Brucey wrote:how's it going, Samuel?
Not too bad, thanks for asking.
I received the rear 32-hole Archetype rim and measured its ERD at 594.5 mm to the nearest half millimetre. This rim had an outer diameter of 634–635 mm (compared to 633 mm and perfectly round for the 28-hole front). But the drop to the spoke holes was greater, so the ERD was actually very fractionally less.
I decided to go ahead and build with the spokes I had. The left spokes ended up coming up to the base of the slot in the nipples, so I thought that would do fine. The right ones were perfect.
I built these wheels with as much tension as I dared (~130 kg drive-side rear, ~120 kg disc-side front), because they’re going under a very heavy, very strong rider. I would have opted for 36 spokes all around if the choice had been mine, even with Archetype rims and stretchy spokes. On the other hand, I’m glad I wasn’t building 36-spoke wheels with CX-Ray spokes, because even as it was there wasn’t much room to hold the spoke from twisting as I worked on the nipple.
I stress-relieved with your method upthread, squeezing as hard as I possibly could with one gloved hand. That felt like it did something and resulted in some more minor truing work.
Perhaps because of the high tension and marginal spoke length, I stripped the threads off one of the brass Sapim Polyax nipples on a rear-left spoke, somewhere near final tension. That was a first for me. Does that just happen from time to time? I ask because the shop had included one spare nipple that saved my bacon, and this wasn’t the first time a shop (different shops) has given me a nipple I didn’t pay for.