the Rohloff hub. Some rims, like DT Swiss, don’t let the nipple exit at the right angle, and some spoke nipples, like Sapim, have a similar problem. I’ve got a lot of experience with these hubs so I know what combinations work well.

This wheel is being fitted to a Salsa La Cruz cyclocross / commuter / touring bike.

Cameron hit something at speed and damaged an XR-200 rear rim.

I treat damages and rebuilds as a great way to learn about the original build of the wheel, especially when it’s one of my own. It’s a great chance to see what condition the spoke nipples are in – especially whether they have seized to the spokes. With alloy nipples this is one of the primary concerns yet it can be quite easily prevented with correct building.

For a rebuilt I start by taping the new rim next to the old one. Since the spokes are happy in their position on the hub they can be re-used and don’t need to be disturbed too much.  Spokes are stretchy steel and it takes a lot to damage them.  I won’t re-use spoke nipples, especially aluminium ones so these will be replaced.

I then loosen each spoke nipple. I do this in small amounts by going around the wheel a few times and loosening only one turn at a time while the wheel is at tension. This prevents the tension from one spoke being transferred to others if it was completely loosened.

The new spoke nipples are prepared by shooting grease into each one of them. The blue tray is something I made as a prototype 4 years ago but it works so well I’ve never had to modify it.

Once the spokes are loose I go around the wheel and move each spoke from the old rim to the new one. The old nipple is discarded and the spoke thread is wiped clean. The new nipple has grease inside the thread and I roll the head in grease before it goes into the rim so that it rotates easily inside the rim.

Once each spoke is moved to the new rim the tape can be cut. From here it’s business as usual to finish building the wheel.

Some pics of the damaged rim. Cameron isn’t sure what he hit – they were riding single-file at pace and it wasn’t pointed out. The tube was pinch-flatted and the tyre slightly damaged so it was a reasonable hit!

And a few pics of the finished rebuild:

Chris King coffee arrived. It’s very dark and has a strong, nutty taste. It tastes a lot like American drip coffee – but in a good way!

I had these hubs custom-coloured to match the silver stripes and logos on Paul’s BMC PRo Machine. The front hub is an Alchemy ELF, the rear a DT Swiss 240s. Spokes are DT Swiss Aerolites with the two spokes next to each valve coloured the same as the hubs. Rims are Kinlin XR-270 with custom silver decals to match the hubs and spokes.

I’ve been experimenting a lot with custom coloured hubs and spokes and I’ll be offering this as an option on more wheelsets in the future.

The wheelset weight is 1399 grams – super light for such a stiff and durable wheelset.

Some new silver bar tape and custom-painted stem top cap and preload cap finish it off.

Kah needed a matching rear for his Lefty front wheel which I built earlier in the year.

After a long wait the DT Swiss 240s single speed hub arrived. After some pink decals it was ready for Kah.

The Alpine is the lightest “non-race” rim in the Stan’s range and is essentially a newer version of the ZTR Olympic.

DT Swiss Revolutions and alloy nipples keep the weight down – since the DT hub has wide flanges these spokes are plenty stiff enough for all of Kah’s horsepowers.

I also fitted a pair of DT Swiss 36 point engagement rings to make for snappier acceleration and a much better noise when coasting.

This week Sapim released a new light-weight spoke they call the SuperSpoke. The SuperSpoke is 20% lighter than the current lightest steel spokes on the market – the DT Swiss Revolution and Aerolite and Sapim Laser and CX-Ray.

How is it so light? By thinning the diameter of the spoke at both the head, the thread, and the middle section they use less materal, and therefore less weight.

Most spokes use a 2.0mm head and most hubs are designed around this measurement. The SuperSpoke uses a 1.8mm head which will be a loose fit in almost all modern hubs. Some light weight hubs might come specially drilled for the smaller SuperSpoke which would be great, but for most hubs this is a real downside.

The center section of the SuperSpoke is 1.4mm in diamter – narrower than the Laser or Revolution which are both 1.5mm. The narrower center section will mean the spokes ‘windup’ more when being built, but this isn’t really a problem for an experienced wheel builder.

The threads of the SuperSpoke are 1.8mm (15 gauge) so will need to use 15 gauge nipples. Some other spokes like the DT Swiss SuperComp and Aero use 15g threads. Other than the weight savings there is no real benefit, but no real downside either (other than harder to find 15g nipples.) A 15g nipple is thicker and therefore theoretically stronger.

It’s very important to note that these spokes are 20% lighter and therefore 20% less-stiff than the already flexy Revolution / Laser / CX-Ray / Aerolite.

Sapim make some durability comparisons which is great except that well-built wheels with components chosen correctly for the application don’t break spokes.

So what is the purpose of these spokes? As I see it they fit well for only one type of wheel: where high spoke count is desired for durability and less susceptibility to accident damage but isn’t required for stiffness. A 32h downhill wheel with a stiff rim is a good example, or a front 32h road training wheel.

Downhill is going through another weightweenie phase at the moment so I expect there will be some demand here, especially with very stiff rims like the carbon fiber Edge Composites.

For most other wheels a reduction in spoke weight isn’t really necessary: If the reduction in lateral stiffness is acceptable then weight can be reduced through the use of fewer spokes. Since aerodynamic drag is tied closely to the number of spokes it makes sense (especially on a road wheel) to go this route. The round-section SuperSpoke will also not be as aerodynamic as the bladed CX-Ray / Aerolite.

It’s great to see some development in spokes and more options are always better! This is a specialist spoke and will have a narrow range of applications but it’s great to see Sapim pushing forward.

Robert is putting together a supercommuter based on a Merida S’Presso. I built a Rohloff from PureSports into an all-black Semi 29er rim with DT Swiss Competition spokes and black brass nipples.

I’ve built a lot of Rohloff hubs but this was the first time that I’ve installed one onto a bike. Installing one of these is very different from a normal geared bike, and at first is very intimidating. Once you figure out how each bit works it’s actually a very simple job – the hardest part is making sure the cable routing looks nice and tidy. The hub deals with all the indexing itself so all that’s really required is running the cables around the roller which actuates the hub.

In a moment of total-overkill I used the lathe to cut the end of the grip. With all twist-shifters you need to cut down the grip to fit, and it’s very important that the end is perpendicular so that the twist shifter can rotate easily. Usually this is done with a craft knife but a parting tool on the lathe did a much cleaner (and quicker) job.

I’ve got another one to install onto a Singular frame once some more bits arrive…

Geof wanted a new pair of wheels for his singlespeed with the option of potentially running gears in the future. We used red Pro2 single speed hubs and I machined the freehub body to accept 7 cogs to future-proof the wheels a little.

Stan’s Arch 29er rims are great for singlespeeds as they’re very stiff so well suited to low cadence grunting up hills.

Based on Geof’s weight and planned use I used DT Swiss Competition black spokes and matching black brass nipples.

Decals are red to match the hubs.

Brent wanted a light weight pair of singlespeed wheels for the upcoming World Champs in Rotoura.

I used ‘classic’ silver Pro2 hubs with a combination of DT Swiss Revolution and Competition spokes and DT Swiss alloy spoke nipples in order to keep the weight down but retain plenty of lateral stiffness.

The 29″ Crest rims are very light and build up really well.

This pair of wheels should last many years of singlespeeding. Thanks for your order Brent!

The 2011 XTR stuff is starting to trickle in – I’ve got some of the XC stuff here and the Trail is due to arrive tomorrow. This stuff looks fantastic and, knowing Shimano, it will work extremely well. I’m still waiting on cranks and rear derailleurs so a installation- and ride-report will have to wait. Call me if you’re looking to upgrade your groupset.

On with the macro: