Lots of bike stuff done today.

The R600 from Mark is in good shape. Bearings “looked” good, but the old grease had shiny flakes. Replaced the bearings and grease. Cones and races looked fine. Braking surface is at probably 40%, so I scuffed it a little with a diamond file, and deburred it all around.

Replaced the missing spoke from the donor R550 and got lateral true in good shape. I’m not sure about dish, but it’s within 4mm. There’s 2mm hop (dip really), but I got tired of messing with it. The spoke nipples are at the hub, and I kept turning them the wrong direction. I think one of the spoke heads is going to pull through. It seemed a little deeper in it’s seat washer than the others.

I have to say this is just about the tightest rim I have ever mounted a tire on. First bead of a gator was painfully snug, and I couldn’t reposition the tire without popping it back over the rim. The second bead absolutely required a steel lever. On the flip side, it was really happy to take 120psi.

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The R550 wheel is now missing 2 spokes, and the cone is damaged from the previous owner riding with the cones over-tightened. Also, one race had faint rust from having been wet, but it wiped out. I cleaned, repacked, and reset cone spacing. It’s as good as it can get without putting money into it. Basically, it’s a spare parts. It’s almost exactly the same as the R600 wheel, though the R600 axle, cones,and hub seem a tiny bit lighter, and the dustcap is black plastic vs chromed plastic. The 550 finish is bead blasted, vs the 600 which is mirror finish.

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Helped mark install some new Ksyrium Elite wheels. Adjusted lateral true, and sent him for a 1.85mm spacer (11-speed hub, 10-speed cassette). Adjusted brake tension and rewrapped the bar tape from the hoods up. Test ride was good, and his speed sensor is working properly.

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New black bike is coming together. Installed the replacement chainrings on my DurAce 180mm Square Taper (1990s?). XT pedals installed. Rival brakes are installed and adjusted. Wrong color of cables came, but Ice Grey is good with Ben. I wanted black-carbon but I’m settling for plain black. I need to install the speed/cadence sensor and the saddle bag from the old black bike.

The only parts I need are cables and rear wheel. The black cables show up tomorrow. I may be able to pick up an R10S rear from Ben on the promise of helping him build up his project bike when all the parts come in. We’ll see what a 20-spoke rear wheel is like with me on it, but ideally, it’d be temporary until my other wheels come back from Easton.

Then, all that’s left will be fit/comfort adjustments, and maybe throwing the wheels onto a truing stand.

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Picked up a 17mm cone wrench, and have blue and mavic spoke wrenches on order. Also, ordered some cassette spacers for 10-on-11, 10-on-8/9/10, and another gigpack of shop towels.