Wheel building

On 2007-07-11, Paul Boyd wrote:
Lots of people on here say how easy it is to build a wheel. I remain
unconvinced though!

So, has anyone taken the plunge and built a wheel that was a success
first time round? Experienced wheel-builders seem to knock them out for
a past-time (but unless you're doing it professionally why do you need
to keep building wheels?), but I'd like to hear from people who might
have just built one or two without any problems :-)

I did just that about a year ago, using only the instructions on
Sheldon's site, which are excellent, plus a bit of other RBT wisdom
(linseed, avoid excessive tension).

I practised a bit on an old wheel by taking it apart completely and
putting it back together again a couple of times.

With new rims I found that if you're careful to bring the tension up
evenly (counting turns) the wheel becomes close to true as soon as you
start getting some tension in, perhaps because the parts are all made to
a fairly good precision. Dishing wasn't hard either: you don't need a
dishing gauge, just measure distance from one side of the "stand", flip
the wheel around and measure again from the same side.

Getting the lacing right is easy if you follow the Sheldon doc.

Anyway these new wheels came out very true and round and I've ridden a
few thousand km on them and not touched them since. And I'm fairly
cack-handed usually with this kind of thing, so it can't be that
difficult.

I was horrified to notice a very badly worn rear rim yesterday, and I
will admit to chickening out and buying a wheel from the BoB (who do
know how to build wheels!). I will at least have my old wheel to
practise on, I suppose for the future!

The problem with buying complete wheels is either they're boutique
wheelsouttaboxes (boo hiss) or you get one-size-fits-all things like a
hub with a flange for a disk in a rim that's meant for caliper brakes;
or it just doesn't have the hub you want or the rim you want etc.

Besides I wanted Campag hubs and almost no-one even sells the hubs in
LBSes I could find, let alone wheels built up with them in.

Ben C said the following on 11/07/2007 22:32:

Anyway these new wheels came out very true and round and I've ridden a
few thousand km on them and not touched them since. And I'm fairly
cack-handed usually with this kind of thing, so it can't be that

Sounds promising! Thanks for your comments.

The problem with buying complete wheels is either they're boutique
wheelsouttaboxes (boo hiss) or you get one-size-fits-all things like a
hub with a flange for a disk in a rim that's meant for caliper brakes;
or it just doesn't have the hub you want or the rim you want etc.

The BoB sell exactly the hub/rim combination I wanted - they're not "you
get what you get" wheels. This is why I bought from them. Anyway, they
are one of my LBSs, sort of :-)

Actually, in this context they shouldn't really be called the BoB.
Postage for a wheel was only a fiver - they used to charge that to post
a valve cap!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

In ,
Paul Boyd tweaked the Babbage-Engine to tell us:

So, has anyone taken the plunge and built a wheel that was a success
first time round? Experienced wheel-builders seem to knock them out
for a past-time (but unless you're doing it professionally why do you
need to keep building wheels?), but I'd like to hear from people who
might have just built one or two without any problems :-)


I used Sheldon's intructions and had no problems, though the first couple I
did were front ones, one raidially-spoked and one 1x. The first rear one I
built lasted precisely sixteen hours, as TWFKAML rather foolishly rode down
the nearside of a lorry at the lights and was knocked down. The lorry drove
over both wheels and serenely into the distance.

--
Dave Larrington
http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk
und keine Eie.

In article , Paul Boyd
lid says...
Lots of people on here say how easy it is to build a wheel. I remain
unconvinced though!

So, has anyone taken the plunge and built a wheel that was a success
first time round?

Hehe. :-)

Experienced wheel-builders seem to knock them out for
a past-time (but unless you're doing it professionally why do you need
to keep building wheels?)

Once your friends know you do it they're often happy to let you practice
on theirs.

but I'd like to hear from people who might
have just built one or two without any problems :-)

First one I built was actually a rebuild to replace some chewed and
broken spokes - I didn't know that you had to get the right length so I
just asked the bloke in the shop for some spokes for a 27" wheel and
used what he gave me. I chopped out all the old ones without looking at
them carefully, as a result of which I got the lacing wrong at the first
attempt (make sure you can get to the valve!) and all the spokes were a
bit on the long side, but I got it together in the end and (after a lot
of filing of spoke ends) it worked fine.

I was horrified to notice a very badly worn rear rim yesterday, and I
will admit to chickening out and buying a wheel from the BoB (who do
know how to build wheels!). I will at least have my old wheel to
practise on, I suppose for the future!

If the existing spokes are OK and you can get another rim that will let
you use the same spoke length it's easy to swap rims without unlacing
the wheel - just slacken the spokes, tape the new rim to the old one and
swap the spokes one at a time.

Rob Morley said the following on 12/07/2007 10:15:

If the existing spokes are OK and you can get another rim that will let
you use the same spoke length it's easy to swap rims without unlacing
the wheel - just slacken the spokes, tape the new rim to the old one and
swap the spokes one at a time.

I did consider just changing the rim, but the hub itself is starting to
show signs of wear. Considering I don't think I've ever touched it in
over 10 years it's not done at all badly!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

In article , Paul Boyd
wrote:
So, has anyone taken the plunge and built a wheel that was a
success first time round? Experienced wheel-builders seem to knock
them out for a past-time (but unless you're doing it professionally
why do you need to keep building wheels?), but I'd like to hear
from people who might have just built one or two without any
problems :-)

EBC made a video of wheel building which was pretty good and it also
came with a printed book of instructions.

Paul Boyd wrote:
Lots of people on here say how easy it is to build a wheel. I remain
unconvinced though!

So, has anyone taken the plunge and built a wheel that was a success
first time round? Experienced wheel-builders seem to knock them out for
a past-time (but unless you're doing it professionally why do you need
to keep building wheels?), but I'd like to hear from people who might
have just built one or two without any problems :-)

Built about 6 now[1], no problems from the word go. Some for friends,
some get taccoed due to bike-tree interactions and some get stoved in by
drunken passers by with nothing better to do.

I was horrified to notice a very badly worn rear rim yesterday, and I
will admit to chickening out and buying a wheel from the BoB (who do
know how to build wheels!). I will at least have my old wheel to
practise on, I suppose for the future!

Eh? Do it! Just buy the same rim and reuse the spokes, what have you
to lose?

[1] Ok, I *actually* built 10-12 because i've un-laced them and started
again a few times

Paul Boyd wrote:
On 11/07/2007 20:31, Ian Smith said,

Your second wheel should be as good as you get from them (in that my
BoB wheel has never needed attention, and my own 2nd wheel has never
needed attention).


I had a wheel from them a couple of years ago, and it is still as tight
and true as it was new.

Just do it - you know you want to.


I do, don't I? When the new wheel arrives, I'll strip down the old one
and have a go at rebuilding it. Then I might well wonder why I paid for
a new one (although from what you've said it might be cheaper than
buying the bits anyway. Uh?)

It's like being able to splice rope or cut a deck of cards exactly in
half, no real point, just very satisfying :-)

in message , Jeremy Parker
') wrote:

There is, or at least was, a book, "Sutherland's Handbook for Cycle
Mechanics" which has tables of spoke lengths needed for different
makes of hub and rim. Â*The book has got thicker, and more expensive,
over the years, but I imagine bike shops would have a copy, or some
equivalent.

They certainly do. The one usually recommended is this one:
http://www.damonrinard.com/spocalc.htm

But there's also this one:
http://www.dtswiss.com/spokescalc/we...px?language=en
(by DT Swiss - they make hubs, rims and spokes so ought to know what
they're talking about)

This one:
http://www.geocities.com/d_halem/wheel/wheel.html

This one:
http://www.machinehead-software.co.u...alculator.html

This one:
http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/spokecalc/

And dozens of others.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Ye hypocrites! are these your pranks? To murder men and give God thanks?
Desist, for shame! Proceed no further: God won't accept your thanks for
murther
-- Robert Burns, 'Thanksgiving For a National Victory'

In article ,
says...

I must have built at least half a dozen, but, since that has been
spread out over 30 years or so, it's like being a novice each time.
Once I did it wrong, and found the spokes crossing over to obstruct
the valve hole. I swore a bit, and moved all the spokes round by one
spoke hole.

I did that once but I just live with it. It's awkward but not not
impossible to get to the valve.

--
Cheers,
the.Mark