I don’t think I can make this post really exciting.. the title has nothing to do with a new bike or car… just wheels.. and not very exciting ones at that . However it will conveniently occupy the height of my beer glass ;-)
It feels like I spent the whole summer running flat out so since finishing work I’ve been feeling a bit tired, today in particular I needed a quiet sort of day so figured it was the ideal opportunity to get around to building the new wheels for my Nomad. Regular readers with nothing better to do may remember the Mavic 618 Ceramic rim I’d been running since 2003 on the rear finally gave up the ghost and cracked in Peru. The hubs themselves are still in fine running condition, the bearings in these are lovely.. far smoother than any of the current generation of XT hubs I’ve come across (a few pairs as it happens truing wheels for friends and so on). It would be reasonable to assume, based on the thick layer of salt collected on the Salar de Uyuni, that the reddish crust just about visible on the cones and locknuts is rust.. but happily it ain’t.. it’s a thick coating of red Bolivian dust from the days after the crossing of the salt.
2003-vintage XT hubs
- the source of that red dust
I’m not sure how long these hubs will last, and a situation where the rim outlasts the hub would be a bit silly, so rather than fork out around £180 for a pair of ceramic rims again I’ve gone for some basic but tough Rigida Sputniks, just £18 each from Spa Cycles (a very helpful little outfit when it comes to touring gear). They look to be pretty bombproof and have a solid reputation – double eyeletted box section with some additional reinforcing elements in the extrusion. I’ve not done anything fancy with the lacing either… 3-cross using Sapim double-butted spokes except on the rear drive side where I’ve used a heavier gauge single-butted spoke, also Sapim. In short a fine functional pair of wheels that should last quite a few thousand more km of expeditioning. I hope :-)
boring but 'bomb-proof'
On a sort of related note – I had another letter from Shelterbox today, they send them along occasionally when the boxes bought by your donations during my S America journey earlier this year are sent out. Your donations have sent shelterboxes all over the world, the very latest batch to Pakistan. Thank you :-) My Justgiving page is still active at the blue button on the top right so if you didn’t before and still wish to make a donation to Shelterbox.. go for it :-)
