That wheel looks beautiful - how does it ride? Did you build it up yourself?
Yes I built it myself. It rides very well and is surprisingly light. Wood wheels need a lot of maintenance, the spoke tension gets soft when it gets cold and they go out of true just sitting. I took an early Claud Butler track bike to ride in a 12 hour time trial this last August and 4 hours of driving with the front wheel clamped in a the bike hauler put a wobble in it. I carry a work station in my truck and was able to true it In time for the all night ride. This track has downhill high speed corners with pebbles imbedded in the corners so that motor vehicles can get better grip. The wood wheels worked as well as my 1960 alloy track wheels. This spring I also took an even older wood wheeled track bike to Asheville, North Carolina to ride on their velodrome. It’s a two day trip but closer velodromes won’t allow these antique bikes on the track. I’ve built 4 sets of wood wheels for my bikes and one set for my son. If you are going to build your own you need to measure the ERD as the measurement supplied with them is off. Round your decimals down on the spoke length calculations and get an extra set of wood nipple washers as you may end out stacking them to keep the wheel true. All these bikes are one inch pitch block chain fixed gear path bikes, but I mostly ride them on bike paths or around a stadium in the parking lot when there is no event. It’s a mile around the stadium and it’s lit at night. The only traffic is the occasional walkers and students learning to drive the big cross county trucks. I never see another cyclist so it’s my personal track.
