New wheels, again!

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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
Just ordered an AR46 wheel set, hopefully will arrive early next month (could be longer i guess...). Last part of the puzzle for my recycled bike refurb project;)

Ooh excellent, which finish did you go for? I really like my AR36 and AR56 so imagine the AR46 rims will be great too :becool: Which hubs and spokes did you choose?
 
matte 3k finish same as my AR56, wanted DT Swiss 350's again but apparently they are no more as DT Swiss is in process to update them and there's currently non around, least not at LB anyway... so opted for the Novatec A241 / F482 guess they'll need a bit more maintenance ? but they'll mainly be used in the Summer months, spokes are the regular Sapim CX Ray:okay: Once they arrive they'll have 25mm GP5000 TL on them or maybe Hutchi Storms (still looking at that...)
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
Thread revival time 😄

So my 2017 Stumpjumper is the model before Specialized got the memo about long, slack geometry on enduro bikes. I really like the bike though, so decided to take some steps to shake things up a bit and try something fun. It's designed to take 650b rims with plus tyres - the ones it came with were 3" across - so the forks are actually 29er geometry. Knowing this I've bought some bits to try a 'mullet' setup, that is a 29er on the front and a 27.5 on the back ^_^ This has the effect of raising the front end and slackening the head angle a smidge, bringing it closer to modern geometry with no discernable downsides that I've come across thus far in my (fairly limited) research :laugh:

Here's the bike I'm playing with this time, I've had her several years now and have thrown her down a few mountains but all in all she hasn't been used all that much, especially recently :shy:

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Currently she's got the standard aluminium rimmed Roval Traverse wheels with 110x15mm boost front hub and 148x12 boost rear hub geometry. I swapped the silly tyres out for more reasonable 2.6" Maxxis ones quite soon after I bought it, and this is how she's stayed.

Given that the last 3 sets of wheels I have built used Hope hubs and LightBicycle carbon rims I decided to do something completely different this time, so have ordered... Hope Pro 4 hubs and LightBicycle Recon Pro rims 😄 If it ain't broke...

I've stuck with Maxxis tyres, going for a Minion DHF 29x2.6 on the front and a Dissector 27.5x2.6 on the rear. I've also ordered some cushcore tyre inserts as I was a bit worried about impacts on the carbon rims - I'm no lightweight afterall :whistle::laugh:

Anyway, the hubs and tyres arrived pretty quickly...

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These are now squirreled away waiting for the rims to finish production and ship. I checked over the weekend and they'd been moulded and were now being machined so I would guess they will be shipped within the next week or so, which means I might see them sometime in August all being well :okay:

The rims I've ordered are UD weave and unpainted but will have stealth LB decals this time, black on black. They're fairly wide and a decent depth so should be pretty solid. This is the cross section detail from the website, same for both rims with the diameter being the only difference:

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The cushcore inserts should arrive tomorrow, I'm intrigued to see what they're like. They get excellent reviews but are insanely expensive for foam rings, but cheaper than wrecking rims I guess :laugh: They supposedly enhance the ride too at lower tyre pressures, and having had a tire burp on a corner a few times in the past a bit of sidewall support round the twisty bits would be quite welcome :whistle: Here's the marketing gumpf from their website:

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Spokes haven't been thought about yet, I'll just go with something double butted and durable I suspect with brass nipples. Nothing fancy as they'll get covered in mud almost immediately 😊

Anyway, I'll update when more bits arrive and the wheels get built up :okay: Looking forward to trying out the Mullet, it'll be interesting to see how much difference it makes :laugh:
 
Jeez 2.6:ohmy: thems is tractor tyres...

Interested to see how these rims turn out and perform, can't see why they'd be anything other than excellent based on the roads rims and wheels they churn out:okay:

PS: the AR 46 i installed are super nice wheels, not quite as impressed with the Novatec hubs vs the DTS350 i had on my first pair from LB though, very light and stiff and i guess that's what's it's all about^_^
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
Yeah I'm interested to see how the mtb rims hold up - as you say I've got no reason to doubt them :okay:

I love my AR56 rims, cant see me moving away from them any time soon :okay:

The CushCore inserts arrived today 😊

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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
The rims arrived today :okay: I paid a little more and had them delivered by Fedex - 4 days to get from Xiamen to sunny Suffolk :ohmy: Considering I waited about 7 weeks for the first set to do the same journey with the cheaper shipping alternative I'd say that's money well spent :laugh: I'm still waiting on the customs bill but it shouldn't be too horrific and of course I'd already factored it in to the build cost 😊

I have ordered 64 black Sapim Race spokes of various lengths, along with 32 black and 32 red Sapim double square nipples - figured I'd stagger them black-red-black just for a bit of fun :okay::laugh:

It turns out 29er's are bigger than 650b's, who knew :ohmy::laugh: I hope I build the right hubs in to the right rims or I'm going to look a right lemon...

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I'm rather hoping the spokes turn up in the morning but am fairly sure they won't arrive until early next week - as soon as they're here I'll build them up :becool:
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
I still have no spokes :sad: I was rather hoping to have them by now, but Royal Mail have been a bit hit and miss in the last week or so. I can see where the van parks from my office window and some days they dont seem to have been coming at all, I wonder if they're struggling with staff illness or something. Fingers crossed for the morning 😄

I'm getting cabin fever as soon as it's dark and I cant work outside any more as I've got things to do but cant get them done. At least with these wheels built it'll be another project ticked off the list - there's only so much digging a man can do without a little wheel building respite 😄
 

jowwy

Can't spell, Can't Punctuate....Sue Me
I still have no spokes :sad: I was rather hoping to have them by now, but Royal Mail have been a bit hit and miss in the last week or so. I can see where the van parks from my office window and some days they dont seem to have been coming at all, I wonder if they're struggling with staff illness or something. Fingers crossed for the morning 😄

I'm getting cabin fever as soon as it's dark and I cant work outside any more as I've got things to do but cant get them done. At least with these wheels built it'll be another project ticked off the list - there's only so much digging a man can do without a little wheel building respite 😄
surely its time to finish the shed now then?? lol
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
Spokes arrived this morning 😊 The black nipples were out of stock hence the delay getting them dispatched but I decided to wait for them rather than change colour.

I decided to lace them up during work calls and was soon reminded of the dangers of multitasking - I got the final spoke in the front wheel then noticed the direction arrow on the rim and realised I'd laced each spoke to the wrong flange :rolleyes:

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I spent the next 20 minutes carefully stripping all the spokes back out, and made sure to pay a bit more attention with the first spoke the second time around :laugh:

Finally got both wheels laced up - I'll leave the tensioning until later when they have my full attention :laugh:

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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
Ho easy/difficult is it to build wheels?

Is it a steep learning curve and how much does the equipment to build wheels cost?

If you're patient and methodical it's not difficult to lace them up and get them straight but getting the spoke tensions right to ensure they are durable can be more tricky. A spoke tension meter helps greatly here and can be had for around £30. A good wheel building stand and dishing tool can be expensive, but equally they can be made from bits of wood, or old bicycle forks etc if needed.

Getting a good wheel build is all about practice. I'm not there yet, but can see improvements in each set I build so maybe one day I'll build a pair that don't need tweaking a few hundred miles down the road 😋:laugh:
 

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
I taught myself using an old wheel, an old fork in a vice with a cable tie against the rim and a YouTube video, probably one of the most satisfying things you’ll do as an amateur bike mechanic
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
Both wheels are tensioned up and true now :okay: I've got a dishing tool arriving tomorrow - I've always fitted them to the bike before centering the rim then taking them off again to do the rim tape etc but it would be nice to do it properly for once so I'll wait for it to arrive before i go any further :laugh:

I'm really pleased with the quality of the rims from LightBicycle again - they've built up really nicely and have an excellent raw carbon finish :becool:

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Mrs Bssll walked in to the study earlier and stood staring at them looking slightly confused... After a while she said "you know they're different sizes, right?" :laugh:
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
I've just had a play with the cushcore inserts - I figured I'd stretch them on and get a feel for them before I try and wrestle the tyres on in the coming days :laugh:

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You have to use a bit of force to stretch them on but overall they weren't bad at all. By test fitting them I have come across a minor issue though... The cushcore sits on the open face of the valve and essentially blocks it. Presumably youd be able to get air in ok, but getting it back out again might be problematic :laugh:

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I looked in the box and found a pair of cushcore valve stems. On inspection they have holes drilled in to the sides of the valve face to allow air through when the cushcore is fitted...

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Unfortunately, being snot green, they don't quite fit with my colourscheme :laugh: I've found and ordered some red ones with the same side holes so will swap them out when they arrive, not due until Thursday though. Oh well, theres no hurry and from what I've read once the tyres are on I won't want to be taking them off again anytime soon as the cushcores make it a pig of a job :laugh: Something to look forward to 😊
 
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