Sharp eyes, Anto -- I was dazzled by the gleam of the silver (dark & wet here these days, eh?), and didn't notice what you, mickeg and Rual picked up.
A few observations, as I have some history with Velocity rims:
> The profile of the 2015 Cliffhangers is more rounded and flatter than the inverted V which the earlier Cliffhangers had -- mine were 2014 vintage. My first reaction to Dave's 2015 rims was that they'd be better suited to using a Rohloff than were my older rims.
> My Cliffhangers had a narrow innermost section, where the nipples exit the rim, and with standard drilling, the nipples were too perpendicular. (That section was fairly thick, as well--hence strong, but also allowed little play for the nipple to be angled as it went through the rim.) Hence, the spokes had to bend at the nipple in order to mate with the Rohloff. The 26" rims required more of a bend, hence more stress on the spokes. (My LBS had made a hash of the original lacing of the spokes, which made the problem worse -- they later corrected their mistake, lacing my new Mavic rims free of charge.) I used my Cliffhangers for a season, maybe 3000 kms, with no spoke problems, but I could see breakages ahead, so changed to Mavic rims. Everything much straighter all around, although probably not 100% so, as one would have from a Rohloff-drilled rim such as the Andra.
> The nipples & spokes on Dave's 2015 Cliffhangers seem to show some of the same characteristics of my original lacing on my 2014 Clifhangers, though not to the same degree.
> Question/suggestion for Dave: Do you use / could you perhaps use the Sapim "polyax" nipples, which allow the nipple to pivot slightly inside the rim, so as to get a better outward angle as they exit the rim? Are the new Cliffhangers thinner in cross-section where they are drilled, to allow the nipples to be angled slightly?
Hope that's helpful -- good luck with these details, Dave.
