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ORIGINAL 1990 BROCHURE...
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ORIGINAL 1990 BROCHURE

Would you believe that your choice of wheelbuilder is as important as your brand of wheel or hub? Actually it's even more important! In a recent Campagnolo technical bulletin, it was stated, "Wheel building remains more of an art than a science, and the wheelbuilder's skill is a more significant factor than spoke gauge or number or weight of rim." With this in mind, does it really make sense to allow the local bike shop or a discount marketing agent to provide the build as well as the other parts of the wheel?

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of wheels are purchased this way, and the result is that even performance riders are spoon fed designs that reflect convenience rather than performance. Many of the truly performance designs cannot be built without the appropriate skill level so customers are told that such designs will not work. This is a shame because it puts cutting edge wheel technology out of the reach of most riders.

Dave's Wheels have been ridden to victory in world class competition by riders too important to mention in print with out a contract. But what's equally important is that hundreds of sporting ridershave enhanced their performance with custom wheels by Dave.

It is a well known fact that wheels are the single most significant component to consider in the search for increased performance. With so much to gain in terms of response and reliability, would you want to trust the construction of your wheels to anyone less that a proven professional?

All wheels are hand built by Dave Thomas. Custom work available.

IF IT CAN BE BUILT I CAN BUILD IT. So call me.

Why radial spoking?
Radial spoke patterns produce a wheel that is both lighter and stronger! The direct load path is stiffer, allowing fewer or lighter spokes to be used so that the wheel does not ride harshly. Spokes lace into place without bending them around the hub or each other which reduces fatigue. All spokes radiate from the same side of the flange which equalizes tensions (unlike cross patterns which require a half centimeter disparity in center to flange dimension of inner versus outer spokes). On rear wheels spokes can be laced "heads out" on the non drive side and using special "race lace", "heads in" (see picture) on the drive side. This reduces wheel dish significantly, again equalizing tensions. As long as a strong enough hub flange is used radial spoking is NOT more fragile and is actually more reliable than cross patterns. Radial spoking does require significant building skill to ensure the advantages previously stated, however once completed, the wheel can be trued easily. Radial spoking is not more popular because few wheels end up properly tensioned and cross patterns allow poorly built wheels to hold up reasonably well.

Special treatment of a rear wheel is necessary when building due to the three additional stresses it is subject to:
1. torque from drive power
2. offset to allow clearance for sprocket cluster (also known as wheel dish)
3.controlled sliding maneuvers during cornering.
Dave's wheel designs address these stresses in the following manners. Additional spokes, instead of the usually matched sets. 28*ft/32*rr; 32*ft/36*rr; 20*ft/28*etc. Thicker spokes on drive side such as 1.8 vs 1.8/1. 6 butted for non drive side. Twice as many drive spokes on road wheels with significant dish such as 8 speed 130mm or 7 speed 126mm standards, resulting in drills of 24* (16/8); 30* (20/10); 36* (24/12) "Heads-in" spoking on drive side vs "head-out" spoking on non drive to reduce dish (up to 50% reduction on ATB wheel dish) These techniques can be applied to front disc brake wheels to increase strength and reliability as well.

 

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