Exal LX17 - Anyone built with these rims?

[John the Monkey]

Just built up a rear with these (on Deore).

Time was a bit tight for this build, so I went with the manufacturers ERD measurement - gives me 288mm spokes on the drive side, 290mm on t'other (unsing Roger Musson's "Wheelpro" calculator).

The non drive side feels looser than I'm used to (not stupidly loose though) whilst the drive side is hellishly tight. I'd be interested to know whether anyone else has used these rims, and what ERD they came up with.

Also, the moral here is always measure the parts yourself, whatever the manufacturer says.

 

[MartinC]

Surely this isn't anything to do with spoke length. You tighten them up until the dish is right and the tension is right. If one side is too tight and the other loose when the dish is right it must mean that the hub needs a lot (too much?) dish.

I suppose you might get this effect if you're using an asymmetric rim the wrong way round - but you wouldn't do that would you? Some rims have the spoke holes alternately orientated to align with the correct flange. I don't know whether getting this misaligned would cause this problem - the spokes would have to bend slightly to enter the hole correctly which might mess with the tension. Sometimes when you put a really large flange hub (e.g. a hub gear or a hub dynamo) in a 26" rim you need to do them 2x to avoid this bend.