Rufus is a tandem trike, who is taking part in Paris-Brest. After some deliberation as to whether it would be worth-while I have built up a new, lighter wheel-set reducing the total wheel weight by 500g, 100g front, 200+200 rear where Mavic A719's with 13/14 G SB spokes have been replaced with Exal XR3's with 14/16 DB. The Front 48 spoke FIR has been replaced with a 36 ZX19 with 13/14 SB spokes. (both on SON28 classic hubs) This wheel despite it's high spoke count was flexing when cornering and rubbing brakes and mudguard. The new one is much better. Part of this I put down to using 3x rather than 4x lacing. A 50 mile hilly test ride, crew 73 KG - (Me) and 75 Kg stoker (Hugh)showed the speed and acceleration benefit. With my regular 60 Kg stoker (HK) I have no worries about reliability.
The big cost was the rear hubs, £150, pity I had to polish them myself..
Trike complete now weighs in at 36.3 Kg - and it is a lightly built one.
