Published by Tristan on 10 May 2010 at 10:59 pm
Ross’ Shimano XTR M965 rebuild
This XTR rear wheel had pulled a spoke head through the rim and required a replacement rim. This generation of Shimano wheel is notoriously hard to work on; the spokes cross over (driveside spokes enter the non-driveside of the rim), the mixed lacing pattern and hub-mounted nipples mean that these wheels don’t resemble a ‘normal’ wheel and react quite differently to adjustments.
At first I hated doing Shimano rebuilds but the more I do the better I get and the more I enjoy them. The basic wheelbuilding concepts are the same – spoke tension holds the wheel together and pulls the rim where you want it – but the best way to get the desired effect is quite different and I like the challenge.
The finished wheel has run-out of less than 0.10mm in both the lateral and vertical directions and has exceptionally equal spoke tension which means the wheel is true and will remain true.
Like the FH-M965 rear hub these wheels use a titanium freehub body and titanium rear axle. The replacement rim was remarkably light for a UST tubeless rim at 420 grams, the old rim was 433g.
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david on 12 May 2010 at 11:06 am #
I used to lust after those wheels, but I find them so ugly now. In what way do they react differently? I suppose you have to tweak the nipples on the opposite side to normal due to the cross over. Or is the difference more subtle?
Tristan on 12 May 2010 at 4:56 pm #
The nipples on the driveside will pull the rim towards the driveside (just like normal) the problem is that the “driveside” spokes enter the non-driveside of the rim.
The rims react a little differently to changes of spoke tension despite the nipples having normal thread pitch.