Bicycle Mechanics - lacing a 32H rear MTB wheel. NEED HELP.

im undertaking my first attempt at lacing a wheel and im not so sure its going right.

i was following sheldon brown's instructions for lacing a "3X" 36 spoke wheel, figuring that the only difference for a 32 spoke would be 4 less spokes.

i laced in the spokes "3X" so that each spoke crosses over the spoke in the next hole, the third hole, then the fifth hole. outside spokes are only crossing over inside spokes and vise-versa.

i tried getting the wheel under tension when i ran into my problem. i started out by tightening each of the 4 sets until there were no more exposed threads; however, when i got to the last set (outside, driveside) the nipples would bottom out before ANY tension was taken up in the spoke.

do i just need to tighten the spokes in a different sequence, or relace the whole thing?

thanks in advance.

How did you determine the spoke length that is needed?

By "bottoming out" do you mean you've threaded the nipples all the way to the end of the thread space? You'd have lots of spoke sticking out past the nipple into the tire space by then. And, if true, you have too long of spokes. How were they calculated originally?

As the others have said, it sounds like your drive side spokes are too long. They should not be the same length as the non-drive side since they are running close to 90 degrees to the axle to get the dish right.

i dint actualy calculate spoke length, since i am rebuilding a wheel that had a busted rim. i undid all the spokes in the old one and bought a replacement 26" rim. i am reusing all the old spokes.

however, i tooka few out and reilzed they were all the same length???? wtf?

i know that they are suposed to to be different legths, but the wheel seemed and worked perfectly nomal before the rim got dented by a curb.

i am at loss for how to get this to work now.

Try DTSwiss' spoke calc - http://www.dtswiss.com

I've built rears with the same spokes on drive and non-drive side. The spokes did calculate to being with a few mm in length. Worked fine.

IIRC, Jobst Brandt is pretty down on reusing the spokes, unless you carefully use each spoke in the same spot, actually taping the rims together to do a transfer. I haven't tried it, though.

I should restate my post as there are always circumstances where what doesn't seem right does, in fact, work.

The only way I would reuse spokes is if I knew they weren't old. You know, you got out for a nice ride on your brand new bike (or with new wheel(s)) and hit a curb/pot hole/whatever and damage the rim enough that you don't trust it.

I guess I would start over (did you keep the spokes seperated when you disassembled it?) and be real slow about it. Otherwise, take it to someone who builds wheels that you trust.

Maybe they were originally in a 2X pattern.

Maybe they were originally in a 4X pattern.

never mind. i'm going back to the party

Is the new rim the same exact rim as the old one that you are using to rebuild the wheel?

Is the new rim the same exact rim as the old one that you are using to rebuild the wheel?
A lot of newer rims have a more 'aero' (lol) profile, hence, they have a deeper rim with a smaller hub-to-hole distance...

i started out by tightening each of the 4 sets until there were no more exposed threads

IMO, there's your problem. Try tightening all of the nipples just four turns or so. Minimally. Then go back and evenly tension them all.

Good point... I didn't even catch that. When I build a wheel its like a 1/2 turn all around until you get it up to tension. Have you checked for wheel hop? My guess is you may have some wicked wheelhop going on.