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Sep.2026 22
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What Tune Nano CS Reveals About Carbon-Spoke Wheel Design
Introduction
Learn how hub, rim, spoke, nipple, and drilling design interact in carbon-spoke wheels, with insights from Tune Nano CS and NTP's wheel development approach.
Details
Carbon spokes are becoming increasingly important in high-performance bicycle wheels. Their low weight, high stiffness, and aerodynamic properties create opportunities for lighter and more responsive wheel systems—but they also introduce new requirements for hubs, rims, nipples, and wheel building.
The recent introduction of Tune's Nano CS hub is an interesting example of this development. Designed specifically around oversized round-head carbon spokes (5.5mm), the hub uses a different approach to the spoke-to-hub interface than conventional hubs.
More broadly, it highlights an important trend in carbon wheel development: as individual components become more specialized, their compatibility and interaction become increasingly important.
Tune Nano CS: Key Design Highlights
Tune's Nano CS hub was developed specifically for carbon-spoke wheel systems and incorporates several features aimed at improving compatibility and spoke alignment.
Flared spoke holes for spoke alignment
One of the most distinctive features is the hub's enlarged, flared spoke-hole design. The ball-milled spoke hole geometry geometry is intended to accommodate oversized carbon-spoke heads while allowing the spoke to transition more naturally from the hub flange toward the rim.
A more favorable spoke path can help reduce unnecessary bending at the hub interface and improve the alignment between the hub and rim.
Designed around specific carbon spokes
The Nano CS is not designed as a universal carbon-spoke hub. Tune specifies compatibility with particular oversized round-head carbon spokes, including its own carbon spokes and Sapim RC-1. Other carbon spokes with different head designs, such as Sapim CX Carbon and Alpina Carbolite T-Head, are listed as incompatible.
This is a useful example of how carbon-spoke systems are becoming more specialized: the hub, spoke, and rim cannot always be treated as independent components.
20H and 24H configurations
The Nano CS is offered in 20-hole and 24-hole configurations, giving wheel designers options for different spoke-count and wheel-building concepts.
Lightweight hubset
Tune lists the Nano CS hubset at approximately 278 g for a 20/20 configuration and 288 g for a 24/24 configuration, using 12/100 mm front and 12/142 mm rear axle standards.
For lightweight wheel projects, hub weight is another area where manufacturers can optimize the overall system without relying solely on reducing rim or spoke weight.
Compatibility with different rim geometries
Tune also discusses the use of the Nano CS with different rim geometries, including deep and large-diameter rims (more than 32”), provided that the complete wheel geometry is properly calculated.
This is particularly relevant when developing custom wheels. Spoke length should be calculated from the actual hub and rim combination, taking factors such as ERD, flange position, offset, and lacing pattern into account.
Hub, Rim, Spoke and Nipple Compatibility
Spoke alignment is only one part of the equation. In a complete wheel system, the hub determines where the spoke starts, the rim determines where it ends, and the spoke and nipple form the connection between the two.
This means that wheel engineers need to consider a range of interfaces and parameters, including:
hub flange geometry
spoke-hole diameter and shape
spoke-head design
rim drilling angle
drilling offset
nipple contact and seating
spoke tension
spoke length
rim stiffness
wheel-building procedures
A change in one component can therefore influence the design requirements of another. For example, a flared hub spoke hole can provide a more favorable spoke exit angle and improve compatibility with larger carbon-spoke heads. At the same time, the complete interface still needs to provide appropriate support and stable seating for the spoke.
Spoke tension deserves particular attention
This consideration becomes especially important with carbon spokes. Carbon spokes are considerably stiffer than conventional steel spokes. In a carbon-spoke build, changes in spoke seating or interface behavior can have a more noticeable effect on tension consistency.
For this reason, carbon-spoke wheel assembly generally requires careful control of:
initial spoke tension
spoke seating
tension balance
stress relief
nipple seating
final wheel trueness
The contact between the nipple and rim is another small but important interface. The support and seating characteristics can influence how well tension is maintained during and after the wheel-building process. These details do not necessarily make one hub design better or worse than another. Different hub designs can prioritize different engineering objectives, such as spoke alignment, compatibility, weight, flange geometry, or interface support.
The important point is that the complete wheel needs to be evaluated as a system.
How NTP Approaches Carbon Wheel System Development
At NTP Composites, we apply this system-level approach when developing carbon wheel solutions for our customers.
Rather than treating hubs simply as off-the-shelf components, we carefully select two leading hub suppliers and work closely with them on hub optimization and new wheel development. This cooperation goes beyond selecting a standard hub from a catalog.
For new wheel projects, our hub suppliers can customize or modify smaller hub components when the standard configuration does not provide the geometry or interface required by the complete wheel system. This gives us greater flexibility when developing a new wheel around specific requirements.
Instead of optimizing these elements independently, we can work with our hub suppliers to consider how they interact.
Hub flange diameter, spoke-hole position, lacing pattern, rim offset, and spoke type can all affect the appropriate drilling configuration. For a custom wheel project, the drilling design can therefore be developed together with the selected hub and spoke system.
From Components to a Complete Wheel System
The development of specialized hubs such as Tune Nano CS reflects a broader direction in high-performance wheel development.
As carbon spokes become more specialized and wheel designs continue to pursue lower weight, greater stiffness, deeper rims, and different spoke configurations, the interfaces between components become increasingly important.
A high-performance wheel is not simply a collection of lightweight components. It is a combination of: Rim + Hub + Spokes + Nipples + Drilling + Wheel Building
The performance of the final wheel depends on how effectively these elements work together. For wheel brands developing new products, this system-level perspective can also create more possibilities for optimization. Instead of being limited to the specifications of individual catalog components, manufacturers can work across the component interfaces to develop a wheel around a specific performance target. At NTP, this is the approach we take when developing OEM and ODM carbon wheel solutions: we look beyond the rim and consider the complete wheel system from the beginning.
Because in a carbon wheel, every component matters—and so does the way they work together.
