Braided UD And Aero Purple Gold

So how did the whole story for my second set of rims start? Last year Light Bicycle made a survey for the braided carbon design shortly after I built my gravel wheels. I voted clearly with a “Yes, I would buy that design”, but I didn’t really need another set of rims at that time. By the way, my AR36 wheels (the first one from Light Bicycle) are very nice. I’ve ridden around 5500km with them by now. I only did a small upgrade in terms of some nice black and silver reflecting decals, designed on my own. I would definitely buy them again! Maybe with a glossy finish next time. The matte finish has a more reluctant appearance. Yet since the bike itself is really sparkly, it’s a good match.

Last fall I switched the AR36 wheelset to my Workswell frame - I wanted to join a charity race riding the Workswell, but the wheels on that bike were pretty heavy. Since the bike is mainly my Zwift bike, the wheel weight didn’t really matter. Then I decided to switch the AR36 wheels to it. After switching I realized that the bike got amazingly vivid and it was a lot of fun to ride outside. But switching the whole stuff back and forth was a shot in the head. Continental GP5000 tubeless tyres are infamous for not being mountable without breaking your fingers. So this was not a practical solution, but it was worth the trouble. I fought hard in that race and won second place in my age group.

CFR-505-Carbonda-on-Light-Bicycle-AR36-disc-wheels

Light-Bicycle-AR36-disc-wheel-bike-build

I would buy an upgrade for my 268, and the goal was: rims not too high, as light as possible, and braided UD design.

After that event, I switched the wheels back and my decision was made. For Christmas, I would buy an upgrade for my 268. And again I got in touch with Edwin with Light Bicycle. The goal was simple: rims not so high, as light as possible, and braided UD design. After some email exchanges with Edwin, I made the choice: AR28 rims in Flyweight style with braided UD weave. For the complete wheelset, I again used Novatec hubs (D411/D412), CX Ray spokes, and Sapim Polyax nipples. I was helped out with spoke lengths again (thanks so much!).

After the order was made, I had to wait of course, but finally, the rims arrived. After carefully inspecting everything, I realized that Light Bicycle really knows what they’re doing, including in an artistic way. The braided UD design has a different “rotation direction” on the left and right sides of the rim, so the pattern style you see depends on which side of the rim you’re looking at. The AR28 rims have a slight asymmetry, thus I had to use them in the opposite orientation in front and back. Light Bicycle considered that fact. The patterns fit together when you use the rims in the correct way. That is a fine art!

Light-Bicycle-AR28-disc-carbon-gravel-rims-700c

So after that, I started with the wheel building procedure.

At first, I marked all spokes in order to know when the nipples reached the minimum necessary as well as the maximum allowed threading depth. Why would I do that? I ordered tubeless rims - again. Without the holes on top of the nipples, it’s impossible to check the threading. So this is my workaround.

Then I did the same black magic with the spokes again - a strong magnet and a small piece of an old spoke. That’s maybe the part where you can go mad, yet personally, I really enjoyed this part of the work (yeah, maybe there is something wrong with me!).

The truing took a while this time. The weather was quite ugly, and I wasn’t highly motivated to finish the wheels super fast. Finally, there were some nice days and I finished my wheelset, shifted all the necessary parts from the old heavy wheels to my new wheels, and then after a very short test ride, I immediately did a 100km ride. When I found a nice Bonsai tree, I thought that’s a good spot for a photo: small bike, small tree.

Light-Bicycle-carbon-gravel-wheel-AR28-disc

WCB-R268-Workswell-Aero-custom-paint-CX-bike

The rims came to 1270g, a bit lighter than the AR36.

To me, that’s really a great value, using light but no dangerously slimmed down components. As my bike has become so much lighter, it’s really vividly responding. After the first test ride, I also added some black reflective decals picking up the painting from the Workswell. Usually, I try to avoid darkness at pure “fun rides”, but it’s not always possible. So that was a compromise between not covering too much of the braided UD and having good visibility at night time.

I am happy with the wheels. The summer is yet to come and I have basically the feeling of owning a new bike. When I need new wheels in the future, I will always check Light Bicycle first.

Light-Bicycle-AR28-disc-carbon-braided-ud-wheel-front

Light-Bicycle-AR28-disc-carbon-braided-ud-wheel-rear

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June 2nd, 2022 | Light Bicycle

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