I am looking to build a light racing wheel for my wife. I was looking at a American Classic High Low road hub. It uses a 2:1 lacing system. Will this work with a carbon rim sourced from China? Or does it have to be a special rim, with center drilled holes to work?
I laced up my Nextie Chinese rim 2:1 style to BHS hubs after I kept breaking non-drive side spokes laced up 2x on both sides. It’s been perfect since.
You will need centre drilled spoke holes, or specific asymmetrically drilled holes for triplet lacing.
That’s my thoughts as well.
I laced up a wheel like that a month ago just because I had to replace a hub (bought a 32, laced it as a 24) and like the higher spoke tension on the non drive side with the lower spoke count. The final tension as easier to do.
With that said I still wouldn’t seek out a hub/rim with that configuration to build and save the weight of 8 spokes on a rear wheel. I would go standard 2 cross/half radial 24 or 28.
I think most are center drilled which will work. The 86mm Chinese rim, and Reynolds Aero 80 I have appear to be center drilled. Some suppliers will custom drill the rim, but you definitely don’t want normal offset drilling.
2:1 is no great thing, BTW.
2:1 is no great thing, BTW.
Why?
The raised NDS spoke tensions are worth it.
2:1 is no great thing, BTW.
Why?
The raised NDS spoke tensions are worth it.
This came up the other day and the main issue I can think of is what happens when you break a NDS spoke. The spokes want to catch on the frame which has the potential to cause significant knock on damage. I have experienced this issue but in my case it wasn’t catastrophic and I’m not convinced it was that much worse than breaking a spoke on another low spoke count pattern. You certainly have to be really careful about damaging the rim and frame trying to ride home once a spoke goes, but again this isn’t restricted to 2:1.
Why? The raised NDS spoke tensions are worth it.
I thought so too until I built a few that way. I won’t go into all the structural aspects, but the spokes support the rim through pre-tension. If you only have 7 spokes on one side there is a long span between support points. Besides the rim getting a bit of a wave in it from this, if you break a spoke, the rim will warp badly (hit the chainstay and maybe get jammed).
2:1 isn’t bad if the rim is stiff and the hub offsets are designed for it. But I wouldn’t favor it if you are using a light rim.
If you want really light (and 2:1 lacing) I ran across these the other day. $1340, 940g. No idea if they are any good: https://carbonbikewheels.com.au/us/product/25mm-carbon-tubular-wheelset
Can you explain what the difference is in the spoke holes for 2:1 lacing? Do I have to worry about if the spoke holes are angled? Would I need the holes center drilled and with no angle?
That’s correct - centre-drilled with no angle. If the spoke holes are angled, you will be out of sync with the way the spoke holes are angled if the rim is designed for 1:1 lacing.