http://handspunwheels.com/index.php en Handspun Copyright 2011 2011-09-02T13:18:20+00:00 http://handspunwheels.com/blog/mukluk_wheels/ http://handspunwheels.com/blog/mukluk_wheels/#When:13:18:20Z 9.2.2011The Mukluks Aside from turning out the finest wheels available, the Handspun team has been hard at work building wheels for the upcoming 2012 Salsa Mukluk bikes. Built on Salsa cartridge bearing hubs (with the massive 170mm rear), and featuring Surly rolling Darryl rims, with DT Swiss spokes and ProLock nipples- these wheels will take a great bike to the next level.  Each one of these is 100% hand-built from start to finish, tension checked and ready for adventure right out of the box: Winter is around the corner, are you ready? 2011-09-02T13:18:20+00:00 http://handspunwheels.com/blog/handspun_wheel_test_hed_belgium_series/ http://handspunwheels.com/blog/handspun_wheel_test_hed_belgium_series/#When:16:13:57Z 7-27-2011 Posted by Eric I recently acquired a set of the Handspun HED Belgium series wheels and had a chance to do quite a bit of riding on them. I’m not sure they were intended to be solely ridden on gravel roads and dirt but that’s just what I’ve been doing with them. I have always loved riding dirt roads on my road bike but it can definitely beat you down a bit after a few hours. So recently I built up a gravel bike with HED wheels and some fat 32c tires to absorb some of the bumps and make it possible to ride comfortably for long distances. The Belgium series wheels WE7146 and WE7147 use the 23mm wide HED C2 rim and are laced to the HED Novembre hubs. They retail for $345 front and $370 for the rear. These rims are perfect to mount up a fatter road style tire but can handle the standard 23c and up. The theory behind the wider rim is that you have more contact area between the tire and surface you are riding on. This creates a nice wide round arc to the tire tread. This larger contact patch is just plain better. This results in a smoother ride as well as offering more traction in the corners. Having the ability to run a wider tire and run less air pressure is an added bonus. You actually will be rolling faster and experience better ride quality. For more info on the technology visit www.hedcycling.com. I should mention we also build a similar wheel set using DT 240 hubs WE7224 and WE7225. These retail for $410 front and $600 rear. I cant say enough about the quality of these rims and the build. They are definitely one of the nicest wheelsets I have riden.   Do you have a story or an experience with Handspun wheels you would like to share? Contact us today. 2011-07-27T16:13:57+00:00 http://handspunwheels.com/blog/handspun_wheels_tested_and_trusted/ http://handspunwheels.com/blog/handspun_wheels_tested_and_trusted/#When:16:41:13Z Posted by Eric 6-9-11 I wanted to share this post by Joe Meiser one of our Handspun friends. Joe is a survivor of races such as the Tour Divide and Trans Iowa. He puts in thousands of miles a year product testing and racing. All of this is done rolling on Handspun wheels, read on. Joe Meiser For the last 6 years I’ve ridden nothing but Handspun wheels, built by some of the best wheel builders in the industry here at QBP.  The wheels they’ve built me have withstood 6000+ commuting miles a year, training and racing for the Tour Divide in 2009, pummeling snow covered trails on my Salsa Mukluk, and thousands of miles of gravel road riding and racing .     Without hesitation I ask for their expert advice after explaining what types of conditions I’ll be riding.  My current gravel race wheelset, DT 240 hubs/Aerolite Spokes, and sample carbon rims has seen me through countless finishes at races like the Ragnarok 105, Almanzo 100, Almanzo Royal 162, Dirty Kanza 200, and a win at the 2009 TransIowa.  I remember a point early in the 2009 TransIowa as the sun was coming up where a fellow racer, Dave Pramann, riding next to me asked the question “Are those Carbon Wheels?” To which I replied “absolutely”.  I continue to ride and race these wheels daily, occasionally wondering if I ought to replace them.  It is part curiosity, but mostly trust, I’ll continue to ride them until I wear through the brake track, or spokes start to fail consistently.  With over 10,000 miles on them and still running perfectly I’m confident they’ll last awhile longer. Joe Meiser at the finish of the Royal 162 Photo Courtesy of Cycleture  The Tour Divide wheelset, well that’s a different story.  They were finally retired after a California Central Coast Mountain Tour in the fall of 2010 where spokes did start to finally fatigue and fail.  Salsa Semi Rims laced to DT240 Centerlock hubs via DT 2.0/1.8 spokes and brass nipples, they saw me from Banff to New Mexico in June of 2009 and continued to see use on my Salsa Fargo after.  They showed signs of wear from mountain passes and singletrack trails until late 2010 where I stressed them on another grand tour in California.  The hubs are still in action after being rebuilt by Handspun and laced into Stan’s Arch rims. 2011-05-31T16:41:13+00:00 http://handspunwheels.com/blog/trail_tested_series_4_wheels/ http://handspunwheels.com/blog/trail_tested_series_4_wheels/#When:14:34:21Z 5-24-11 By Eric We want to hear from you. We value your stories, your real world experiences out on the trail or the road less traveled. If you are riding Handspun wheels and have a fun story, picture or a great experience with the wheels to share please send them to us at info@handspunwheels. I recently received this email from one of our customers with photos included. It’s always nice to see some glamour shots of a new ride out on the trail. Tyler is riding the Handspun Series 4 wheels built with Sram X9 hubs and NoTubes Arch 29er rims. Tyler’s swift Hey Eric, here are some pics of my Singular Swift built up with some Trail Series 4’s. It also has an e13 Crank set, Cane Creek 100 headset, Surly Spacer kit and cog,  Salsa Moto-Ace Bar, Avid Elixir 5’s and some other goodies.  It’s light and rides like a dream thanks to the Handspun Wheels! Keep up the great work! Peace, Tyler Schwirtz Peace, Love, Happiness   2011-05-24T14:34:21+00:00 http://handspunwheels.com/blog/wheel_test-_shimano_ultegra_velocity_synergy_road_wheels/ http://handspunwheels.com/blog/wheel_test-_shimano_ultegra_velocity_synergy_road_wheels/#When:14:44:28Z 5.23.2011Ultegra/Synergy First Report This winter we came up with a new wheel combination similar to the classic Shimano Ultegra/Mavic Open Pro idea. We wanted this to be a slightly more durable version of that classic wheelset that many of us have spent hundreds of hours on. The build starts with the tried and true Shimano Ultegra hub, but for the rim we opted for the Velocity Synergy- which boasts a 23mm width, classic profile, and stainless eyelets. Built up with DT Swiss Competition (2.0/1.8) spokes and brass nipples (32h), the end result is a classicly styled wheelset with durability to spare. Ride testing began in February of this year, and the test ride was the hot new Nature Boy Zona from our friends at All-City cycles. The riding was not kind- MN winters are tough, and our unpredictable springtime weather isn’t much better. These wheels were subjected to snow, ice, dirt, and lots of water. Through it all they took the pain and asked for more. Still 100% round and true, these wheels are still in the daily commute program, and will continue to be used throughout the season. Springtime in MN:   Four months on and still going strong (south LRT rail trail, Chaska, MN):   The Handspun production wheels (HS Peloton Series 9) are built on silver Synergy rims w/silver spokes, for a truly classic look- available now: 2011-05-23T14:44:28+00:00 http://handspunwheels.com/blog/handspun_poeple_and_tools_of_the_trade/ http://handspunwheels.com/blog/handspun_poeple_and_tools_of_the_trade/#When:17:00:24Z The Handspun Crew is hard at work. We are currently working a ton of over time to bring you the finest in Hand built wheels. This is a glimpse into the daily view from Handspun builders. Tools of the trade like the DT Swiss tensio are essential to building our wheels to proper tensions.   2011-05-17T17:00:24+00:00 http://handspunwheels.com/blog/saturday_dirt_grind/ http://handspunwheels.com/blog/saturday_dirt_grind/#When:18:31:00Z 5-12-11 By Eric I had the good fortune to have one of my favorite local trails open over the weekend. I thought this would be a great opportunity to trail test some of our Handspun Series 14 wheels WE2966 and WE2967. These are built with Sram X9 hubs, Stan’s No-Tubes Arch 29er rims, DT Swiss Competition spokes and nipples. The trail Murphy Hanrehan is just South of Minneapolis.  All said and done it’s about a 10 mile loop with rolling terrain, fast winding single track, a short meadow section, and nothing super technical. It’s just an all out fast fun ride. I parked a couple miles from Murphy to get warmed up on the approach to the trail head. I captured a couple cool photos of the early morning sun and some shadows on my way in.    It was a great morning ride with perfect temps, no bugs and my wheels rolled straight and fast. I will continue to ride these wheels for the season and report back often on how they hold up and how the tubeless thing goes. I plan to also be testing several other models throughout the season. Next up will be a ride on the Belgium series wheels we build using Hed rims.   2011-05-10T18:31:00+00:00 http://handspunwheels.com/blog/2011_wheels/ http://handspunwheels.com/blog/2011_wheels/#When:16:10:10Z 1.10.2011 2011 Wheels: Handspun Pro Series 3- Dura Ace/No Tubes Alpha 340 For the 2011 road/cyclocross season we’ve got a couple offerings on the new No Tubes Alpha 340 rim. Here we have the upper end of our offerings- the Pro Series 3 featuring No Tubes Alpha 340 rims built on benchmark Dura Ace hubs with DT Swiss Aerolite bladed spokes (24h 2x front, 28h 2x rear).These wheels combine light weight (1400g/pair), stiffness, durability- and a price tag that you can deal with. You can set these up with standard tubes/tires, or set them up with No Tubes tape + sealant and tubeless tires. The perfect choice for your road & cyclocross racing needs- these wheels are in stock and available now on our Products page. Up front:  ‘Round back: 2011-01-10T16:10:10+00:00 http://handspunwheels.com/blog/handspun_wheels_partners_with_shopatron/ http://handspunwheels.com/blog/handspun_wheels_partners_with_shopatron/#When:15:17:50Z 11.17.2010Shopatron activate! The big news is that you can now buy Handspun wheels directly from this website- just head on over to the Products page to take a look at the offerings. We apologize for some of the currently unavailable wheels/images- they are new for 2011 and we’ll get them up as soon as possible. To answer the questions that some of you may have- how this works is that Handspun has the site, and presents all of the wheels for you to purchase, then the CC/shipping information is processed through the mighty Shopatron, and the order is fulfilled by one of our many participating dealers. In the end you are still effectively buying the wheels from a dealer, we’re just streamlining the process to make it easier on you. Enjoy the new offerings, and the new freedom to buy what you want, when you want. 2010-11-17T15:17:50+00:00 http://handspunwheels.com/blog/major_tom_has_landed/ http://handspunwheels.com/blog/major_tom_has_landed/#When:13:28:11Z 8.4.104,3,2,1… Never ones to be satisfied with their own success, Velocity has just released the Major Tom tubular rim- to the rejoicing of ‘cross racers everywhere. Like the Velocity A23 and the HED series of 23mm rims, the Major Tom rim brings the advantages of a 23mm rim to the tubular market. Having a 23mm wide rim allows for better tire performance, gives a larger contact surface for gluing tires, and adds strength without adding weight (432g advertised weight). Gluing wide cyclocross tubulars onto narrow rims can often be a challenge, and questioning the bond between the tire and rim is often something that enters your mind as you’re railing a corner at top speed during a race. The Major Tom not only gives a wider contact surface, but it also features a seam relief channel down the center, to help with consistent tire placement.Profile:     Additionally, Velocity listened to feedback from ‘cross racers and increased the height of the brake track to 11mm, making it easier for you to switch from your everyday wheels to your race wheels without so much messing around with your brake pad placement. Like the A23, the Major Tom shares a similar semi-aero profile that gives additional strength without adding weight.Just in time for the season: But don’t think that this rim is only confined to cyclocross- like the Velocity/HED 23mm predecessors, the Major Tom would help achieve better performance for road tires as well. We mounted a Vittoria Pave 24mm tire and it looked like the two were meant to be together.Optimized: We have a few of these rims that we’re building up for our own use right now, and we should have production wheels with Ultegra hubs and DT Swiss Competition spokes ready in the next few weeks- just in time for ‘cross season. 2010-08-04T13:28:11+00:00