Gunnar Roadie Project Bike, Wheelsmith alloy spoke nipples

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Wheelsmith alloy spoke nipples built into a wheel.

I used Wheelsmith Alloy Spoke Nipples when building the wheels for the Gunnar Roadie Project Bike. These spoke nipples add approximately $25.00 to the cost of the wheel build. Traditional spoke nipples are made of brass. Is the cost worth it? Since this is a fairly light wheelset and the weight saving is on the outside edge of the wheel, I think it is worth it. 

To determine just how much weight was saved I weighed 56 brass spoke nipples and 56 Wheelsmith alloy spoke nipples. The wheels for the  Gunnar Roadie Project Bike have twenty eight spokes each. 2 x 28 = 56 spoke nipples in the wheel set. The brass spoke nipples weighed in at 57 grams. The alloy spoke nipples weighed in at only 19 grams. A total weight savings of 36 grams.

56 brass spoke nipples weighing 57 grams

56 alloy spoke nipples weighing 19 grams

Wheelsmith Aloy Spoke Nipples are made of 7000 series aluminum and are available in 9 different anodized colors. Wheelsmith products are manufactured in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Click here to learn more about Wheelsmith products.

Velocity A23 Polished Rims, Velocity Race Hubs, Gunnar Roadie Project Bike

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These polished Velocity A23 rims and Velocity Race Hubs will become the wheels for the  Gunnar Roadie Project Bike.

 Velocity offers many great looking finishes on their rims. The A23 is a fairly new offering for them. This rim is slightly wider, 23mm width, than rims produced for road bikes in recent years. The wider width works with a 23 mm tire to decrease the aero-dynamic drag of the tire and wheel combination. Better support for the tire side wall is also a benefit of the wider width. The better side wall support lowers the rolling resistance of tires by reducing the deformation of the tire side wall while riding and also adds better grip while cornering. Velocity rims are manufactured in Florida, USA. They have teamed up with a local polisher to offer the polished finish on their A23 and Deep V rims. The finish on these rims looks like chrome. 

Velocity A23 information:

Size: 700c (622)

Colors: Black MSW or Black NONmsw (32h only)

Drillings: 20, 24, 28, 32, 36

Bead seat diameter: 622

Weight: 426g 

Velocity race hubs have sealed bearings and offset "hi-lo" flanges. The flanges are designed to help equal out the spoke tension on the drive and non drive side of bicycle wheels. They are available in a black or bright silver anodized finish. The Gunnar Roadie wheels are built with the silver finish. The front Race hub is available in 20,24 and 28 holes at a weight of 80 grams. The rear Race hub is available in 24, 28 and 32 holes at a weight of 255 grams.

Rear Velocity Race Hub dimensions

The finished wheels for the Gunnar Roadie Project Bike.

The Velocity Race Front Hub built into a wheel.

The Velocity Race Rear Hub built into a wheel.

The wheels for the Gunnar Roadie Project Bike built with Velocity A23 rims and Velocity Race hubs ended up weighing 1,590 grams. This is a good weight for this conservatively built wheelset. These wheels are laced up with 28 double butted stainless steel spokes in a 2 cross pattern in each wheel. They do feature Wheelsmith alloy spoke nipples in a anodized blue finish. 

Custom built wheels are just what the name says; custom. You can specify the build anyway you want. Build them yourself or have someone build them for you, a wheelset like this one is easy to repair or rebuild in the future. 

Building these wheels was fun. I am anxious to ride these great looking wheels and see how they perform!

Click here for more information on Velocity Products.
Click here to learn more about Gunnar Bikes.