Well, the wheels are ready to roll. I cleaned the rims, put the rim tape on, and added tubes and tires. Wow, it was difficult to get the last bit of the bead over the rim – I guess that’s one of the downsides of box section rims. Installing the same tires on the Boyd Vitesse V-shaped aero rims was much easier. But they’re on, and holding air, so I’m calling it good.
I was going to wait for the LeMond build to be finished before riding these wheels for the first time, but I decided to swap them for the Boyd wheels on my Cannondale and see how my work would hold up on the road. You can guess that they worked just fine, since I’m typing this post sans road rash and contusions. I didn’t hear any “tink” or “ping” noises (those are technical terms), so it seems I took care of the spoke wind-up OK and the stress-relieving worked.
I do like the glint of the sunlight off nice stainless spokes and the polished silver rims look really good. I think they will fit perfectly on the LeMond with the polished alloy Campagnolo Daytona group. With a little spare time, I should be able to have the LeMond build finished in the next week or so.
I’m looking forward to that first ride on the LeMond.