Wheel'in and Dealing

Talked to Mike Garcia at odds and endos today. Man that dude just rules. He said that the older editions of the WTB LaserDisc Lites did have problems with weak parts in the freebody, but that for 05 the upgraded some pieces to make it more robust. And that it can be fitted onto older hubs

For those that don't know. The LaserDisc Lite is basically a rebadged American Classic Hubset. AC is known as a benchmark for lightweight hubs, but yes with some suspect durability. Though the newer ones are supposed to be pretty good. But from a value perspective the rebadged ones are a real good deal, cause WTB gets them cheap in volume and you don't have to pay for the AC bling. I got this wheelset on ebay for like $150 with some Mavic X223 rims, and single guage spokes. That is less than a hubset goes for I think. but Of course I got the 03 version which was a mistake.

The labels on my hubs say 03, Sure hope he can fix it up with the newer freebody.

Doh! Something's missing


I was hemming and hawing about what to do. Just have him fix it or rebuild it into something lighter as I was sort of planing on doing when these rims wore out. As you can see to I decided to just send the hubs in.




Besides it costs $4.50 to ship hubs and $20 to ship wheels. And am going to have him build it up more specific to my weight. (though that doesn't mean a whole lot as you've seen me crush component after component under my massive huge-E-osity)

Going with the ultimate in weight weenism- Stan's Olympic Disc



And some basic double butted spokes. No need to go overboard with Ti spokes or anything. This combined with Stan's new Olympic valve stem may cut up to 400 grams off rotational weight. That is gonna be noticeable.

And I can sell those Mavic X223 Disc rims for probably $50/pair.

I had called WTB Customer service, but have not heard anything back, which is no surprise. The norm for customer service in the bike industry is pretty bad. WTB likes to sell a lot of mountain bike Soul through
Weir and the whole Marin birthplace of mountain biking, but I'll be surprised if they call back.

At least I know I can count on Mike.

Normally I'd have liked to build the wheels myself, but there are some nuances with lacing disc wheels that I know I'd screw up so opted to have the master do it. But maybe this winter I'll build up a new road wheelset to keep the skill up.

Speaking of screwing up. There was this futon I put together for our guest room/office. First time I put it together I 'thought' I screwed it up and put these two pieces backwards, and I took it apart, and put it back the 'correct way' The futon kept slipping down and we were unhappy w/it and were going to take it back. Turns out I had done it right the first time.

If there is a 50% chance that something can be done wrong I will do it wrong 100% of the time.