Long story short: I bought a powertap comp in a campy neutron ultra wheel off of ebay. I would like to get a matching neutron ultra wheel for the front, but my cycling budget is very low.

Short of buying a full wheel, which is fairly expensive for me, I was thinking of building a front wheel, both as a learning experience and also to save a little money.

I found the neutron ultra rim for $135 or so, and spokes are relatively cheap... The problem is that the rim, everywhere I find it, has 22 holes, and (the campy built whole wheel is 22 spokes too, not a misprint). I can't seem to find a 22 hole hub anywhere, and I don't see the campy 22 hole front hub for sale anywhere...

Any thoughts?

I don't think you will find a 22 spoke hub. Almost everything out there is multiples of 4 (16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36).

Are you sure the ad isn't just a misprint? I look here and see the wheel has 24 spokes.

EDIT: Nevermind; it does appear the front neutron wheel has 22 spokes for some reason. I think you are SOL unless you buy the whole wheel.

Yeah, called the local campy pro shop and they called campy direct... not available. Whole wheel or nothing. (actually, rims and spokes are available) So much for wheelbuilding fun! =o)

you can get specially drilled front hubs from some custom builders. Unfortunately I have no idea who they are. I've seen crazy Dura Ace front hubs with like 12 spoke front drilling that the people selling said were done custom.

There must be a lacing pattern that would work with a hub having > 22 holes. Maybe a 32 or 36 leaving out a spoke every now and then.

I'm not sure I'd want to ride that as a first-ever wheel...

Honestly, I would love to build a wheel to learn, and I thought about a 22 spoke 36 hole combo wheel or something like that, but the math just isn.t right enough for me to try it as a first... I have a feeling if the holes are 5 degrees off from where they should be I would run into spoke length issues too, so the process might not be so fun.

besides, I would rather not end up dead on the side of the road. =o)

If you are going to radially spoke the wheel, there probably isn't a problem with using a 24 spoked hub and leaving empty two holes on each side. Shouldn't change anything on the wheel, as long as it is symmetrical. Might look kinda cool. It'll be an interesting build, but realize there isn't anything magic going on there and you won't end up dead on the road. At worse you'll have to pick up the cell phone and bum a ride if a spoke breaks and your wheel gets too wobbly to ride.

https://www.mackhubs.com/

The mack hubs website is not so inspiring, but interesting. has anyone used them?

I am contemplating again the 36 hole hub... I am thinking (could be wrong) that I would be better off with a hub that has holes no greater than 5 degrees different from where the 22 holes would be as opposed to a 24 where the holes would be further off, I assume. (I'll excel that in a minute)

Aesthetics are the whole reason to stick with the campy rim, so I am a little hesitant because I think it might look stupid with goofy spacing. On the other hand, I might not even be able to tell. hmmm....

I've built a few wheels, and they've lasted well enough. Still, I get the impression that fewer spokes makes a wheel more tricky, so you might consider not building a first wheel with so few spokes.

I've never done it before, but, assuming the right parts, I have to imagine a radial 22 front would be a really easy wheel to build. I have a feeling I will just end up buying the wheel complete, though... I still want to build a wheel, though, just need an excuse.

Just don't let something like this be your excuse to build it

This guy made a set of track hubs for me a few years ago, beautiful work. Since you need a front one doesn't look it could be a problem, even u can tell him how high do you want the flange. You should send him an email. His name is Maciej or something like that, need to check my emails to confirm.

Total Cycling had Campy Proton 22s front wheels for <$100 shipped over to the US. Don't see it on their website right now, though.

is the rear rim offset? if not, build a 24/24 set

I'll look to see what I can find on that front. Seems like this might be a good way to go.

These particular wheels use a symmetrical front and asymmetric rear unfortunately.

any rough guess of cost?

If you're planning on lacing radially, I'd be careful about going with a 36H hub. The more holes in the flange, the less flange material there is to support the spoke. This becomes much more important with radial lacing. Some companies build hubs that can handle it, and others don't. So keep that in mind. And I'd definitely either try and source the proper 22 hole hub or buy one with custom 22 hole drilling. For me, messing with mismatched spacing wouldn't be worth the trouble.

FWIW, My first wheel rebuild was a Bontrager Race, 24H radial with paired spokes. It was an extremely simple wheel to build and I built it in the forks of my upside down bike. Two years or so later and it's been perfectly trouble free since. Don't be afraid of the low count build if it's a front/radial...But I do recommend having the LBS check your spoke tension once you're done to make sure it's high enough without being too high.

-Jeremy