Wheelworks.co.nz, Handbuilt wheels by Tristan Thomas

Last year I built Clint a pair of wheels using red XR-270 rims and DT Swiss 240s hubs. Clint is  a tall, powerful rider who clocks up some serious weekly kilmetres and wanted a robust, but lightweight wheelset for general use. The XR-270 is a great lightweight, 27mm deep aluminuim  rim and is a proven workhorse for many of my clients. However, Clint’s rear rim developed some cracking at some of the spoke holes. Hence, I replaced the rear rim a few months ago but the replacement did the same. I began to realise with the combination of  Clint’s stature and the high kms he’s logging, the 28-hole spoke count and XR-270 just wasn’t suitable for the rear wheel in this instance. Although I was surprised, I take a fair amount of the responsibility – a big part of having custom wheels built is that the components are matched to the rider and their intended  use. Lightweight products are a staple of the cycling market, and there is often some pressure to produce the lightest possible wheelset which meets that need, but in this case the tolerance was just a little fine.

I’ve rebuilt Clint’s hubs using the DT Swiss 585 rim.  It’s a similar depth to the XR-270 but a heavier, stiffer rim. Athough the front wheel had no such problems both of us understandably wanted to colour match the wheelset, therefore we opted to rebuilt both wheels.

The new rims have a slightly different depth and require different length spokes, so all new spokes and spoke nipples were used.  As with the original wheelset the front nipples are aluminium to save weight, and the rear are brass.

Paul wanted an internal-hub wheel to match an electric motor front wheel.  He used the Shimano Alfine 11 speed hub and we matched it to an Alex Adventurer rim which is a close visual match to the front rim.

The spokes are DT Swiss Competition and use brass nipples.

This silver Rohloff 14 speed hub is laced to a Stan’s Arch EX rim.  This was the first time I’d had a chance to see the internals of a Rohloff and they’re truly impressive!

Ian wanted a stiff but light pair of wheels for general XC riding around Nelson’s Rabbit Island.

We used the awesome Pro2 hubs front and rear.  Both hubs are setup for standard quick release levers but should Ian upgrade to a new frame or fork in the future it’s easy to convert these hubs to nearly every axle ‘standard’ out there.

The Arch EX works very well as a crosscountry rim for larger, more powerful riders.

The front spokes are a combination of DT Swiss Competitions and Revolutions with aluminium nipples.  The rear spokes are all Competitions with brass nipples.

After re-building Mat’s Tune hubs with some new Enve tubeless XC rims Mat went on to give them a good thrashing.  Here is his writeup after a few rides:

http://mathewwaghorn.webs.com/apps/blog/show/15060990-my-new-bling-enve-composite-rims

Just before the T42 race, I received a nice upgrade to my race bike. My old rims were getting buckled and dented, as light weight rims do with age. Tristan, from Wheelworks informed me that it would a good idea to replace them before I went overseas, as they may not be able to last the entire trip. For a while I was thinking about another set of Notubes rims, but I would eventually have to replace them again. Tristan then suggested I look at the Enve Carbon rims. After a few emails and some thought consolidation I decided to go for them. They weigh about 30g per Rim heavier than my old rims, but they easily make up for this unnoticeable weight difference with their control and the peace of mind you acquire from them. I have got the the T42 race, a club race, and the 24 hour Moonride under my belt on these rims as well as a training session to get used to them and find for myself the performance benefits received. As soon as I hit the first corner of my first ride I could feel the difference. These Rims are extremely stiff. They handle like a dream; you point the wheel in a certain direction and you WILL go there (traction permitting). The tracks at Santoft are some of the more twisty and tight tracks that I ride. At the club race there I was loving it. Flying around corners and being able to trust my wheels 100% to do their job. I see these wheels as a Hybrid between my Crossmax SLR wheelset and my Notubes wheelset. Stiffer than my Crossmax with weight of my Notubes. It’s great to be able to have the peace of mind that these rims offer. They have just bumped up their warranty to 5 years. That is some serious confidence in their product, and therefore some serious confidence for their customers. They say “The ENVE XC rim is made for cross country racers and trail riders alike, and is only limited by the amount of time you have to ride them”. That sounds good to me! I have been running them with my 2.2 continental tires, and the combination makes for such an incredible ride. The extra absorption from the tires, plus the dampening effects of the carbon rims make it extraordinarily smooth. I really feel that the balance in this wheelset between light weight and handling is perfect. They have tremendous control around each corner and still great acceleration and speed. And to top it all off, they look great. The slightly deeper rims with my fat 2.2 tires make them look extremely meaty and fast. Just the look they deserve, and live up to. On top of that, the decals are done with perfection. An awesome Logo by Enve and the ever impressive wheelworks decals, customized with my name. Perfection.

  

If you are currently looking for a great upgrade to your bike then go no further than these rims. I couldn’t rate them any higher; 5 stars from me.

HUGE thanks to Wide Open (the distributors of ENVE) and Tristan from Wheelworks for sorting these wheels out for me. I rate Tristan’s wheel builds very highly; he’s your man if you need to know anything about wheels, or if you need a set built or maintained. Feel free to contact him, a link to his website is on my sponsors page.

Will wanted to upgrade to a power meter and with plenty of last-years PowerTap hubs being special’ed off by US retailers he supplied this Pro+ unit.

To keep with a classic theme we used the DT Swiss 465 rim.  This is a super high quality, box-section, double-eyelleted rim.  These DT rims really do build up well.

DT Swiss Competition spokes and black brass nipples round-out the 32×3 rear wheel.

Colin in Sydney wanted a pair of wheels which would be suitable for daily riding on a new stainless steel bike.

The Hed C2 rims have a fantastic ride quality and build up really well.  They’re getting harder to get which is a real pain and I’ll be looking for a good substitute.

Polished Chris King R45 hubs and polished DT Swiss Aerolite spokes are modern and high-tech but add a touch of old-school class to the wheelset.

The front wheel uses 24 radial laced spokes with aluminium nipples.  The rear wheel is built with brass nipples and 32 spokes, 3-cross.

This is a great looking pair of wheels.

Paul wanted a stiff rear wheel…I mean really stiff.  He’d had some bad luck with Reynolds and decided that the Enve 65 rim would be the best option.  I agreed.

We used an Alchemy ORC hub.  This hub has the best driveside bracing angle of anything out there meaning it builds into a stiff wheel.

I laced them together with 28 DT Swiss Aerolite bladed spokes.  Why 28?  Because its, you guessed it, stiff.

Custom black Enve decals look awesome.

Thomas wanted a new pair of wheels for his mountain bike and after I built a pair of wheels for his road bike last year he knew where to come.

Hope Pro2 hubs in red look great and work exceptionally well.  The new EVO version means it’s even easier and cheaper to upgrade the wheels to different axle sizes should a new frame or fork come along.

Stan’s Arch EX are a personal favorite rim – light, stiff, easy to use tubeless, but often overlooked for the lighter Crest.

I used alternating red and black spoke nipples to match the hubs.  The driveside rear spoke nipples are black brass.

A combination of DT Swiss Revolution and Competition spokes will give the right combination of lateral stiffness and light weight for Thomas’ weight and riding style.

A couple of years ago I built Mag Waghorn a pair of light weight mountain bike wheels with Tune hubs and Stan’s Race rims.  Mat’s had a lot of use out of these wheels (including a trip to the Worlds in Canada) and the rims were starting to look a bit second-hand.  The Stan’s Race rims are just that – a very light weight rim which works well for racing but isn’t the most durable rim in the world.

Mat’s light Tune King and Kong hubs were in great shape so we rebuilt them onto a pair of Enve XC tubeless rims.

The Enve rims are slightly heavier than the Race but are much stiffer and will have better durability.

Spokes are DT Swiss Revolution.  The rear wheel is laced 2-cross on the driveside because that’s how the Race wheels were built and it’s always best to use the same lacing pattern on a used hub.  The rear non-driveside and both sides of the front wheel are 3-cross.

1319 is a slight weight increase but I’m looking forward to Mat’s feedback on how the stiffer rims ride.