# My Velocity Aileron rims have arrived



## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

Just received a pair of the Aileron rims direct from Velocity for use on my gravel/road/adventure bike.

A very good looking rim. Nice shape. Matte black ano with subtle graphics.
Claimed ERD is accurate.
Weight just 4g over claimed.

Will be lacing them to 28 hole WTB LaserDisc Lite hubs from an underused wheelset.
Sapim Laser spokes and AL nipples.

Weight should come in under 1650g.


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## dgaddis1 (Sep 27, 2008)

Nice! I've got a set on order for a customer. Polished rims, getting laced to some blue White Industries CLD hubs.


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

dgaddis1 said:


> Nice! I've got a set on order for a customer. Polished rims, getting laced to some blue White Industries CLD hubs.


The polished rims should look awesome


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## dcgriz (Feb 13, 2011)

Haven't seen this one before. Disc only?


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

dcgriz said:


> Haven't seen this one before. Disc only?


Yes, disc only.

Also, I was thinking claimed weight was 460g, but it is actually 480g, so the rims are UNDER claimed weight by 16g. Nice.


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## seely (Feb 13, 2007)

shiggy said:


> The polished rims should look awesome


Oh they do! Glad to see the rims made it there, I'll be interested in your assessment of the build & ride.


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## the mayor (Jul 8, 2004)

Is there any max PSI rating on the rim? ( I didn't see it listed anywhere)


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

seely said:


> Oh they do! Glad to see the rims made it there, I'll be interested in your assessment of the build & ride.


I will be posting here, on mtbr and Facebook with the build and ride.
Ordered my spokes this morning so should be lacing the wheels over the weekend.

Thank you for making this happen, seely.


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

Laced the wheels this evening. The section is deep and my driver bit would not reach the nipples so I had to do it manually. Just took more time. Also easy to lose a nipple inside if you are not careful.
Once laced and the slack removed both wheels are pretty much true and round.


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## dcgriz (Feb 13, 2011)

Glad to hear Velocity is improving their quality control on their ERD consistency and the rim roundness . I hope it spills to the rest of the line if it has not allready.
Did you have to to do any deburring? Any hop on the joint? Flush on both sides?


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

dcgriz said:


> Glad to hear Velocity is improving their quality control on their ERD consistency and the rim roundness . I hope it spills to the rest of the line if it has not allready.
> Did you have to to do any deburring? Any hop on the joint? Flush on both sides?


I always deburr the spoke holes of rims without eyelets just to knock off any sharp edges that could score the nipple. There were no obvious irregularities.

The joint is even and nearly invisible. This is a disc-only rim.
Not to the tensioning stage yet, so have not checked for hop.


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## dcgriz (Feb 13, 2011)

Let us know how it turns out.


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

Velocity Aileron rims, 464g (480g claimed)
WTB LaserDisc Lite hubs, 28 hole (from an old underused wheelset)
Front spokes: Sapim Laser, 1X left (all heads out for brake caliper clearance), 2X right
Rear spokes: Sapim Laser, 3X left. Sapim CX-Ray, 1X (all heads in). Same spoke tension on each side.
Sapim AL nipples.
Total wt: 1630g (w/o skewers, rim tape, rotors, and cassette)

Added Velocity rim tape, Shimano skewers, Sunrace 11-36 9-sp cassette, 160mm Avid G2 rotors.

Dropped 200g over the Bontrager Race Lite, DT 240s, XTR wheels I have been using.








These were among the easiest and quickest builds I have ever done.
Were true and round from the start. Came up to tension easily. Only issue was the nipples at the seam on both wheels were binding a bit. Had a slight hop at the seam which were simple to correct. Sidewalls at the seams are even and nearly invisible.
Absolutely ZERO pings or other noise on the first ride (28 miles).
Ride well with no surprises.








The 25mm wide, 28mm deep Aileron is designed to be more aerodynamic with 23-25mm tires. This is a Bontrager R3 23mm.








I have been using Challenge Grifo XS 33 Open Tubular 'cross tires for combined paved/gravel rides. Fast, grippy, and comfortable. Fit nicely on the 25mm (20mm internal) wide rims.








The Bonty R3 has a flair at the bead to smooth the air flow. The Aileron's shorter inner sidewall leaves a 1.5-2mm gap.








The 33mm wide Challenge looks good, and plumps out to a cushy 34.6mm.








Sapim CX-Ray 1X driveside (heads in).
Sapim Laser 3X discside.








Sapim Laser, 2X driveside, 1X discside (heads out for caliper clearance).








The bike.
KHS CX100 frameset.
Nouveau retrogrouch parts build, mostly from my parts boxes.


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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)

Why was heads out needed for caliper clearance?

I've build disc fronts with standard cross pattern a lot and never had clearance issues.


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## bikerector (Oct 31, 2012)

Nice build! I'm waiting on a shimano CX-75 hub to show up and then I plan to have some ailerons built up for my CX bike for training/ gravel races/ and road race use if I'm in a pinch.


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

ergott said:


> Why was heads out needed for caliper clearance?
> 
> I've build disc fronts with standard cross pattern a lot and never had clearance issues.


The TRP Spyre brakes are WIDE. Laced heads in there was solid contact--overlap--of the brake arm and the spokes.
It is close as is.







Guitar Ted has reported the same issue when using AC wheels laced 3X: http://g-tedproductions.blogspot.com/2014/04/raleigh-tamland-two-word-on-components.html

I will be putting my BB7 Road calipers back on soon, which do have more clearance.


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## QuattroCreep (Nov 30, 2009)

shiggy said:


> Laced the wheels this evening. The section is deep and my driver bit would not reach the nipples so I had to do it manually.


A quick easy way to lace deep section wheels with out ever dropping a spoke is to make one of these. 
Take a spare or old spoke and thread a nipple onto it backwards. 
Stop when 2-3mm of spoke thread are showing at the end of the spoke. acts as a depth gauge so all spoke start out even 
I like to apply a small dab of epoxy to the treads under the nipple to hold it in place.
Bend the head end of the spoke into a "T" shape.
Add some tape as a grip for fast threading.

To use: 
thread a nipple onto the tool so the heads butt up against each other. 
place assembly into rim
twist nipple onto wheel spoke until spoke tool and wheel spoke make contact
grab nipple with fingers and un-thread tool 

View attachment 294221

View attachment 294220


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

QuattroCreep said:


> A quick easy way to lace deep section wheels with out ever dropping a spoke is to make one of these.
> Take a spare or old spoke and thread a nipple onto it backwards.
> Stop when 2-3mm of spoke thread are showing at the end of the spoke. acts as a depth gauge so all spoke start out even
> I like to apply a small dab of epoxy to the treads under the nipple to hold it in place.
> ...


I commonly use a spoke to insert the nipple. Not really quick.
Did not have my hand driver that holds the nipple and automatically releases as it threads on. IIRC the Sapim nipples are too big for it in any case.

I lost a nipple inside the rim when removing it to relace for brake clearance.


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## pushstart (Feb 5, 2012)

Interesting about the Spyres. I noticed this too yesterday with my set on my BHS-hub wheel. I can make the spokes (lightly) rub the caliper arm when standing on the pedals/pulling bar side-to-side. I initially thought it was the pads. These are 28h laced 3x.

I don't have any problems with my 2x Novatec-hub cx-ray build on my road bike, so not sure if that is the hub or the lacing. I need to rebuild my front wheel and am going to use a DT Swiss 240S thru-bolt CL hub instead, am hoping that won't have any less clearance between rotor and spokes. (And I will just do 2x this time.)

I really like the TRP calipers, so would probably want to find a way to fix (e.g. rotor-bolt shim washers, though not sure what equiv is for CL hubs) rather than switch back to the BB7s.


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## Twinge (Apr 28, 2014)

Why 1x on the driveside? Nice wheelset and pictures.


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

Twinge said:


> Why 1x on the driveside? Nice wheelset and pictures.


1. Because I could.

2. It shifts more of the torsional load to the less stressed left side spokes.

3. Resulted in equal spoke tension on each side of the wheel.


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

pushstart said:


> Interesting about the Spyres. I noticed this too yesterday with my set on my BHS-hub wheel. I can make the spokes (lightly) rub the caliper arm when standing on the pedals/pulling bar side-to-side. I initially thought it was the pads. These are 28h laced 3x.
> 
> I don't have any problems with my 2x Novatec-hub cx-ray build on my road bike, so not sure if that is the hub or the lacing. I need to rebuild my front wheel and am going to use a DT Swiss 240S thru-bolt CL hub instead, am hoping that won't have any less clearance between rotor and spokes. (And I will just do 2x this time.)
> 
> I really like the TRP calipers, so would probably want to find a way to fix (e.g. rotor-bolt shim washers, though not sure what equiv is for CL hubs) rather than switch back to the BB7s.


I have put the BB7s back on. They have more power and require less hand effort than the TRPs. Even though the Spyres have more pad clearance, I have less rotor rub with the Avids, too.


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## pushstart (Feb 5, 2012)

shiggy said:


> I have put the BB7s back on. They have more power and require less hand effort than the TRPs. Even though the Spyres have more pad clearance, I have less rotor rub with the Avids, too.


I have found the opposite to be true, though performance is similar and pad material is a factor. I am very happy with the Spyres.


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

pushstart said:


> I have found the opposite to be true, though performance is similar and pad material is a factor. I am very happy with the Spyres.


I used EBC Gold pads in both brakes, as well as the stock TRP pads. The EBC is more powerful.

There is no question that the Spyre requires more hand effort than the BB7. The Avid has an adjustable return spring ( the Spyre does not), and I always set it to the minimum required to retract the pads. 

I would be happy to use the TRP, but the BB7 is still better overall.


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## dgaddis1 (Sep 27, 2008)

Polished Aileron rims in the house! Well, actually they're shipping out to Vegas today. But they were in the house.

These were both right at the claimed weight, 481g and 483g each. 



The decals are pretty subtle, and easily removed if you don't want them.


Tubeless profile. As you can see there was still some polishing compound on the rims, though not as much as some previous polished Velocities I've built, and there was none caked in the spoke holes this time. A note on tape and tubeless use with the polished version: you want the tape to span from bead hook to bead hook, so that when a tire is installed and sealant added the sealant can't come in contact with the rim. The rim is bare aluminum, no anodizing or other finish, and the ammonia in some sealants (Stan's for example) is known to not play well with bare aluminum. I used Stan's 25mm tape and it was perfect.


All laced up, decals removed. BLING BLING.


These were built to some White Industries CLD disc hubs. Super nice.


The finish was very nice and will look great spinning down the road. That's a chair reflecting in the rim there....


Unfortunately I did still have to fish some shavings out of the rim. Tweezers are your friends, shavings this big can't be shaken out, you gotta pull them out.


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## bikerector (Oct 31, 2012)

dgaddis1 said:


> A note on tape and tubeless use with the polished version: you want the tape to span from bead hook to bead hook, so that when a tire is installed and sealant added the sealant can't come in contact with the rim. The rim is bare aluminum, no anodizing or other finish, and the ammonia in some sealants (Stan's for example) is known to not play well with bare aluminum.


I've been told by several bike shops that Stan's has removed the ammonia long ago because of the issues you've mentioned, I always thought it was the tires getting trashed which is how the conversation came up. If it does still have some it must be a very small amount as the distinct smell of ammonia is not in the sealant.


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## shiggy (Mar 18, 2005)

bikerector said:


> I've been told by several bike shops that Stan's has removed the ammonia long ago because of the issues you've mentioned, I always thought it was the tires getting trashed which is how the conversation came up. If it does still have some it must be a very small amount as the distinct smell of ammonia is not in the sealant.


It is just a good idea to keep any liquid away from raw/bare aluminum. Not just ammonia that can cause corrosion.


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