4 ms·

I'm a qualified wheel builder. It's not that difficult, just takes up to a couple of hours per wheel. Of course, they are mostly laced by machine nowadays. Bui

I'm a qualified wheel builder. It's not that difficult, just takes up to a couple of hours per wheel. Of course, they are mostly laced by machine nowadays. Building your own is good fun, plus you can do specials with fancy lacing or unusual hubs (such as hub based dynamos)

stinos 11y ago
It's not that difficult, just takes up to a couple of hours per wheel Once you know how to do it properly that is. The key to that is mentioned in the article: applying tension while building the wheel. Lots of it, in my (borrowed) experience. The first couple of wheels I built was before I had internet access and I just copied the lacing pattern from an existing wheel, then tightened and trued the wheel. It were the worst wheels I ever had and impossible to keep true (though I was riding trials back then which does require more from wheels). Then one day I found http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html and would basically put all sorts of tension on wheels while building them. Lean on them, hammer the spokes, pull them together, smash the wheel against the wall and so on. This, together whith experience gained from many iterations, yields wheels which do not make the slightest sound when ridden for the first time and stay true even under heavy circumstances (I ride street/dirt on a 24" bmx now). As another comment mentions: wheelbuilding is definitely some sort of an art.
- SixSigma 11y ago
  I don't do any of those things. I just progressively and evenly tighten up the nipples and then true the wheel on the stand.
  - analog31 11y ago
    I wonder if some of those rituals have been rendered obsolete by improvements to the quality of components and materials. I've been building my own wheels, since I started messing around with internal-gear hubs before they became fashionable. Today I follow the method as you describe -- aim for consistent high tension first, and then true it up. The gradual improvement of my technique seems to manifest itself, not so much in the truth of the wheels, but in greatly reduced spoke breakage.
- wiredfool 11y ago
  Sheldon Brown was Awesome. Wonderful guy, full of arcane knowledge of the corners of the bike world, mainly those corners associated with unfashionable, interesting, reliable stuff. And he was willing to share it with anyone who would listen.
  - SixSigma 11y ago
    And he died on my birthday :(
- bch 11y ago
  Counter-position: I've built lots of wheels, and raced on them (off road -- Canada Cup, NORBA, World Cup) and I have built wheels loading them up w/ stress (standing on them) based on conversations w/ other people, trading stories, etc., but after reading Jobst Brandts "The Bicycle Wheel" I chalk up those practices more to "voodoo" than science. Mind that the spoke will twist when you're tightening the nipple. Tighten evenly. Tighten in small increments. Tighten tight. Then relieve the twist in the spokes. The "pings" and noises you hear from a wheel are the twisted spokes snapping back into a position they really want to be in. They're twisted because the builder didn't relieve that twist as a finishing touch on the build. I have a 26" Mavic 517 laced to a Paul Components WORD hub with Wheelsmith Competition 14/15g spokes that I raced from ~1995 - 2005, and I still have it. True as the day I built it, and not adjusted after the build. Edit: add spoke specs.
  - stinos 11y ago
    Hmm, fair point actually. To be honest in all wheels I built after reading Sheldon's article I applied everything ('loading' the wheel, proper tension, relieving twist - I now notice I did't even properly describe that in my original comment) at once. And then assumed rather blindly all of the techniques mattered. After all, I did finally have nice wheels. But now I realize, due to lack of evidence it might just as well be those wheels are all ok due to just one or two of those factors while others are in fact voodoo or don't do much at all. Thanks for bringing attention to that. And I'll definitely get a copy of that book.
    - bch 11y ago
      to be clear -- leaning on the wheel and forcing the "pings" to happen by stressing has the effect of putting the spokes where they want to be, but I think mostly people don't know why, so it's basically cargo-cult building. The alternative is realize what's going on (ahh! Torsional stress!), fix it (take your spoke wrench, back off spokes a fraction of a turn) and get them setup, knowing exactly what's going on, and not resorting to cargo-cult methods.

stinos 11y ago

It's not that difficult, just takes up to a couple of hours per wheel Once you know how to do it properly that is. The key to that is mentioned in the article: applying tension while building the wheel. Lots of it, in my (borrowed) experience. The first couple of wheels I built was before I had internet access and I just copied the lacing pattern from an existing wheel, then tightened and trued the wheel. It were the worst wheels I ever had and impossible to keep true (though I was riding trials back then which does require more from wheels). Then one day I found http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html and would basically put all sorts of tension on wheels while building them. Lean on them, hammer the spokes, pull them together, smash the wheel against the wall and so on. This, together whith experience gained from many iterations, yields wheels which do not make the slightest sound when ridden for the first time and stay true even under heavy circumstances (I ride street/dirt on a 24" bmx now). As another comment mentions: wheelbuilding is definitely some sort of an art.

SixSigma 11y ago
I don't do any of those things. I just progressively and evenly tighten up the nipples and then true the wheel on the stand.
- analog31 11y ago
  I wonder if some of those rituals have been rendered obsolete by improvements to the quality of components and materials. I've been building my own wheels, since I started messing around with internal-gear hubs before they became fashionable. Today I follow the method as you describe -- aim for consistent high tension first, and then true it up. The gradual improvement of my technique seems to manifest itself, not so much in the truth of the wheels, but in greatly reduced spoke breakage.
wiredfool 11y ago
Sheldon Brown was Awesome. Wonderful guy, full of arcane knowledge of the corners of the bike world, mainly those corners associated with unfashionable, interesting, reliable stuff. And he was willing to share it with anyone who would listen.
- SixSigma 11y ago
  And he died on my birthday :(
bch 11y ago
Counter-position: I've built lots of wheels, and raced on them (off road -- Canada Cup, NORBA, World Cup) and I have built wheels loading them up w/ stress (standing on them) based on conversations w/ other people, trading stories, etc., but after reading Jobst Brandts "The Bicycle Wheel" I chalk up those practices more to "voodoo" than science. Mind that the spoke will twist when you're tightening the nipple. Tighten evenly. Tighten in small increments. Tighten tight. Then relieve the twist in the spokes. The "pings" and noises you hear from a wheel are the twisted spokes snapping back into a position they really want to be in. They're twisted because the builder didn't relieve that twist as a finishing touch on the build. I have a 26" Mavic 517 laced to a Paul Components WORD hub with Wheelsmith Competition 14/15g spokes that I raced from ~1995 - 2005, and I still have it. True as the day I built it, and not adjusted after the build. Edit: add spoke specs.
- stinos 11y ago
  Hmm, fair point actually. To be honest in all wheels I built after reading Sheldon's article I applied everything ('loading' the wheel, proper tension, relieving twist - I now notice I did't even properly describe that in my original comment) at once. And then assumed rather blindly all of the techniques mattered. After all, I did finally have nice wheels. But now I realize, due to lack of evidence it might just as well be those wheels are all ok due to just one or two of those factors while others are in fact voodoo or don't do much at all. Thanks for bringing attention to that. And I'll definitely get a copy of that book.
  - bch 11y ago
    to be clear -- leaning on the wheel and forcing the "pings" to happen by stressing has the effect of putting the spokes where they want to be, but I think mostly people don't know why, so it's basically cargo-cult building. The alternative is realize what's going on (ahh! Torsional stress!), fix it (take your spoke wrench, back off spokes a fraction of a turn) and get them setup, knowing exactly what's going on, and not resorting to cargo-cult methods.