My Custom Front Wheel...

Spent yesterday building my first bicycle wheel, an easy front wheel radial build. Felt pretty tight and reasonably straight so I decided to ride it today. And NOW I know why people build their own wheels...there's nothing more sweet than riding one you've built yourself.

Every time I looked at the blurred spinning wheel while riding today...it was very very very sweet looking with the red nipples adding just the right amount of bling with the black rims, silver brake tracks, and glistening spokes, even in today's fading cloud infested afternoon gloom. And although it was really windy, the cross winds hardly affected the front wheel and it felt pretty fast and aero to me...

Build Parts:
Kinlin 300 Rims (24 hole, ~465g ea)
Dura Ace 7700 Front and Rear Hubs
Sapim CX-Ray Spokes 272f, 278ds and 280nds
DT Red Aluminum and Black Brass Nips
Veloplugs



Finished front wheel:


Sweet looking red nipples w/ black rims look great when spinning and, they match my bike...


After debating for days...and lacing it heads-out at first, I decided to go heads-in for the better bracing angle and increased front end stiffness. If I laced it heads-out, the distance between the spokes at the hub would have been way less than the D-mans front Mavic hubbed Kinlin. Now, my wheel has about a 1 mm wider bracing angle than his build, which should help the front end feel more solid...


Now all I need to do is start building the rear, 2x both sides...