On 6/7/2021 9:14 PM, wrote:
On Monday, June 7, 2021 at 9:29:50 AM UTC-5, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 6/6/2021 10:08 PM, jbeattie wrote:

It was hard to screw-up 120mm/36 spoke wheels on SC Mod 52 or other robust rims of the era.

Apart from instruction from a friend and shop owner and the Wright pamphlet and later Jobst's book (which I bought at Cupertino Bike Shop immediately after its release), practically all my cohorts built wheels -- and we all hung out at the same shop owned by Mr. Wheel Guru, who ran twice-weekly shop rides (races) -- and half of them worked for brand-new Specialized Bicycle Components and lived and breathed bike stuff. I knew Phil Wood (his son was a friend), so that's the direction I went after probably '75/6, although I had some racing wheels with Campy hubs Anyway, wheel building was a thing back then -- as it was on this NG during Jobst's tenure. Now is wheels in a box. Things change.
And I'll bet that "wheels in a box" came about largely due to the
development of automated wheel building machines.


Long ago you could order pre built wheels from Excel and Colorado Cycling catalogs. Pick your hub (Shimano and Campagnolo were the options. Maybe Suntour too.), pick your rim, pick your type of spoke (straight, double, triple butted), gauge of spoke, number of spokes, cross. And they would send you the wheels in a box. Wheels in a box changed later on to mean the stylish Mavic and others. But originally you could get custom wheels built for yourself without much trouble.

I was responding to Jay's phrase, which I took to mean mass produced
wheels, not custom ones.

I had two good friends who built wheels professionally for Bike Nashbar,
née Bike Warehouse. One was the engineer I consider the most competent
one I ever knew. He built his own truing stand, largely out of lumber.
He did this to help Arni out when Bike Warehouse was still pretty new.

--
- Frank Krygowski