Wheelworks.co.nz, Handbuilt wheels by Tristan Thomas

David originally brought in his rear wheel with a destroyed American Classic hub to have the ZTR Olympic rim re-laced into a new hub, however after looking at the dents and marks on the rim I suggested that a new rim would be a good idea.

I used gold aluminium nipples to match the gold Hope Pro2 hub.   DT Swiss Competition spokes on the driveside and Revolution spokes on the non-drive provide a good balance of stiffness and light weight for David’s weight and riding style.

As with all wheels I build this one has a 3 year broken spoke guarantee.

Neville wanted a Rohloff 14 speed gearbox hub built into a 20″ rim for a human-powered vehicle.  20″ rims in 32 hole are hard to find so we had to wait a couple of weeks for this Velocity Psycho to arrive from Australia, but it’s a great rim and worth the wait.

The wheel is built 1-cross with very short (153mm) spokes and brass spoke nipples.

Most of the wheels I built use spokes nearly twice this length so it was great to see that my methods for calculating spoke length work just as perfectly on wheels of this size.

Glen sent his pair of 5TT wheels in to have two broken spokes replaced – one on the front wheel, one on the rear driveside.

The front wheel was pretty straight-forward: Remove the hub’s massive endcap and a large clip which goes around the spoke heads, replace the spoke and true the wheel.

The rear was far more complex.  In order to replace the driveside spoke I had to remove the entire hub assembly from the rim, remove all the non-drive spokes, and slide the large ring down the driveside spokes. I could then insert a new spoke, reasemble the wheel, and tension  /true.

Each carbon spoke has two threads bonded into it, and each one has a small washer and an internal nipple.  Fitting all 36 tiny washers inside the rim was a patience-testing exercise.  Each spoke has a rubber gasket which is sandwiched between the spoke and rim. I replaced each of these but the rubber is such poor quality that it was cracking on most of the spokes before I’d even finished building it.

These wheels are now ridable again and on their way back to Glen.

Mike wanted a new pair of carbon clinchers for the upcoming Tour of New Zealand.

We chose the Enve 45 clincher rims with a 24 front / 28 rear spoke count to provide great stiffness and durability for Mike.

Chris King Campagnolo-compatibile hubs in red add a nice touch of colour to the wheels and work well with larger and more powerful riders because of their wide flange spacing and exceptional quality.  Custom black Enve decals provide a stealth look at the rim.

These are a top-quality pair of carbon clinchers.

Well a lot of people (myself included) thought it was never going to happen, but Chris King finally started shipping their Campagnolo rear hubs!  Campagnolo compatibility was the main reason they introduced the R45 hubs and moved away from their ‘Classic’ 72-point engagement system to the smaller 45-point road system (hence the R45 name)

This pair of black hubs is laced to a pair of 23mm wide Hed C2 rims.  I used DT Swiss bladed Aerolite spokes on both the 24 hole front and 28 hole rear wheels.  The front spoke nipples are aluminium while the rear are brass.

I’ve built a couple (one, two) of wheelsets for Daniel and his awesome bikes like this Look so it was great to build a pair for his new Hampsten.  Daniel will be happy to know these wheels were laced while the Tour of Flanders played in the background.

Back in January I built a rear wheel for Mike in Ashburton- well it must have worked well for him as he ordered a matching front!

A blue Hope Pro2 with a QR15 axle, blue Wheelworks decal, and a Stan’s Flow rim match the rear. I used DT Swiss Competition spokes and brass nipples.  Mike is a big fella so this combination will be stiff and durable for him.

Derek’s Reynolds front wheel was having some issues breaking spokes, and the Reynolds-branded hub was getting a bit tired. I rebuilt the rim into a new DT Swiss 240s hub with DT Swiss Revolution spokes and new Reynolds internal nipples.

Mark is buying a titanium disc-only cyclocross frame and wanted to use a Campagnolo drivetrain.

The mountain bike version of the DT Swiss 240s uses the same freehub body as the road version, so the switch to a Campagnolo freehub body is easy. For this build we chose the Center Lock splined hub.

Stan’s Crest rims will work well with standard road tyres and tubes as well as and larger, cyclocross tyrea.

A combination of DT Swiss Revolution and Competition spokes keeps weight down, and black brass nipples add durability.

1520 grams is a great weight for such a versatile and durable pair of wheels.

James needed a new rear wheel for his Gary Fisher after breaking spokes after almost every ride.

A strong rim was in order and the Stan’s Flow is perfect.  These are a wide, stiff rim which build up really well and will work with a wide range of tyre widths.

I used the awesome Pro2 rear hub as it stands up extremely well to larger riders, and all the small-parts for servicing are easy and affordable to get.

DT Swiss Competition spokes and brass nipples tie everything together and will keep the wheel running true and broken-spoke-free for many years to come.

James sent me his old hub with cassette and rotor still attached so I fitted these to the new wheel and it’s on it’s way back to Rotoura.

I stand behind my work 100% and guarantee no broken spokes for 3 years (barring any big hits or crashes of course) so if you’re a larger fella and you want your wheel problems to go away give me a call.

Simon’s new Specialized Epic 29er is an awesome bike but the factory wheelsets leave a lot to be desired and Simon wanted to drop some weight.

I laced a pair of DT Swiss 240s hubs to Stan’s Crest rims.

The front hub is a 9mm thru-axle for the RWS skewers used on the Epic forks. The rear is the awesome 142×12 thru-axle.

DT Swiss Revolution spokes on the front and rear non-driveside keep the weight down. Competition spokes on the rear driveside add some stiffness which is lost from the offset of the cassette.

Red aluminium nipple and red decals give the wheelset some colour.

These are off to Rotorua for the Oceania’s on the weekend – best of luck Simon!