I’ve recently bought a Surly Steamroller and want to upgrade on the wheelset asap…
Looking at riding both track and street so I’ll be keeping the front brake so need rims with braking surface and that are pretty robust… I’ve been considering Velocity Deep V rims for the task…
Now being a vain bastard at the best of times I’m wanting a black hub and probably black spokes… but also being track naive I dunno much about whats out there and how is performs… Ah, so what 120mm rear hubs are out there? :oops:what comes in black? :oops: (lame I know…) um, use mtb component comparisons if you like… like, er, ‘what is the Hadley of track hubs and which is the Dice Mule?’
Also do DT Swiss do spokes long enough and light to be laced up in track wheels? Fark… I dunno, enlighten an ignorant brother!
The Hadley/Chris King is Phil Wood. Awesome but expensive.
The XTR is Shimano Dura-Ace / Campagnolo record (roughly equal in my books). Good for racing and riding in the sun.
The Dice is the Velocity/Formula. Cheap. Strong. Cheap. Reliable.
Of the above list, only Phil Wood and Velocity come in black. There may be others.
DT spokes can be used in track wheels, and road wheels for that matter. The only difference is the hub. DT Champion and Competition come in black and are a plenty strong, the difference being Competition are butted to save weight and are worth the little extra coin.
Deep V’s certainly are robust, but definitely heavy. Mavic Open Pro or DT RR1.1 (i think) are good lighter alternatives while still being strong, but cost a little more.
i know some people will disagree, but if you are building a wheel set, take the time and the effort to do it right.
that for me means dt champ spokes, and open pro rims. the black spokes will annoy the hell out of you pretty soon when they start creaking.
the paint or anodizing starts to wear and they get noisy. it’s hard to build a good strong wheel without using quality parts, and almost none of the commercially available black spokes are any good.
as for rims, velocity rims are ok, but they aren’t welded, are usually only rated to around 110psi, and are heavy.
open pros are pinned and welded, eyeleted, and weigh a lot less. price is pretty good considering what you pay for something that isn’t anywhere near as good.
if you are looking at building wheels for both street and track, build strong.
as for hubs, the hadley is phil woods. the formula sealed unit is a reasonable quality cheapo alternative for general use and you’ll see plenty of them at the track and on the road.
miche primato is the mid ground.
now all of those are sealed. you can find good quality unsealed bearing hubs new and second hand. unsealed units will work just fine on the road as long as you maintain them properly.
if you are even a little serious about track you’ll want to build two sets eventually. one open ball, unsealed, light, tight set for the track.
one sealed set of solid wheels for the road.
unfortunately, you’ll end up doing the same for frames, forks, every other damn thing.
I rebuilt the back wheel of my roadie with DT Comp spokes (on open pros and chorus hub) and I’m positive it made the ride a LOT smoother. For the long rides I do (200km is about the minimum distance really)
Open Pros are fantastic and I’ve barely had to true them over the past 10,000km or so I’ve done since I got them last year.
That said, I’m running Velocity aeros on my fixie and they’re doing OK so far (first 1000km or so). I don’t hammer them up and down curbs but I do ride them fairly fast.