Author Topic: My new wheelset  (Read 759 times)

jim-ratliff

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Re: My new wheelset
« on: November 29, 2012, 04:00:36 pm »

I thought I would stick a copy of this here, since Living Proof's new wheels are Neuvation and there was some conversation about spoke count and wheels somewhere here, although that conversation was about mountain bike wheels and this newsletter article is about road wheels (where the aerodynamics of high spoke count wheels is a bigger issue).




Neuvation Newsletter Thursday Nov 29th
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How to spec a custom wheel.

We sell lots of custom wheels and often I get asked the best way to spec a wheel.  Here are a few guide lines.
First and foremost, the failure mode for virtually all lower spoke count wheels is rim cracks.  The heavier the rim the stronger and slower it will be.  The more spokes , the heavier and less aerodynamic it will be and the fewer rim cracks you will get.
Our stock wheels are, not surprisingly, a very good indication of what we believe is the best trade off.  On our SL wheels we use a 440 gram 20 hole front rim and a 480 24 hole rear rim.  We find that combination to be a good tradeoff for people even over 200 pounds.  We?ve had 250 pound riders put 10,000 miles on that set of wheels without any issues.
If you are hard on wheels you can break anything but I personally don?t see the need for any front wheels with more than 24 spokes (except for heavy touring) or more than 28 in the rear.
Hubs have improved drastically over the last 10 years and it?s very unusual to experience any failures and when they do happen they are relatively easy and inexpensive to fix.  You can put a lot of money into hubs and really not get much out of it.  We always suggest either our stock Neuvation hubs or the White Industries hubs if anyone asks.
We use Sapim spokes.  Their CX Ray spoke is the strongest spoke around and it?s also very light and very expensive (and used by most of the tour pros.  You can use their Laser spoke and get the same weight and give up a tiny bit of durability and aerodynamics.
[size=78%]We always suggest brass nipples on the drive side of the rear hub.  If you use alloy there is a decent chance they will crack and it?s not worth the weight savings.  For all the other nipples we suggest alloy.[/size]
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« Last Edit: November 29, 2012, 04:04:37 pm by jim-ratliff »
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