Bicycle Mechanics - Lacing wheels

Is this possible on the personal level? I could save 60 bucks on installing new singletracks if I could do this, I guess I should say is there a technique or is it something specail you have to learn?

It's super easy. Read this article in it's entirety first:

http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

and then give it a twirl. It's gonna take you about an hour+ on your first go, but you'll get it. Wheel building isn't black magic, but it does requre a little attention.

Everybody who does it, somewhere along the line, had to do their first one. Don't get in too much of a hurry when you get to the tensioning and trueing stage and you'll be fine. Uh - an hour on your first go isn't realistic. Three to four hours might be closer to right.

Everybody who does it, somewhere along the line, had to do their first one. Don't get in too much of a hurry when you get to the tensioning and trueing stage and you'll be fine. Uh - an hour on your first go isn't realistic. Three to four hours might be closer to right.

My first was 1.5 hours. Back then, Sheldon's site didn't exist, and I had no books on wheelbuilding. I did it by looking at a completed wheel for reference.

I'm pretty mechanically inclined, but I think that most people could pull this off in under 2 hours. The time sure goes fast at any rate.

Lacing wheels is the easiest part of wheel building. Radial truing, dishing, tensioning, pre-stressing, and lateral truing require more skills and patience, but anyone can do it with the right tools.

Al

Building wheels and seeing them in service several years later with no broken spokes and still perfectly true is one of the most rewarding bike repair experiences I have had. My first wheel took and entire day to complete and was done with the constant assistance of Jobst Brandt's book. Guess I'm a slow learner - I usually spend about 2 hours on a wheel build now from start to finish - not fast enough for a bike shop but then I'm in no hurry. I did invest in the Park tension meter but a good ear and the fingernail "ping" method has proven to be quite accurate for me.

Lacing wheels is the easiest part of wheel building. Radial truing, dishing, tensioning, pre-stressing, and lateral truing require more skills and patience, but anyone can do it with the right tools.

Al
For me, the hard part was that formula to figure out spoke lengths. I think its the sqaure root of a-squared plus b-squared plus c-squared minus rim height divided by 2. Whew! Umm, the answer is ... e) both A and C are correct... or the train in NYC will arrive in Barstow before the train leaving LA. :)

Anyway, lacing is the easy part but understanding the science of it all is really cool. Pick up Jobst Brandts' book. Really cool about learning the difference of 2x lacing and 3x lacing, radial lacing, lateral loads, vertical loads, wheel collapse and all that cool stuff.

Oh, yeah, a Park TS-2 will make things easier too. Self-centering. Make sure you lean on the new laced wheels from the top and also with the hubs on the ground, lean on 3'oclock and 9'oclock positions, flip and repeat, then retrue. That will give you good pretensioned strength.

Another vote for Jobst Brandt's book AND for that Park TS-2 truing stand! The book has algorithms for spoke length calculation. Don't let astrodaimler frighten you about that! There is also a spoke length calculator on the DT website.

The satisfaction of money saved pales in comparison to the satisfaction of having your own hand built wheels.

Speedo

Well, to figure out spoke length, get the rim and hub first. Then use the Spoke Calc on Sheldon's site and perhaps a caliper. No need to do math.