Retrorockit
Retro Guru
Here's where I'm at on this project. I had the SRAM 900 24h hubs, and the Carbonal 26" XC 280g. rims.
Berd has a Black Friday sale ( probably a US thing related to the day after Thanksgiving). Vendors all try to get a head start on Christmas shopping by offering sales then. 25% of wheelsets, and 15% off of wheel builds. So $93 0ff of my 2x24h 26" wheel build. There is an advantage to having Berd do this ( not just that I don't know how). They have a machine that stress relieves the wheels for the final truing so they don't need a re- tensioning after a few months. I ordered by phone and was able to negotiate a better return shipping rate too.
So what's retro about this? Carbon rims go back a while, certainly OK for my 2004 XC bike. The 26" format. It seems to be abandoned. The string spokes may be the latest high tech thing. But they're attached to the hubs with spliced loops and little pegs. Sailing ship tech. there.
Why do the very costly update? Well, Rene Herse supports 26" with the highest level of racing tires in 26x2.3" (2.15 measured). So I support them. Saved 180g. per tire, plus very smooth ride, and fast rolling. I can save even more weight than "modern" 29" (ancient 700c) gravel racers. So why not have a 20yo bike that's faster than the new stuff?
For those of you in the UK discounts of 60-70% can be had. Especially on older stuff that's being cleared out. Maybe enough to make buying here worthwhile. Jenson USA has a lot of stuff.
Berd has a Black Friday sale ( probably a US thing related to the day after Thanksgiving). Vendors all try to get a head start on Christmas shopping by offering sales then. 25% of wheelsets, and 15% off of wheel builds. So $93 0ff of my 2x24h 26" wheel build. There is an advantage to having Berd do this ( not just that I don't know how). They have a machine that stress relieves the wheels for the final truing so they don't need a re- tensioning after a few months. I ordered by phone and was able to negotiate a better return shipping rate too.
So what's retro about this? Carbon rims go back a while, certainly OK for my 2004 XC bike. The 26" format. It seems to be abandoned. The string spokes may be the latest high tech thing. But they're attached to the hubs with spliced loops and little pegs. Sailing ship tech. there.
Why do the very costly update? Well, Rene Herse supports 26" with the highest level of racing tires in 26x2.3" (2.15 measured). So I support them. Saved 180g. per tire, plus very smooth ride, and fast rolling. I can save even more weight than "modern" 29" (ancient 700c) gravel racers. So why not have a 20yo bike that's faster than the new stuff?
For those of you in the UK discounts of 60-70% can be had. Especially on older stuff that's being cleared out. Maybe enough to make buying here worthwhile. Jenson USA has a lot of stuff.
