Wheel building with an off-set triangle

[Chris Land]

Probably a real dummy question, but how do you build a rear wheel for a frame (Nomad) with an offset triangle?

I think I am right in assuming that there is no dish on the wheel, so I guess that spokes are the same length, but do you use a spacer or something, as most wheel jigs will automatically centre the wheel between the nuts - not what you want for dishless, right?  

Or am I completely confused on how this works...

Also - Spokes:
Building (for a Nomad):
Mavic 717 on Xt rear
Mavic 717 on Schmidt dynohub front - what size and gauge would folk recommend???

c

[luceberg]

That's new to me. Does the Nomad frame now have an offset rear triangle? So far as I know, the only bike frame that has this feature is the Orbit Romany.
 Mavic rims for touring now is it? Dont they crack at the spoke holes any more? I thought Sun rims or Alesa Endeavours were the ones to go for.

[Chris Land]

Oops.  I probably have it completely wrong then.  Have never had to do a thing with the wheels and was asking my LBS to do this.  They seemed to think the Nomad has one so didn't know how to deal.  I thought it therefore made sense to try to build myself...

Have been riding Rhynos but am just completely fed up with the squealing front brake - to the point where I am ready to try anything having already changed brakes (including bars) and tried every pad known to man.  Do Alesa do 26"?  Do all Mavic's crack at the eyelet?  The chap in my LBS reckons the 717 (I think I have the number right...) is double eyeleted and designed to cope with XC riding and expedition-loaded touring, so would be fine.  My wife's mavics have been fine, but then she has only had them a couple of years and was sharing the weight on the back with a Yak trailer wheel.  Just going with panniers this year might be more of a test of their robustness.

I am pretty much in the dark about wheels so all advice is welcome.

[luceberg]

Hi Chris, Sorry to here of your squealing brake problem. Have you tried contacting SJSC directly for their advice on what works best. They must have a load of experience. My own solution to this, albeit not with Rhyno rims,and apart from cleaning the rims and pads occasionally, is to find myself a long, shallowish hill and find a speed/ brake pressure combination where squealing doesn't occur. I maintain this for a while and afterwards the brakes don't squeal. It seems to bed them in properly. Anyway, that works for me.

With regard to rims, You can buy 26" Alesa Endeavours from http://www.spacycles.com . They're cheap too at £14 each approx and weigh a little over 600gms and have a wear indicator.

I haven't had first hand experience of Mavic rims cracking. My MTB tourer has a Mavic D521 rear rim with no trouble so far, but according to people I consider to be experts, such as CTC's Chris Juden, they do tend to crack. It may be that the new 700 series alloys are not prone to the problem and I have noticed that Thorn are specifying 721 rims on the new Raven, so maybe they've cured it.

Hope that's of some help, regards, Lucian Proctor.

[Chris Land]

Cheers Lucian,

SJSC suggested a brake-booster which didn't really help at all, so I then went on to try the v-brakes, which also haven't worked.  I figured that systematically going I try the rims next then finally the forks if that doesn't work!

Advice on Mavic well heeded, and maybe the 721s are the way to go if I do follow that route, rather than 717

chris