Can anyone tell me an acceptable KGF tension range for the Stealth ll 36er rim, with a Nimbus 100mm, 36 hole, non-disc (symmetrical) hub?
I’ll preface this with the fact that I haven’t built a 36" wheel and I don’t have an authoritative answer, I didn’t see anything on the UDC website and I assume you looked there too… also I think every wheel I’ve ever build has been with butted spokes and you’ll be using plain gauge for a 36", that probably doesn’t make much difference though.
Anyhow, that aside, LightBicycle recommend 120-130 kgf for their Unicus-36 rim, their 700c rims seem to be about 120-135kgf, so it seems wheel diameter isn’t too important a factor, for carbon at least.
I think the general advice is that carbon rims should be tensioned higher than aluminium, which seems to fit in with the numbers of 100-120kgf mentioned online. I seem to remember guidance that it is relative tension (between spokes) that is more important than the absolute tension, which would be consistent with Park Tool’s guidance regarding squeezing spokes to find something that feels right.
I’m sure you can do this based on how some of your other 36er wheels feel (and sound!), or even measure those with a meter.
Based on this, if it were my wheel, I think I’d be trying to get to 110-120kgf both sides for a symmetric build as a first cut, and see how it feels when approaching that.
Others may have more direct advice though.
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I asked Josh at UDC U.S. several years ago for that same setup (Terry’s original question) and he said 95kgf.
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