Hi everyone, this is kind of a happy follow up post to First disk brake all road/gravel frame - #15 by Philip_Hackstock since I just ordered my Strael 4.0 frame and I’m obviously very exited. Equally exited about riding the bike as well as picking out the components and building it up.
The first question I’m trying to get sorted is which wheels I’m going for. I’ve recently built up my first set and really enjoyed the mechanical process of putting all the pieces together and ending up with a thing that you can ride. I’m fully aware that building your own wheels these days is probably more expensive than buying a set but I want to do it for the love of building.
Here’s my requirements for the wheels:
Disk brake
Max tire size is 39mm on the Strael, I plan to start with maybe 35mm
Since I want to do the odd long bike ride and don’t want to worry about the batteries for my light, I’ll build up the front wheel using a SON dynamo hub
I might do the odd bikepacking trip so I’d have some additional system weight on the bike
Now the open questions:
How many spokes should I go for in the front and the rear? I’m not too worried about weight or aero so I’m tending towards 24 in the front and 28 in the rear. For reference, i weigh 72kg
6 bolt or centerlock for the disk brakes? Since this is my first disk brake road/gravel bike, I have no experience with either. Just wondering if there’s any reason to pick one over the other. For the groupset, I’m planning to go with Shimano 11 (or 12) speed mechanical 2x
In the past, I’ve ordered carbon rims from Light Bicycle and have been very happy so I’m planning to do that again. For the rear wheel I’ve found this one: AR25 Disc Plus Carbon Road Rim - Light Bicycle . What I like about it is the asymmetric rim profile. I’ve done some quick spoke geometry and the offset would allow me to have a more favorable non-drive side (NDS) to drive side tension ratio. Using a DTSwiss 240 Hub the NDS goes up from 55% to 65%, which is a whole 10kg more assuming around 120kg for the drive side tension. From what I learned reading various sources (Sheldon Brown, Jobst Brandt, …) having a more even spoke tension ratio is one of the main ways to get a stronger and more long-lived bike wheel. My question there would be if this is still sound advice or if this is a bit outdated in today’s age of better materials and manufacturing.
With respect, you may want to have a pro do the final tighten and true on your wheels.
Having said that, Jobst’s book is the Bible. I have a 1980 edition somewhere. Asymmetric rims are still great. I personally like more spokes than less, less tension and less need for thread locker.
The six bolt vs centre lock is always fun. Centre lock looks cleaner and works if torqued properly. I do secretly admire the simplicity of six bolt though. I think the choice would really be made based on what hubs you want and which is available. Either will work.
Fair point about getting a pro involved. I have a good LBS that I can give the wheels to for checking. The one wheelset I’ve built so far came out quite good but surely never a bad idea to have a pro look at things.
So regarding spoke count, when you’re saying you’re a fan of more spokes, would you then go for 32 (or 36 even) in the rear and 28 in the front? For spokes, I’ll go with the trusted Sapim CX rays.
Looks like the DT Swiss 240 rear hub that I want to go for only exists in the Center Lock flavor so that answers that question.
32 or 36 spokes for a 72 kg rider seems like overkill to me. I didn’t read your other post but you don’t mention bikepacking here, so no extreme weight to support on the bike. I’m closer to 80kg and ride similar roads to you and I’ve never had any issues with 28. I know it’s not a lot of extra weight to go 32, but why?
You are already on the right path re rim manufacturer. Defo go hook
As for hubs, hope or similar would be a great choice to go with the Strael, particularly if silver hubs would match up with your choice of frame colour. Consider SP for the dynamo, rather than Son. From what I’ve seen, they are equally robust, and a lot cheaper. I’m running an SP hub with Supanova lights on my Secan, and love the setup. Only drawback is that dynamo hubs are not home serviceable, and must be stripped from the wheel and sent away, which with SP just isn’t worth it. On the flip side, it will take a huge amount of miles before one dies
For spokes, Sapin CX Ray or equivalent pillar Wing bladed spokes are the ones to use. I’ve absolutely hammered my 28 spoke gravel and MTB wheel sets and they have survived with cosmetic damage only and one or two very occasional truings, so you could probably go 24 both ends, but 28 might be safer given you are looking at 25mm deep rims.
36 is overkill. I haven’t built a 36 hole wheel in years. 28 or 32 was my thinking. Less spokes means more tension and more probability of loosening. So thread locker becomes somewhat important in these cases. Sapim CX Ray spokes are great.
I have a Light Bicycle WR38 wheelset on my gravel bike with a Son front hub and Hope Pro5 rear. Very happy with it!
After building many bikes in my shop days with 6 bolt hubs, I am centerlock for life. You can also get bikepacking-ready tools these days that can do a Shimano cassette and lockrings with the same tool (just make sure you get internally splined lockrings).
If you go silver with your hubs, you only have one spoke count option from Son (28), so your decision is made. You’re stuck with black if you go with Dt Swiss though. I weigh a bit more than you, have the 24 spoke front, and did the Roubaix sportiv on those wheels as well as some bikepacking, with zero issues.
The one thing that would push me towards a pre-built wheelset (unless you have zen-like patience) is that you can get no spoke holes. It’s really a game changer.
thanks for the warm welcome very excited to build it up and have some cool adventures on it.
The Hope hub looks great, I was considering going silver for the hubs, spokes and nipples and I think now I’m convinced. I originally wanted to stick with DT Swiss because I’ve successfully home serviced a few hubs. Looks like the Hope is also great though in terms of serviceability. I think I’ll go with the Pro 5 in a nice silver then.
SP for the dynamo sounds like a really interesting option but I think I’ll stick with SON. Being located in Austria, I like the idea of having the manufacturer around the corner in Germany and at-home serviceability, but man that SP is a lot cheaper, tempting for sure.
Very good to hear that 28 spoke has been good for you even when hammering MTB sets. I’ll probably go 28 for front and rear then.
Very cool, I’ll probably build my wheelset with this exact combination of front and rear hub. The only difference is that I might go for the offset rim in the back and something a little bit deeper in the front.
Since I’ll most likely go with at 2x11 Shimano GRX and hearing your centerlock preference, I think I’ll go centerlock as well.
Ah you mean inside the rim bed so that there’s no need for tubeless tape anymore?
Genau! So much less faff, and one less thing to go wrong or need replacing.
One underrated benefit of the Hope hubs is their sound - definitely personal preference, but I find the timbre much more pleasant than DT Swiss. The only thing that has me considering DT Swiss again is the silent zero-drag internals from WRP.
