When I was creating "Black cat wheels" company I made one rule to myself: Wheel building will never "take over" my time for cycling. Unfortunately I must say that this is happening already... but what to do if you get such a nice build order based on Duke rims...
Duke is a French brand. They make wonderful rims and hubs. Their carbon rims are based on Duke's design, own mold and high quality finish. I really like to work with those products as the build goes flawlessly and it's pretty easy to achieve stable wheel with almost perfect trueness and even spoke tension.
Duke's rim selection is very rich. From road to MTB rims. Lucky Jack rim is one of the lightest and popular in the market. Paired with Soul Kozak hubs would make a set of 1250g without any problem.
This time I made road build for Piotr. After few (or more than few) email exchanges we ended up with 45mm profile rims, DT Swiss 350 hubs and Sapim spokes - CX-Ray on front and rear NDR side and CX-Sprint on DR side.
We took classy DT-350 hubs as those exist in 20/24h configuration opposite to straight pull where only 24/24h is possible.
Build went really well. Handmade work in Switzerland with special care to the finest details:
- rim holes cleansed and greased
- spokes prepared on Kowa spoke machine and trimmed up to 1 mm
- spoke threads prepared with "Spoke prep"
- build made with calibrated tension meter showing true and real tension
- even tension across all spokes
- truing with 0.3mm tolerance followed by several spoke stress removals
All above because quality matters. This is the difference between machine build vs manual build. All spokes are laying equally and supporting the hub's flanges. After the first rides wheels stay true and that's going to be the case for long time!
Weight wise - close to 1550g without rim tape. 20 spokes on front and 24 spokes on rear, two cross laced with stronger spokes on DR to make very stiff wheel.
Classical build, which is the advantage. Yes, you can get a campa wheels with similar price but one thing you need to take into account - in case of crash or damage the spoke, my wheels can be fixed without any problem. If you damage Campy/Fulcrum wheels with G3 lacing, the fix will be almost as expensive as the new wheel. I personally don't know any wheel-builder who can do properly G3 wheel.
Wheels come with rim tape and brake pads. Raw carbon brake surface and blue pads guarantee decent braking in wet.
This time, no Black cat decals but of course service care remains valid. By ordering wheels from me, especially for people living in Switzerland I offer full e2e service. Order wheels, come with your bike for installation and let me service your hubs.
Wheels are available in my shop. Of course any other configuration is possible. Contact me on [email protected] in case you have any questions or ideas for your next hoops!
Cheers
Tomasz
blog-wheelbuilding
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