Wheelworks.co.nz, Handbuilt wheels by Tristan Thomas

Will wanted to upgrade to a power meter and with plenty of last-years PowerTap hubs being special’ed off by US retailers he supplied this Pro+ unit.

To keep with a classic theme we used the DT Swiss 465 rim.  This is a super high quality, box-section, double-eyelleted rim.  These DT rims really do build up well.

DT Swiss Competition spokes and black brass nipples round-out the 32×3 rear wheel.

The 2012 Club Road Nationals in the Hawkes Bay was the team’s final race before winter, and was one of the more fascinating, finely balanced races of the season. Mike, Tristan, Chris and I had been given the duty of covering attacks in protection of our team leader Andy, who after Silver last year, really wanted Gold.  Tristan had given me a leg up in my tasks with the loan of a pair of deep section carbon clinchers to use for the day.

As the most populous team in the field, we knew we had to be represented in anything that went away. And when Mike fortuitously slipped away after only 15km in a group of 4, we were happy to see what kind of response came from other teams. The calm, cool weather, and the course, whose terrain lacked a single defining difficulty, provided conditions for a successful breakaway, and the leading group of 4 quickly built a 3 min lead within 20km of setting off. The bunch was resided to getting through a few more kilometres before expending a lot of energy, laps 2 and 3 were relatively pedestrian. Clicking through half way was seemingly a psychological switch from which to launch into some aggression. With the lead group having gained over 5min, strong attacks began from several riders looking to define the race by leaving the field and mopping up the breakaway en route to victory. And this appeared to have been executed when Dan Barry, who after probably 10 attempts, slipped away in a group of 3 with 75km remaining. We grew increasingly anxious as the gap grew; we had covered almost all of his attacks but ultimately failed to keep him in the main field. Having let a race favourite get away, the day appeared to be slipping away.

Patience it seems was the order of the day. The fifth lap of six was the defining lap of the race. Attacks came on every rise during the relentless 15km section of the 29km lap. The peleton’s resolve was whitling away, as was Barry’s dangerous breakaway. The critical move came from Sam Horgan who rolled of the front on an innocuous, slightly downhill part of the course, taking Andy and Brad Tilby away with him. The response from the peleton was somewhat delayed, and with so many riders looking after their own ambitions, I could see the chase was far from concerted. It then left the question with 3 dangerous riders together in pursuit; how fresh were the front 4 riders. With one lap to go, their lead was still appreciable, but could they still influence the result. The peloton eventually switched off their chase, and the infighting for the U23 podium began in earnest. Nothing managed to stick and it was evident that everyone was pretty tired. We reached the top of the course and bumped into Josh Page who had been out ahead and looked good to contend the medals however he was rather poorly and not interested in latching on to the bunch despite my encouragement. I later learned he had an unexpected excursion from riding the bike to empty his stomach contents. Shame, because up until then he had done everything right. Meanwhile at the sharp end, Sam, Andy and Brad had finally found the front of the race and continued forth. They were unable however to shake the two Dans (Warren and Molyneux), who had been out front all day. As they went to the line, Dan Warren, after 160km in the lead, edged out Andy for the Silver medal, while Horgan just had too much for all of them and took the race by over a bike length.

The peloton approached the line about 1min 30 sec later, after having met back up with Mike Naylor within sight of the line after his 160km escape, Nice ride Mike, even if it was a bit heart breaking to catch him so close to the finish.

The distance (174km) was likely the main contributor to the calculated effort from the bulk of the riders. While the course and the calm conditions meant the race didn’t really smash to pieces, the best riders did successfully define themselves be it through hard fought heroics, or podium positions.

Colin in Sydney wanted a pair of wheels which would be suitable for daily riding on a new stainless steel bike.

The Hed C2 rims have a fantastic ride quality and build up really well.  They’re getting harder to get which is a real pain and I’ll be looking for a good substitute.

Polished Chris King R45 hubs and polished DT Swiss Aerolite spokes are modern and high-tech but add a touch of old-school class to the wheelset.

The front wheel uses 24 radial laced spokes with aluminium nipples.  The rear wheel is built with brass nipples and 32 spokes, 3-cross.

This is a great looking pair of wheels.

Paul wanted a stiff rear wheel…I mean really stiff.  He’d had some bad luck with Reynolds and decided that the Enve 65 rim would be the best option.  I agreed.

We used an Alchemy ORC hub.  This hub has the best driveside bracing angle of anything out there meaning it builds into a stiff wheel.

I laced them together with 28 DT Swiss Aerolite bladed spokes.  Why 28?  Because its, you guessed it, stiff.

Custom black Enve decals look awesome.

Thomas wanted a new pair of wheels for his mountain bike and after I built a pair of wheels for his road bike last year he knew where to come.

Hope Pro2 hubs in red look great and work exceptionally well.  The new EVO version means it’s even easier and cheaper to upgrade the wheels to different axle sizes should a new frame or fork come along.

Stan’s Arch EX are a personal favorite rim – light, stiff, easy to use tubeless, but often overlooked for the lighter Crest.

I used alternating red and black spoke nipples to match the hubs.  The driveside rear spoke nipples are black brass.

A combination of DT Swiss Revolution and Competition spokes will give the right combination of lateral stiffness and light weight for Thomas’ weight and riding style.

A couple of years ago I built Mag Waghorn a pair of light weight mountain bike wheels with Tune hubs and Stan’s Race rims.  Mat’s had a lot of use out of these wheels (including a trip to the Worlds in Canada) and the rims were starting to look a bit second-hand.  The Stan’s Race rims are just that – a very light weight rim which works well for racing but isn’t the most durable rim in the world.

Mat’s light Tune King and Kong hubs were in great shape so we rebuilt them onto a pair of Enve XC tubeless rims.

The Enve rims are slightly heavier than the Race but are much stiffer and will have better durability.

Spokes are DT Swiss Revolution.  The rear wheel is laced 2-cross on the driveside because that’s how the Race wheels were built and it’s always best to use the same lacing pattern on a used hub.  The rear non-driveside and both sides of the front wheel are 3-cross.

1319 is a slight weight increase but I’m looking forward to Mat’s feedback on how the stiffer rims ride.

Bevan’s Gipiemme rear wheel had been breaking a few spokes and spare parts were anything but easy for him to find.  This wheel uses very rare 25mm long nipples and bladed spokes with a very long round barrel to clear the long nipples.  The spokes need to be very heavy / stiff as there are only 20 of them in the rear wheel…nothing like that is available though any of my suppliers.

I rebuilt the wheel with round-section DT Swiss Competition spokes and new 25mm nipples.  Calculating spoke length on strange parts combinations like this is always a challenge but it’s a tribute to my tooling and systems that the spoke length worked out spot-on first time.

Kevin called wanting a pair of tubular event / race wheels which would be aerodynamic and light.  He’s not very heavy so he also wanted a wheelset which would handle crosswinds well.

The Enve 3.4 tubulars are the perfect rim for these roles.

I used an Alchemy ELF front hub and a DT Swiss 240s rear hub, and had the hubs and two spokes at each valve coloured in arctic white to match Kevin’s bike.

All spokes are DT Swiss Aerolites with Enve internal spoke nipples.

1254 grams is a great weight for such an aerodynamic and versatile pair of wheels.

Peter wanted a pair of carbon clinchers which could be used for events and racing.

Pete is a powerful rider so we used a White Ind H3 rear hub.  The titanium freehub body won’t allow the cogs to dig-in like an aluminium freehub body will, and the wide flange spacing builds into a stiff wheel.  There won’t be any Zipp-style brakepad rub with this wheelset!

An Alchemy ELF hub keeps the front wheel light and stiff to match the rear.

All the spokes are bladed DT Swiss Aerolites.  Two white spokes at each valve add a bit of style.

The rims are a Wheelworks-branded 45mm deep full-carbon clincher.  Even with the ‘heavy’ rear hub this pair of wheels is only 1438 grams which is 90 grams lighter than a 303 clincher while being stiffer, costing less, and including a 3 year broken spoke guarantee.

Steve wanted a light weight carbon clincher wheelset with a PowerTap rear hub.

This PowerTap is the new G3 with improved flange spacing over the older G2 hubs.  With a weight increase of only 100 grams over a standard light-weight rear hub this hub is a very weight-concious way of measuring power.  Laced to a 45mm rim this wheel gives a great balance of aero and light weight.

A 35mm deep carbon clincher front rim is laced to an Alchemy ELF hub to keep the wheelset weight down.

These wheels are off to Sydney for their new owner.