Two Wheel Blogs

I am pretty stoked about this, so grab some coffee because this is a long one...

The better half gave me my Christmas Bling early this year…A smoking new wheel set. Apparently there was a great deal of covert discussions between my wife and 2-old-2-go-slow. Together, they sought out a master wheelbuilder to create something that is beautiful, stiff, strong, and totally full of mojo. This builder learned of my riding style, my vital statistics, and such to determine the best build for me. For this build he basically demanded a lacing pattern called the 32 SPOKE HYBRID CROW'S FOOT. Apparently this lacing pattern, when done correctly, results in a wheel that has much better lateral strength than a conventional crossing pattern (like a pure radial wheel), and also has the torque transfer qualities of a cross laced wheel (something a radial wheel lacks). The best of both worlds, so to speak. Very high lateral strength and rock solid power transfer sounds like something I need, or at least “want”.

Since receiving the wheels two days ago, I have looked high and low (on line) for other builders that use this method in efforts to learn more about it, and ideally read some reviews from riders that have ridden it. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of people that use this lacing pattern and even fewer that pull it off (it is a difficult build apparently). I wanted to research the method because I like to understand things on several levels, it makes me feel more one with my machine. I also wanted to find out what I was in store for when I can finally ride these babies (I have a special rotor on the way too...you might call it semi-custom, and without a large 6-bolt front rotor, I am unable to ride with these wheels in the way I intend).

After two days of drooling, I could not wait any longer, so I broke down and put on what rotors I had laying around (a couple of 6 inch stock rotors). This meant that I had to switch adapters to allow the use of the smaller front rotor…don’t ever let anyone tell you that there is no difference between a small rotor and a larger one…the difference is huge.

While I was with 2-old-2-go-slow the other day (socially) I was hitting him with a billion questions about these wheels. I wanted to figure out why things were done, and how, and where, and…. I came to learn that this builder is exactly the type of guy I wanted to have build my wheels. The type of guy that not only knows the answer to all your questions, but he knows what you will be asking, even before you think to ask it. Apparently, he can tell you the parts list of any wheel build (or hub for that matter) and quote the weights of each part (to the gram). 2-old also explained that this guy is basically married to this set of wheels for life.

The builder states that the wheels were built and all went really well, but if I wish to change anything, he will gladly make the changes (lacing pattern, rim selection, etc.) I have not talked to him, but I get the feeling from 2-old that the builder would say, “these wheels are your wildest dream, kid…in fact, you don’t even have the knowledge base or brain capacity to dream in colors vivid enough to comprehend what you really want…so here it is, and if you somehow dream up something better, we will make changes”. He also states that the wheels need to be broken-in and returned to him for inspection and re-tensioning, following that, they should need very little attention for a long while…that brings us to the next topic of discussion….breaking-in.

As I said, I could not wait for the front rotor to show, so I installed the stock 6 inch rotors and took my now Ultra-Bling Karate Monkey to Binder for the first installment of the “break-in”.

I set out to put a serious hurt on these babies. I had/have no intentions to abuse them, but I have no intentions what-so-ever of riding in any manner other than how I like to ride either. I think I put a few scratches on them today as I took every rock garden as fast as my tired legs could pedal, every difficult line I could find, every jump available to me, and I bombed every rocky downhill I could find. The Nevegals really allowed me to hook up and rail today. I was demanding as much as I could from these wheels…after all, if something is going to break, it would be best to do it on the first ride. Imagine the discussion, “hey you built these wheels for me and I folded them on the first ride…let’s see your warranty in action”. I gotta be honest though, after the lengthy discussions with 2-old, I was confident that I was not going to find the limits of these wheels. In fact these wheels are probably a little like a big city prostitute…I have nothing to offer that would even approach their threshold.

Ok enough bad jokes. Let’s talk ride.

I can not go without mentioning that I observed some of the calmest wind conditions ever. I have a picture of the water that is amazing. The lake surface was like a sheet of mirror glass extending out from shore to shore. Truly amazing.

First observation, these wheels are super stiff….too stiff. I let a bit of air out of the tires and found things to improve dramatically. These wheels are super stiff indeed, you point and go. It is like taking everything I absolutely love about a rigid fork and extending it to wheels. You can pick your line and rail it. You muscle the bars and the wheels obey instantly. Torque transfer? I was not producing much and the brakes were not in any condition for me to assess this quality (wimpy 6 inch rotors had lousy modulation resulting in loss of feel resulting in a lot of accidental lockup in the slick conditions). These things really let the tires do their work, and let the rider do his thing (good or bad). I get the distinct feeling that a stiffer wheel lets you better predict what your tires are going to do (since the wheel is not dynamically whipping about as the build flexes).

After a while I noticed the rear wheel making more noise as it coasted (a sign that breaking-in of the hub internals is occurring, according to the builder). I also started to take everything for granted (it just assimilated). I think this is a sign of a great bike part….you notice the difference at first, then it just starts to feel the way things should and goes un-noticed (but you know that there is NO going back to the old parts). For those of you that ride disc brakes, you know what I mean…you remember the first time, but now it’s just the way things ought to be.

They are truly great wheels, and once I get the brake system dialed, I think I will enjoy riding even more. No, no pictures yet. I want to ride them a few more times, get some more scratches and dirt on them, clean everything up and then give your eyes the full effect. After today’s ride they are dirty and scratched, but still perfectly round and true. I figure, a few more rides, and they will be ready to send back to their builder for a second installment of mojo. I can not imagine them getting much more than they already have.