Being a bespoke wheelbuilder is great fun. We enjoy building up new wheels so that our customers can chase and reach their goals, but really love the challenge of building up something different and fully unique. Gavin needed some wheels for a tandem frame, and decided that the Rohloff nternally geared rear hub was what he wanted. However, he found it hard to find a wheel builder who had experience with these hubs, tandems, and Adventure Racing (the intended usage).
XLR8 has plenty of experience with all three. Rohloff hubs require special lacing patterns and spoke specification, tandems require attention to wheel stiffness (as they are often flexible frames out of the box) and Adventure Racing requires reliability above all else. New Old Stock Sun MTX33 downhill MTB rims were selected. They are very sturdy, nice and wide, and the price was right! We built the wheels using a 2x lacing pattern and custom cut DT Swiss Champion plain gauge spokes - to ensure utmost lateral wheel stiffness.
The outcome was a bomber pair of hoops, that will be 100% up to task.