Wheel build ideas

Some Ambrosio hubs fell into my lap at HH2 a few months ago. So this means I need some wheels built up.

To quote Chris Chrash 'Those hubs are cheaper than your t-shirt and won't last as long'. (I was wearing a £5er t-shirt). So... don't want to over do it then.

A few bits of info:

• silver hubs, both 32h
  
• the rear is fixed-fixed. I have in mind to take advantage of this by riding to the velodrome, swapping the wheel around and doing a bit of club racing on the track (cat4 - I'm not fast).
  
• plain jane red frame
  
• awful carbon fibre forks so I don't need a fussy look
  
• the wheel set will be a second wheel set. I'll just throw them on in emergencies (or track days). Or... to use on my next bike build. That won't be anything special.
  
  

I though of sticking something like a black deep rim on the back, cross laced and just a normal profile road rim on the front, but with radial lacing. I'd like your ideas - what would look ok and what would work for the type of uses I'm talking about?

The photos below are the bike they'll be used on to start with and the hubs.

ambrosio rims to match FTW

cliss casrch has an unwarranted grudge against those hubs. I've done thousands of all-weather miles on SystemEx (which I believe are exactly the same as Ambrosio but rebadged) and they are totally fine.

the inner nuts crack

just replace them with better ones...

open pro, 3x, balls to radial and no benefit having a "deep" section rim on the rear

but that's only my opinion, others will insist something different.

Thanks fellas, didn't occur to me to look for ambrosio rims. Glad to know the hubs should last - I've heard they are the same as well.

Ambrosio rims are superb, especially the Excellence. I've done thousands and thousands of miles on various ones and never had any problems. They are quite hard to find these days though.

the inner nuts crack
just replace them with better ones...
open pro, 3x, balls to radial and no benefit having a "deep" section rim on the rear
but that's only my opinion, others will insist something different.

I've heard about that but mine have never cracked. Maybe I just don't do them up as tight as you He-Men?

maybe your alloy dropouts are not man enough to 531 the shit out of the nuts

I ran these hubs on the Raleigh (531 AWESOME) and the Cuntster (aluminimalistic)

If your looking something cheapish rigida are pretty good value rims. (parkerinternational)
Deep for £23

or unmashined and with eyelets for £18

I'd say for mixed use:
shallow rims, double butted spokes, 32 spoke, and 3 cross is the way to go.
OK, not very original but good balance of strength and comfort.

Thanks all, will look into this and see what to go with.

To echo what hippy said re. Ambrosio hubs. In my case 6000+ 'allweather' miles and no probs yet.

I too have those hubs and all well so far with about 1000miles on the clock! Not sure if they're designed for radial lacing though, might be worth checking out.

If you're interested in going fast, you'll want to put the deep section on the front - the front wheel is much more critical when it comes to aerodynamics. As RPM says.

Halo aeroedge rims for speed? Only marginally heavier than open pros.

http://www.halorims.com/HaloNew/aerorage.html

I'm contemplating building my own set of wheels and I've been checking things out. This kind of lacing pattern looks awesome:

http://www.geocities.com/spokeanwheel/lacingcf.htm

and is apparently quite effective for both the front and back (for fixed at any rate). Would look very cool in 32/32.

Courant

Hubs are the same as my formulas. Had the same one on for 2 years of messengering every day, and have changed the bearings twice. They're OK!

Thanks for the extra comments. So it seems I definitely don't need to worry about the hubs. And Courant, that crows foot lacing pattern looks quite intersting indeed. Re deep versus shallow section rims, I was more interested in the look than speed. I'd be slow even if the I had all the fast bits out there.

Have you looked here....
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread6704.html
GA2G has made a nice list ;)

Open pro 3x would be my take... keep it simple for the track.

no problem with reliability on mine, have them laced 3x to ambrosio evolution rims (read cheap as chips and machine built) probably done close to 5k miles on them now, broken 2 spokes on both southend and cambridge rides and they reained true despite this and made it home to fix them with no trueing needed.

only reason i'd buy anything more expensive in the future is purely for fashion sakes.

in terms of lacing, i'd probably take form over function and go with radial on the from 3x on the back. something a little deeper than open pros for stiffness sakes.

Not wanting to hijack this thread, but what frame / fork combination is your bike... im new to this SS/Fixed carry on and thing your bike looks awsome.

Many thanks.

Simple question... can someone reccomend a decent wheelbuilder in London?
i.e who is gonna do the best job.. Brixton cycles, bikefix, E1 etc

Also Have trued up my mavic open pro rim 4 times and has always been fine even with stupid spoke tension so am gonna go for these again but looking to move over to sealed bearing hub. Any suggestions for the most bombproof/cheap that you can buy just one of i.e just for back wheel?

Also JB commuter beware the cheap carbon... it snaps in ugly ways sometimes. Inspect often

cheers

Wheelbuilders... sorry can't help ya. All seem like decent shops. Also some wheelbuilders on the forum. search it up.

Hubs: https://www.londonfgss.com/thread9696.html

I think GA2G has done you a favour there!

Not wanting to hijack this thread, but what frame / fork combination is your bike... im new to this SS/Fixed carry on and thing your bike looks awsome.

Many thanks.

You know how to stoke an ego... The frame is a Steve Goff. I'm thrilled with it, cheaper than bob jackson and mercian, less common as well. Most importantly, it rides great. Forks have long since had the stickers removed, forget what thye are. If I had my time again I'd get steel forks (in fact, I still might).

http://www.steve-goff-frames.co.uk/

It was the fork and frame combo I really like and the pursuit bars suit it down to the ground. Im currently working on an old viscount I want to change to a SS but I keep seeing all these lovely frames that id love to own. Maybe in the new year.