Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Remember to Count

After A week and a half, my Velocity Dyad rim came in. This baby looks like it's built tough and I'm hoping to get many, many miles on it. It is a double wall rim. I can't tell, but the metal looks thicker than on my Alexrims Ace 19.


I've read somewhere that the Dyad is a good rim for loaded touring. It ought to be good for commuting also. The cool thing is the profile is almost exactly the same as my old rim, so I can use my original spokes. I dismantled the old rim and shine up the hub. I discovered one major problem, though.

This hub only has 32 holes! I just assumed that the rear rim had 36 holes and I didn't count. What a dingo. Well, I'm in the market for a new hub. Maybe I'll lace this hub up to another rim and use it for narrower tires for quicker rides, centuries, etc.

In other news, I bought a pair of Shimano R075 road shoes. Last year I bought a pair of Nashbar SPD-SL pedals. The cleats of course didn't fit the mountain shoes. Hooked up the pedals to my Trek and took a spin tonight. I'll need to adjust the cleats on the shoes, but I like them. I've never used clipless pedals before. One thing I didn't expect was how much float (how much I can twist my foot) these pedals allow. I can move my feet almost as much as in my mountain shoes in the toe clip pedals. The new shoes have a hole in the sole at the front of each shoe and a mesh toe box which lets my sweaty feet breath. Tonight it let the cold air and rain in and froze my feet. Minor problem as the cold weather won't be around much longer.

3 comments:

Darren Alff - BicycleTouringPro.com said...

That stinks about taking the spokes all out and then discovering that you were short a few holes! ha. I've done stuff like that before. Best of luck on the build!

You mentioned that the new rims might be good for loaded touring. Is that something you do? Or just something you noticed on the marketing material for the new wheels? Just curious.

Big Oak said...

Actually I saw it on Peter White Cycles web page. I've done only 1 night tours, but would like to do a week long tour this year if I can find the time. Eventually I would like to ride across the country.

Anonymous said...

(hehe) I have just done that same thing.