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Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Wheelbuild: High and Low

Say whatever about disc brakes on 700c-wheeled bicycles, but one of the advantages of such design is the separation of braking function from the rim. This means longer rim life since you don't have to replace them every other season after the sidewall become too thin to handle the tire pressure.


Another thing is that you can virtually built your disc brake wheels using any rims imaginable. The H Plus Son TB-14 rims used on this particular wheelbuild began their life as a pair of track wheels, laced to fixed gear hubs. Designed with extra internal width—17.5mm, to be precise—these rims are ideal to fit tires much wider than what's commonly used for tarmac, so they are transformed into cyclocross wheels by lacing them into Shimano XT M756 hubs.



The HB/FH-M756 hubs are Shimano's swan song to the world of high-end hubs with 6-bolt disc mount. Nowadays Shimano almost completely abandon the widely accepted 6-bolt standard in favour of their own Centerlock mount. While the Centerlock standard have its own advantages such as ease in assembly and lower overall weight since the hub flange diameter can be reduced, people still chose 6-bolt standard since more manufacturers comply to it. Because having more options is a luxury.
The hubs are laced with black powdercoated plain gauge stainless spokes, in 3-cross patter for both front and rear. The end result is an interesting build featuring high flanged hubs laced to low profile rims.


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