One of the great things about being a bespoke or custom bicycle wheel builder, is that we get to do all sorts of interesting work. Ben’s wheels were exactly that – uniquely for him, and different.
rides an Airnimal folding bike. It’s not your usual folding bike, is it disassembles down to fit in a suitcase, and has suspension on the rear! It also runs 24inch road wheels, larger than most folding bikes.
came to us with a problem, after many years of trusted service, his wheels had developed cracks around the eyelets – a sign of age, and maybe even some ham fisted “truing” in the past.
We sourced some ISO520 Velocity Aerohead rims in this scarce size, in a lovely brushed silver, and 24h drilling.
Top of the range Novatech hubs were selected, due to their silky smooth sealed bearings, solid build, and light weight.
We custom cut some DT Champion black spokes to exactly the right length, and coupled them with DT brass nipples.
Alloy nipples could not be used on this build, as the Aerohead is a “centre drilled” rim, meaning that the spoke holes are not drilled at an angle, but all perpendicular down the centre line of the rim. The high spoke angle (due to the low rim diameter) would mean too much pressure would be placed on the sides of the alloy nipple head, possibly leading to breakage.