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Martindale debuts Trippel hubset for 2:1 rear lacing in aftermarket wheels

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You see a 2:1 or triplet lacing on several complete wheelsets from companies like Campagnolo/Fulcrum, Shimano, and even boutique Industry Nine or newcomer Aforce, but it doesn’t really turn up in hubsets on their own. The reason may be that it introduces a few wheel-building complications that need and experienced wheel builder to solve. But the benefit claims better balanced rear spoke tension, and thus a more durable wheel. So people who have been tempted to build their own 2:1 wheels often resort to creatively ignoring half of the non-driveside spoke holes. But now Martindale Cycling Components has a proper solution. Designed by fount of wheel building knowledge Kirk Pacenti, and actually produced by White Industries in the US, the hubs are sure to deliver top performance and the ability to build stronger wheels…

Martindale, who we ran into last year at NAHBS,  says the new Trippel hubs by White Industries is the only hubset on the market now designed specifically for triplet-lacing. Since normal non-driveside rear spokes usually have about 45-50% of the tension of their driveside partners, you tend to be more likely to break driveside spokes over time and have more issues with keeping the wheels true. By going to 2:1 lacing, tension becomes more consistent (not exact), resulting in a wheel that usually holds up more over time.

Now it does get tricky building here, especially with offset rims or rims with spoke holes angle to either side to align with the spokes. Neither of those really work with the 2:1 concept, and it is said to be a bit harder to get a 2:1 wheel round and true to start with, with consistent tension. All that means, is that first-time wheel builders should steer clear, but if you are experienced and had been looking to try out triplet lacing, now you have a solidly built set of hubs to work with.

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The Trippel hubset includes a standard 20 hole front hub for regular lacing, matched to a 24 hole triplet rear. The Trippel rear gets 2 driveside spoke holes for every 1 non-driveside hole, for a 16:8 lacing. The rear also gets noticeably wider flange spacing to increase the non-driveside spoke bracing angle to make for an even stiffer wheel (one of the purported drawbacks of the 2:1 design.)

The hubs are built with the same internals and titanium freehub body of White Industries’ T11 hubset. But it gets upgraded to their newer 48 tooth drive ring for quicker engagement. The front hub claims a weight of 102g, and rear of 266g. They will sell as a pair from Martindale for $500, and can also be built up into custom complete wheelsets. The hubs are available now in black ano with either Shimano/SRAM, Campagnolo, or SRAM XD bodies, with a disc brake version expected by the end of the year.

MC2bikes.com

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Marin
Marin
7 years ago

At that rear hub weight, you can simply get a light hub and use more or thicker spokes?

ChrisC
ChrisC
7 years ago
Reply to  Marin

Sure, if weight is the only concern, but triplet lacing (supposedly) gives better tension balance which is more durable and also gives the aerodynamic benefit of fewer spokes churning the air.

Marin
Marin
7 years ago
Reply to  ChrisC

2:1-specific geometry also moves the spokes further out into the wind, at least partly negating the advantage.

anonymous
anonymous
7 years ago
Reply to  Marin

It moves 1/6 of those spokes further out of the wind and 1/3 of the spokes further out in the wind.

TomM
TomM
7 years ago

I really like the two sets of triplet laced wheels I have owned (Campy Bora, Ligero Model 1). Both were/are very stiff in the rear and totally reliable. I have long wondered why more wheels aren’t made that way.

Roger Christensen
Roger Christensen
7 years ago

TA ?

ChrisC
ChrisC
7 years ago

Built with T11 internals, so almost definitely, but don’t quote me on it 🙂

Bikemark
Bikemark
7 years ago

“Now it does get tricky building here, especially with offset rims or rims with spoke holes angle to either side to align with the spokes.”

Just use a center drilled rim. Finding one may not be easy. The Pacenti SL23 is available in center drilling. Haven’t seen many others.

Dinger
Dinger
7 years ago
Reply to  Bikemark

I see rim offset as a non-issue. I think OSR is just as valuable here as on a conventionally laced wheel. The only answer to the spoke hole angle problem is to use a 32h rear rim to guarantee that the correctly drilled hole will be available, leaving 8 unused spoke holes in the rim. If you’re going to do that, why wouldn’t you just begin with a 32h hub and rim and leave 8 of the ND spokes out?

Bikemark
Bikemark
7 years ago
Reply to  Dinger

Do what you want. It’s a free country. For myself I think I’ll take that 24H hub and 32H rim and lace up 8 spokes on both sides because I like symmetry. And because I’m leaving 8 more unused spoke holes than you, my hypothetical wheels beats yours by like 60 grams.

Dinger
Dinger
7 years ago
Reply to  Bikemark

So a 16h rear wheel? With a lightweight alloy rim? I think I’d rather pedal my 60gm heavier wheel than push/carry your lighter one. 😉

Martindale
7 years ago
Reply to  Bikemark

Centered drilled rims for these hubs are reasonably common, as Kinlin, HED (Belgium +), Reynolds, and Enve are all drilled this way.

Hub internals are the same as the t11, but these use the 48t drivering more commonly found on their xmr hubs.

Jason Miles
7 years ago
Reply to  Bikemark

I think the Pacenti SL23 still has angled drilling, which means you would not be able to use a 24 hole rim. A 32 hole will work as mention by Dinger.

Bikemark
Bikemark
7 years ago
Reply to  Jason Miles

There is a 24H center drilled option available for the SL23. I’ve used it to build 2:1 wheels.

Mark
7 years ago

J bend spokes are old hat.

thesteve4761
thesteve4761
7 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Old hat that just works…..

Martindale
7 years ago
Reply to  Mark

I also build plenty of wheels with straight pull spokes, but J Bend simply makes more sense for this design.

1. Many triplet builders like to use thicker gauge spokes on the nondriveside and J-Bend provides many more spoke options.

2. If you are to make the rear straight pull, you are left to compromise either the nondriveside bearing or the radial drilling placement.

3. When tested in the wind tunnel, we were surprised that a J-bend front wheel tested marginally faster than the same rim & spokes built to a straight pull hub.

Dudeman
Dudeman
7 years ago

2:1 lacing does make for more even tension between both sides which makes you less likely to break a non drive spoke from fatigue. But when you do chances are you won’t be able to ride the wheel home due to having 4 spokes pulling the rim from the drive side

Adam
Adam
7 years ago
Reply to  Dudeman

Yep. 2:1 lacing does make you less likely to brake a non-driveside-spoke, but if you do, the wheel is straight-up unrideable.

Ryan S
Ryan S
7 years ago

$500?!

You can buy entire set of Shimano carbon clinchers for that much… RS81 with 2:1 spoke design and rebuildable cone hubs and aluminum braking track.

Mitch
Mitch
7 years ago
Reply to  Ryan S

$500?!
You can buy a Playstation 4 and never haver to ride a bike again! Then you can spend more time complaining about the prices of things you don’t intend to purchase!

Robin
Robin
7 years ago
Reply to  Mitch

Well done, Mitch! My White Industries hubs cost almost as much as the Martingale hubs, and I never thought once about complaining about price. More importantly, I never knew that we were supposed to complain about the prices of things that we weren’t even going to buy.

blah blah blah
blah blah blah
7 years ago
Reply to  Mitch

gold, utter gold!

Tim
Tim
7 years ago
Reply to  Ryan S

I’m with Ryan S- there are better value options out there. God forbid anyone mention a similar product with a lower price!

dustytires
7 years ago

Im not sure about the quality of the Shimano wheels, bearings yes, spoke and pattern no way, I have some DA wheels that I have broken multiple spokes on, have had warrantied, and broke more. I rarely rode them on gravel, now they sit with yet another broken spoke. I have moved on to quality hand built wheels with DTSwiss spokes. Reading about this makes me wonder why Boost is so awesome? Seems Trek is just creating planned obsolescence and has not improved the wheel at all. Shouldn’t the industry be getting ride of dishing? Seems the unequal tension is a problem, when will someone fix it?

Smokestack
Smokestack
7 years ago
Reply to  dustytires

Boost builds a stronger wheel, sure, but what Boost really does is open up the available design envelope of a frame. That’s not much of an issue on road bikes.

larsv
larsv
7 years ago

I question the need for asymmetric spoke numbers when using asymmetric rims…

Ol'shel'
Ol'shel'
7 years ago

Kill off J-bend spokes now! They’re a bad idea that we’ve held onto for way too long.

Ryan S
Ryan S
7 years ago
Reply to  Ol'shel'

Agreed

YoEddy
YoEddy
7 years ago

take my money. done.

Jason Miles
7 years ago

I decided to go with 2:1 lacing on my second ever wheel build. As a total novice, I found it easier to get the rim dished correctly because the spoke tension is more even.

Martindale
7 years ago
Reply to  Jason Miles

Exactly. Once you overcome the mental block of seeing a dished wheel with more even tension, it builds much like a front wheel

Alex from Hermes Sport

The challenge of building a triplet wheel has less to do with getting it round and true, than it is to maintain even spoke tension. With triplet, adjacent spoke tension has a greater effect on the ones around it than otherwise, which makes it a challenge to hold a good tension tolerance. Certainly doable, you do just need to know what you’re doing.

Karsten Walker
Karsten Walker
7 years ago

Troy Watson was producing I9 made triplet hubs for sale in 2010….

Julio
Julio
7 years ago

Dale Martin Vargas

iperov
iperov
7 years ago

looks like Novatec clone

goridebikes
goridebikes
7 years ago

Concerns:
1. Every HED rim I’ve come across has angled spoke holes, requiring some of those fancy curvy nipples to halfway overcome.. I think rim choices that are suitable for this are actually fairly limited, which is a bummer.

2. These are based on White Ind. which for some reason everyone loves to hang on their nuts, meanwhile the preload adjustment is mediocre and they’re heavy and expensive and to me offer no benefits over the likes of Hope, DT, King, etc.. DT internals would be a winner to me..

Specialized has used this on some of their road disc wheels for a while and I have enjoyed building and servicing them as it’s a breeze..

The lacing is awesome for tension balance and long term reliability, just have a good wheelbuilder do the work..

Martindale
7 years ago
Reply to  goridebikes

The HED Belgium plus is centered drilled. Enve, kinlin, & Reynolds are all centered drilled. While not common, options aren’t that rare.

Martindale
7 years ago
Reply to  goridebikes

The other hubs you are comparing are all significantly more expensive.

White has a firm reputation because the hubs are made in the USA and the freehub bodies are machined from titanium (a significant upgrade over aluminum).

Mark
Mark
2 years ago

All true, but with more spokes, low NDS tension matters less. The main problem with low NDS tension is those spokes will go slack and buckle under a low vertical load (think landing hard). But more spokes still increases the buckling load. That same impact won’t reduce NDS tension as much as it would with fewer spokes, and so you don’t need as much. It solves the same problem just in a different way. Triplet lacing is a solution to a problem that never needed to exist, and one that didn’t exist before low spoke count wheels (never mind 11 speed hubs built on 7 speed dropout spacing, necessitating huge dish). Just save all the grief and use a few more spokes.

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