I found myself rooting through the archives and chanced on a picture from the very early days of Wheelsmith on Alma St. in Palo Alto. It was a shot of our tool board. On it hung our Campagnolo kit (old timers know about these) and our various Var, Eldi, Hozan, and home made tools.

circa 1975

Across the top are beer bottles, collected from exotic locations. Believe it or not, in 1975 you couldn’t walk into any grocery and find foreign, artisan, or exotic beer. You had to go there.

You can see an aluminum version of the Jobst Brandt’s tension gauge (that is currently available from FSA — buy it here!). I still have the wood tool box in the foreground. Got it at a garage sale on Addison St. (not far from the famed garage of Bill and David of HP fame).

You’ll be surprise which item I most miss: the framed picture at the left. It’s a frowning gorilla with an parrot on his head. Somehow it was meaningful. The self absorbed, highly evolved gorilla is a contrast with the bird. We needed that levity because we were always trying much too hard. Perfectionism is a vice, and a selfish one at that. The little picture was actually hinged at its top. If you lifted it up, you could access a hole in the tool board and reach our light switch. So it was. Read more →

It’s always a thrill to be mentioned in a hugely popular publication. In cycling, there are few, and Bicycling is the industry standard. They’re the oldest, biggest, most successful, and enjoy the broadest following of them all. If you’re not already a subscriber, go out right now and buy the July (2009) issue!

On pages 64 and 65 you’ll see Ghisallo rims on a very stylish and retro Bianchi road bike. This intriguing idea, by test editor Matt Phillips, is just one of many tasty items in the current issue.

Photo ©: Bicycling Magazine

On the following page is this brief description of the rims:

Photo ©: Bicycling Magazine

Big thanks, Matt, on behalf of Ghisallo rims, the Cermenati family, and myself.

[Note: this is #2 in a series of tips to be published during 2009.]

Lubricate your nipples. Yes, yes, you’ve heard this advice before…maybe back when you were a runner? Seriously, it sounds simple but deserves emphasis. Why does it matter and what is the science behind this practice? What are the practical benefits and what are some effective means to lube nipples?

It’s worth asking, to begin the discussion, why this lubrication is not universal? Seems simple, why doesn’t everyone already do it? There are actually several good reasons, besides inexperience, that some builders (especially mass producers) continue to build dry. Read more →

The UCI has announced an offensive against equipment makers who are exploiting (legally) the current rules. The topic of sports regulation is always hot, especially in these days of doping and cheating. Recently, the New York Times ran a conspicuous article on the subject.

What are the UCI’s concerns? Their minds aren’t transparent, but we doubt they are anti-innovation, per se. One trend that concerns them is the extreme evolution of composite TT bikes minimizing wind resistance. Twelve years ago, they were expensive.

Nearly $5K of TT bicycle.

Read more →

[Note: this is #1 in a series of tips to be published during 2009.]

Hexagon headed fasteners have dominated engineering for a century but bicycle wheels know better and every spoke nipple (well, 99.6%) in the world is square drive. Why? Even though square drive cannot transmit as much torque (twisting force), lower tolerances are required than with hex drive. Besides, if you plan to turn a fastener with just a two sided wrench (an open end wrench), then square drive is equivalent to hex for strength.

Since wheel building involves lots of separate adjustments and turning, it’s no surprise that open ended wrenches do the bulk of work. They’re easy on and off. Hence, square shaped nipples are dominant for bicycle wheels. My advice (Tip No. 1) is to use a three-sided spoke wrench whenever possible. See the difference:

Visualize each of these wrenches turning a square spoke nipple. Imagine the points of contact, the nipple being somewhat smaller than the wrench. Read more →

One of today’s most thoughtful and thorough bike technology blogs is Cozy Beehive. There’s something for everyone and more. Ron took a close look at this year’s Handbuilt Show winner by Sam Whittingham, addressing every feature, and there are plenty to discuss. Some are artistic, some historic, some innovative, most are refreshingly original. Wood rims, of course, are a big part of the story.

Why did a small flurry of subsequent comments focus on the rims? Plainly, some observers simply didn’t “get it.” The questions and answers came and went until Sam was compelled to describe his experience:

Wheels: I am amazed that so much fuss is made over these wheels. To me, they are a proven piece of technology and are actually quite logical for a mountain bike. They are not as stiff but are VERY resiliant. Imagine an archery bow made from laminated beech and one made from aluminum. Now pull back on the string. What happens? The wood bow will bounce back to shape over thousands of cycles. The aluminum? Not even once.

I also strongly disagree that the suspension characteristic of the rims is irrelevent on a full boinger. This is is like saying tire pressure has no affect in the suspension characteristics. Good suspension is a fine balance between small very fast acting absorption of rims, spokes, tires, seat, post, handlebars, grips, gloves, shorts, fleshy bits and human joints, combined with the big relatively slow moving suspension of forks and swing arms. I mountain bike all the time in some very gnarly terrain here in British Columbia and if one of these suspension bits is mis-behaving or just missing, you feel it.

I have been using wooden rims for a few years now on my cyclocross bike in all kinds of weather. The feel is amazing. Yes they are solid (not hollow) but at 290 grams do they need to be any lighter. I get asked so much about there toughness that I decided to do everything wrong to see how much abuse they could take. After 2 years, I have managed to find their short comings but all in all, love them. They do change with climate so they need fairly frequent truing. I have run all kinds of brake pads in all kinds of weather. The rims will not wear down! This surprised me quite a bit. The pads melt away though just as carbon rims do to standard pads. Disc brakes obviously helps with the pad issue as noted elswhere. I left the rims to get quite wet at one point and did notice a problem with spokes pulling a bit into the rim on the rear drive side (makes sense).

Are wood rims better? Worse? Just different. Like owning a wooden boat.”

I entirely agree with Sam and appreciate his forthright comments. He’s a guy who doesn’t mince words. You might consider perusing Ron’s thoughtful post and the string of comments. I think he’s due for a set of wood rims. Certainly more practical than a wood boat.