It took five months, but I finally have my Enve 3.4s built. They're very boring in their black on black colour scheme, but they are still beautiful. One of the sixteen year old kids in the shop nearly had his head explode when I let him touch them. He plunked down money for a set of his own before I left.
I'm going to start with how confused these wheels have me. Actually, that's the only thing I'm going to talk about. Also, it's only going to be about weight, so get your nerd hats ready.
When I was picking parts, I scoured the internet looking for actual weights for everything. Surprisingly, I couldn't find actual weights of the rims, I assume because most people buy prebuilt sets. I used manufacturer specs for those, even though I knew it wouldn't be accurate. Enve lists everything as +/- 2%, so I went with the +2% weight. When all was said and done, I had a weight just under 1,400g. I wanted a 1,400g wheelset, so it was perfect. I ordered everything and waited for it all to show up. I had to order spokes twice, because a mistake was made the first time we measured everything. That was the largest chunk of the delay in getting these built, by the way.
The hubs were the first to show up, and they were exactly what Tune said they would be. Not a gram more, or less. God bless the Germans. The rims and spokes were next up to bat, and they were all over weight. The front rim came in at 2% over, but the rear was 9% fat. The nipples were 5g heavier. The spokes ended up being 7g over weight, and when I added everything together, I got a weight of 1,451g. I wasn't happy, but it could have been worse. With rim tape, that put me at 1,497g, or 330g lighter than my PowerTap wheels. Yuck.
Here's where it gets confusing. Everything, weighed individually, came in at 1,451g when added up. Wheels fully built... 1,412g. I have no idea where 39g went. I'm flabbergasted. I added grease and linseed oil, if anything, they should be a touch heavier. But they're not, and I don't have a logical reason as to why that is. Whatever, I'll take it.
I figured out why most people buy prebuilt Enves instead of building them, they're a nightmare to build. Internal nipples mean you can't see them, and you have to use a tool to thread them on, so you can't feel anything either. Add in the fact that they don't flex like an alloy rim, and they are incredibly difficult to get true. I had Josh do the finishing touches because I never would have been able to get them as well trued as he did. I don't build wheels often enough to have the touch necessary. It's why I bought him lunch.
Not having ridden them yet, and only doing an in hand spin test, I will say that the Tune hubs spin forever, and loudly. No one is going to like riding with me, but fuck'm, my wheels are beautiful. I can't wait to get the rest of the bike built up so I can finally ride my road bike this year. I have one more thing to take care of, and then I can build the bike. I'll post up a picture when it's done.
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