Not exactly new bike day, but I'm excited about this delivery from rosebikes.com.
I'm looking to build inexpensive wheels for my winter bike, and I've had no luck finding rims or even spokes for a good price. Enter my new favorite German mail-order company... I'd bought from them before and had stuff sent to my parent's house, but they do ship to the U.S. -- just not all products.
The Shimano Nexus hub dynamo in the picture -- an older model -- is only availabel from rosebike.de for shipping within Europe. I brought it back in my carry-on last time I went. The second rim & spokes is for a 3speed Nexus coaster brake IGH I got at the co-op.
Anyway, the front wheel should cost $20 for the rim, $10 for the spokes, and $45 for the dyno hub. Add a Lumotec light for $35, and all that remains to buy is rubber. I shudder to think what this would cost at current U.S. prices.. the strong dollar helps, of course.
I'm starting to lace this thing up. If I'd thought™ to include a couple of $2 40-count boxes of nipples, I wouldn't be re-using old ones.
In the past, I've used the Sheldon Brown method of lacing rims, but after I got confused one time and messed up the spoke hole, I now do the four-spoke "box" around the hole and go from there, using an existing wheel as a model. This has worked well for me, even if it might take a big longer. It also lets me make sure the hub label is facing in the right direction.
What I haven't figured out is the "handedness" of this rim. My usual method is to stick a couple spokes with nipples through adjacent holes and then tilt the rim sideways.. the spokes tell me which way they naturally point. This Belgian-made confection seems to be symmetric. Alrighty then.
cheers -mathias
