Another new set of wheels

A few months back, I came across a Croix De Fer Ti Frameset on sale at a very reasonable price, so, on a whim, I bought it, and so started my new bike project. Since then, I have been slowly gathering parts, as can be seen from the bike’s own home page. As I haven’t written anything about it recently, and the bike’s home page has been getting attention from some unexpected places.

I thought it was time for an update.

So today I am going to tell you a wee bit about the new wheels. Rather than getting a wheel set off the shelf (anyone can do that, but it is rather boring) I decided you have a custom wheel set of my own choosing. The last time I got new wheels I ordered them made to my own spec from Germany, thanks to Brexshit that isn’t so easy now. Besides, the options on the Poison Bikes’ Laufrad Konfigurator have shrunk massively and are no longer as interesting or as good value.

First choice: the rims. I wanted something that was going to be light, strong and tubeless ready, but without costing the earth. After a few conversations in bike shops and some internet searching, I settled on Halo Vapour 29-inch rims. And after a little thought, 28 spokes at the front and 32 spokes at the back, I probably could get away with 28 spokes at the back, but as I am not the lightest rider, the extra four spokes seemed a good idea.

Second choice: the hubs. As I knew, I wanted a dynamo, the front hub was a fairly straightforward choice. I have been using an SP Dynamo PD-8 on my everyday bike for some years now and never had a problem with it, so why not go for the same again? That and the fact that the budget wasn’t going to stretch to a SON Dynamo hub anyway. So that was the front taken care of, but what about the back?

The last time I was doing a CdF (re)build I was recommended to use Hope Pro 2 hubs (yeah, it was some time ago), but on that occasion decided they were beyond the budget and went for Shimano XT instead. This time around, I did consider The all-new Hope Pro 5 for the rear hub, but wasn’t sure that I wanted something that noisy, although they can be rather pretty. In the end, I settled on the DT Swiss 350 for the rear hub.

Spokes? I once wrote “well a spoke is a spoke, isn’t it?” these days I know better, using good quality spokes makes for a long-lasting wheel, so I wanted DT Comp DB Stainless-Steel Spokes, fortunately these are also the first choice spoke of my wheel builder (Dave). I also wanted to have DT nipples brass black nipples, but somehow ended up with silver, Ho Hum. Not only that, but I had meant to ask for three cross spoke lacing, but forgot to say, and ended up with two cross, not that it really makes much difference at the end of the day.

As a finishing touch, I also decided to have the two spoke either side of the valve on each wheel in black, to make finding the valve easier.

The finished wheels look like this:

Not the best photo I have ever taken, but they should look better when I have them on the bike. The disc rotors are on order and still awaiting delivery at the time of writing, as are the tyres. So watch this space for updates, or maybe just another blog post.