It is done.
The single speed is no longer a single speed (for a while at least). I had the wheel built at Gateshead using Stans Arch rims and DT swiss comp spokes (and red nipples!). It looks great. Thankfully there weren’t any scales for me to put it on at home since the whole package including tyre would likely weigh somewhere North of 2.8-3.0kgs (the hub is around 1.8kgs).
I used a Stans rubber rim strip to convert to tubeless and somehow managed to get a very heavily abused Ardent to inflate on the first attempt with a track pump. No soapy water, no swearing, just a lot of pumping and a few sealant geysers where old holes in the tyre carcass slowly sealed. I don’t intend to run the Ardent on the rear long term, however it was the only spare tyre I had kicking around that I though was even a remote chance of sealing. The much newer Aspen that was lying next to it has a sizeable cut in the sidewall which looks to have ended its tubeless days.
The Alfine 11 is installed and so far all appears to be going well. It took a little bit of head scratching to get it set up correctly after I made an error with a lock ring and was left with a hub full of neutral as the sprocket freely spun independently to the gearbox. It didn’t help that I was rushing things to try and have it ready for yesterdays coghead ride. In the end I decided it was late, I was tired and it could wait another day. Hindsight tells me it was definitely the correct decision.
At this point, I don’t have any ride time on the bike other than a lap or two around the block so I won’t prematurely offer opinions about it. I’ll leave that up to subsequent posts. I’ll definitely be taking it for a spin today however – lets just hope I like it!
the unknown rider 