Bicycle Mechanics - Where did you learn how to lace a wheel?

I'll build and fix about anything on my bikes except lacing a new wheel.
Yes, I've laced a wheel set once it and went off road with it and didn't die.
But I'm pretty sure that it was not a quality job. I'd like to become more
proficient at the art(?) or lacing but I'm not really sure how to go about it.

Suggestions?

CE

Sheldon (http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html) of course!

Jobst Brandt's "The Bicycle Wheel" will provide practical lacing instructions but will also tell you WAY more than you really want to know about the theory.

on my back porch when I was 11. had a bent rim with a good hub, and a good rim with a bad hub, so I put them together and came up with a good rim.
Since then I've done motorcycle and car rims on a semi regular basis.

ken.

I took my front apart, after marking on the hub and rim numerically from the valve stem. Then put it back together. You've got the other wheel to copy, assuming they're laced the same.

I'll build and fix about anything on my bikes except lacing a new wheel.
Yes, I've laced a wheel set once it and went off road with it and didn't die.
But I'm pretty sure that it was not a quality job. I'd like to become more
proficient at the art(?) or lacing but I'm not really sure how to go about it.

Suggestions?

CE

On a cold winter's night, in Beltsville, MD, in the basement with an old rim, a new fixed-gear hub and spokes, and my old laptop open to Sheldon Brown's wheelbuilding guide (http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html)

By the end of lacing and truing, there were lithium-greasy fingerprints all over the laptop :D

I rebuilt my first rear using my front as a guide. I managed to get the stem between the right spokes, but missed the hub label through the valve hole. I had just enough income to afford the parts, and this was back before I knew of "The Bicycle Wheel." Since then, I've used Sheldon's lacing method a lot, and Jobst's some too.

Jobst Brandt's "The Bicycle Wheel" will provide practical lacing instructions but will also tell you WAY more than you really want to know about the theory.

+infinity on this book. It's required reading for anyone wanting to learn to build wheels. I read it when I was about 17, and have built literally hundreds of wheels over the last 19 years. But for sure, practice makes perfect...and, uh....never stop practicing!

Learned from an old master Spence Wolf. Another good book is Gerd Schraner's book The Art of Wheelbuilding. There are many ways to orient the spokes and you need first to understand that you need to understand something about the physics (don't let that word scare you) of the wheel and what is a pulling spoke, how the different braking methods affect the wheel. Sheldon is a fantastic start.

on my back porch when I was 11. had a bent rim with a good hub, and a good rim with a bad hub, so I put them together and came up with a good rim.
:beer:

I just did something similar with computers today... I found three partially stripped ones and made a Franken-computer. One had a decent motherboard and 1ghz processor, another had 384 megs of RAM and network and video cards, and the third had CD-ROM and floppy drives. I added a power supply from another busted computer, and a couple cables, and voilà, I had a working Linux box. So I guess four different computers actually got combined into this one. Yikes.

Reminds me of the way I built my girlfriend's bike, starting with a nice Nishiki Sport I picked up off craigslist, and combining other used but good parts. :)

Lacing a wheel is easy. Getting it trued and tensioned, that's not so easy...

I learned from an older racer (1976 Olympic Team member) who showed me by building one wheel with me, then watching me do the second one.

:beer:

I just did something similar with computers today... I found three partially stripped ones and made a Franken-computer. One had a decent motherboard and 1ghz processor, another had 384 megs of RAM and network and video cards, and the third had CD-ROM and floppy drives. I added a power supply from another busted computer, and a couple cables, and voilà, I had a working Linux box. So I guess four different computers actually got combined into this one. Yikes.

Reminds me of the way I built my girlfriend's bike, starting with a nice Nishiki Sport I picked up off craigslist, and combining other used but good parts. :)

Running linux on franken-hardware is usually the best bang for your buck. I follow a similar thought process for wheels - I get older premium hubs like Dura-ace, clean and service as needed and that saves a couple hundred $$$ per wheelset. Obviously I've got to hunt around for parts, but it almost makes the whole process mean more.

Running linux on franken-hardware is usually the best bang for your buck.

True for the home user only. Or small setups.

Running linux on franken-hardware is usually the best bang for your buck. I follow a similar thought process for wheels - I get older premium hubs like Dura-ace, clean and service as needed and that saves a couple hundred $$$ per wheelset. Obviously I've got to hunt around for parts, but it almost makes the whole process mean more.
True for the home user only. Or small setups.

I think he meant, "Running Linux on franken-hardware is the best bang for your buck, compared to running Windows on that same hardware"... not "The best way to run Linux is on something you've pulled out of the dumpster." At least, that's how I understood it!

Obviously, maintaining a bunch of heterogeneous and out-of-date hardware would be a nightmare in most large business environments. Though I do know someone who built a Beowulf cluster of 10-20 nodes almost entirely from dumpster-diving... No word on how reliable or power-efficient it was, though :rolleyes:

Anyway, I'm way off topic. Sorry :)

That white, hard-covered wheel-building book. :)

I think he meant, "Running Linux on franken-hardware is the best bang for your buck, compared to running Windows on that same hardware"... not "The best way to run Linux is on something you've pulled out of the dumpster." At least, that's how I understood it!

Obviously, maintaining a bunch of heterogeneous and out-of-date hardware would be a nightmare in most large business environments. Though I do know someone who built a Beowulf cluster of 10-20 nodes almost entirely from dumpster-diving... No word on how reliable or power-efficient it was, though :rolleyes:

Anyway, I'm way off topic. Sorry :)

Do you lace a Beowulf cluster leading or trailing first?

About 15ish years ago I read a book from the 70's called "fix your bicycle". In it was a crude section on wheelbuilding, the info you can get on the net for free is a lot better. I first used the knowledge in that book on my own bike, then on parts found in the trash. Built franken bikes and mostly ran them to the ground, or gave them to my buddies. My first wheels didn't last very long, but by now I don't want other people to build wheels for me.

I think he meant, "Running Linux on franken-hardware is the best bang for your buck, compared to running Windows on that same hardware"... not "The best way to run Linux is on something you've pulled out of the dumpster." At least, that's how I understood it!

Obviously, maintaining a bunch of heterogeneous and out-of-date hardware would be a nightmare in most large business environments. Though I do know someone who built a Beowulf cluster of 10-20 nodes almost entirely from dumpster-diving... No word on how reliable or power-efficient it was, though :rolleyes:

Anyway, I'm way off topic. Sorry :)

I was way off topic and that is what I meant.

Well, I personally found the Gerd Schraner book the most helpful when I built my first wheels. I used Sheldon's info in conjunction with Gerd's book, and throughly enjoyed the satisfaction of building a set of wheels! But it is sort of addictive. I'm constantly looking for some excuse to build up another wheelset.

I was way off topic and that is what I meant.

Hehehe. I'm starting to think we need a forum for "bike-related threads that may devolve into computer geek fests." It's fun to talk about JUST bikes or JUST computers... but even better to make random jumps among them :)

I am just now finishing up a clinic my local REI is putting on. We did a night of "theory" and selecting the components we wanted to build a wheel out of. Then, we did a day to go over more theory and to actually build the front wheel. The final day is the rear wheel.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it easier to learn with help than to read a book and do it myself. I don't know if other REIs or LBSs do similar clinics, but it was the way to go for me.

However, now that I have the hunger to build wheels, I'm going to have to figure out how to satisfy it without buying $400 worth of truing stands, spoke wrenches, tensionometers, etc...

Many years ago, when the Earth and I were young, Bicycling Magazine had useful articles. I want to say this was from ~1984. It's only one way to lace - mirror image, pulling spokes away from derailleur - probably the best and most traditional. I saved this article for a long time and it had grease and Spoke Prep all over it until I finally bought a scanner.

http://lh5.google.com/DiabloScottsBikeBlog/Rmm4HDX3YbI/AAAAAAAAAhg/GdrX2zqhPRc/s800/Build-Wheels-Part-2-Page-1.JPG

Other pages and much more HERE (http://picasaweb.google.com/DiabloScottsBikeBlog/ScansOfOldArticles)

I'll second AKTed's comment about Gerd Schraner's book. It has the most logical set of instructions for lacing (radial (x0), x1, x2, x3, x4) that I've ever seen, and the neatest thing about "The Schraner Way" is that even if interrupted, the builder can easily work out the next step without having to start over; logical, and the easiest way to lace bar none!

- Wil

Many years ago, when the Earth and I were young, Bicycling Magazine had useful articles. I want to say this was from ~1984.
Wow! That's truly amazing. I was wondering when and how it turned into a content-free fashion and dieting magazine. :eek:

All I want is bike technology, bike reviews, and ride reviews. I canceled my Bicycling Mag subscription after realizing that there were 5 pages in each issue for me. :mad:

I quit buying magazines simply for that reason, reviews were pretty much fill in the blanks with the only real difference being the name of the item and occasionally the phrasing.

Ken.

http://freewheelbike.com/page.cfm?pageID=83

so concerning truing the wheel.....i know a stand is ideal but can you do the ye olde' spin test and true the wheel accurately while its still on the frame?

+1 Moxfyre, i grabbed a copy of Bicycling ( not 2 common in oz ) for the first time in 10ish years the other day, and wondered where the magazine was inside the catalog i'd bought by mistake .... :/

so concerning truing the wheel.....i know a stand is ideal but can you do the ye olde' spin test and true the wheel accurately while its still on the frame?

Sure, that's pretty common way to touch up side to side wobble without even taking off the tire. If you take the tire off and put the wheel back in the frame, you can use the frame and brake pads as a pretty respectable truing stand. It's harder than using a real truing stand, so if you are new to truing, it's an extra frustration. When I was new to truing, I was also poor, so I did this before I got a truing stand.

Buy a good spoke wrench, I can't stress this enough.

Sheldon

:beer:

I just did something similar with computers today... I found three partially stripped ones and made a Franken-computer. One had a decent motherboard and 1ghz processor, another had 384 megs of RAM and network and video cards, and the third had CD-ROM and floppy drives. I added a power supply from another busted computer, and a couple cables, and voilà, I had a working Linux box. So I guess four different computers actually got combined into this one. Yikes.

Reminds me of the way I built my girlfriend's bike, starting with a nice Nishiki Sport I picked up off craigslist, and combining other used but good parts. :)

Bikes and linux in the same forum! My worlds are beginning to merge.

This is like that scene in the movie PCU where the guy watching TV for days in his pajamas finally sees two particular actors together in the same movie and thus proves his thesis (or at least fails to find support for the null hypothesis).

It's harder than using a real truing stand, so if you are new to truing, it's an extra frustration. When I was new to truing, I was also poor, so I did this before I got a truing stand.
I had the advantage of having a welding torch in my shop from the earliest days. (thanks Dad!)
So to true a 27" wheel, I used an old pair of forks and brazed a nut on each leg that was in line with the rim. Then I used longish bolts throught the nuts as the guides.
Worked great for side-to-side truing, but not so much for roundness! :rolleyes:

I'd get a truing stand. The $40 Minoura Workman is cheap and servicable.

i laced my first wheel by looking at that diagram and reading the instructions on sheldon's site.
the next few i did by memory with a glance or two at a built wheel. these were mostly 3 cross, and one 1 cross...lacing is easier than truing and tensioning. i feel i'm pretty good at both now. practice makes perfect, i've only built about ten wheels though. last three were 36o tubular wheels that needed nipple washers...a pain in the ass, each wheel took me about an hour and a half from start to ready to have some glue put on...

Learned from an old master Spence Wolf. Another good book is Gerd Schraner's book The Art of Wheelbuilding. There are many ways to orient the spokes and you need first to understand that you need to understand something about the physics (don't let that word scare you) of the wheel and what is a pulling spoke, how the different braking methods affect the wheel. Sheldon is a fantastic start.

Holy crap...I haven't heard anyone mention Spence Wolf in years and years!!!! He truly is a legend!

I took the liberty of scarfing the pages of the three wheelbuilding articles by Eric Hjertberg from DiabloScott's web gallery, and putting them all together in one PDF file. If anyone wants it, just email me (please don't send me a BikeForums message -- it's too cumbersome to read/reply that way!).

Holy crap...I haven't heard anyone mention Spence Wolf in years and years!!!! He truly is a legend!
Cupertino Bike Shop - bought two Cinellis and a Bob Jackson from him circa 1970.

Learned to build wheels on my own - and got to be pretty d***ed good at it, or so I was told.....

Read what Sheldon Brown had to say about it, laced a wheel together, and deduced that it must be the cross-4 instead of cross-3 due to spoke length. Couldn't find much of anything about cross-4 on the internet, but deduced how to do it from teh cross-3 pattern. Haven't put any miles on 'em yet, though, so I can't see how I did, really.

Wheelbuilding, 4th ed., by Roger Musson (http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/wheelbuilding/book.php)

Wow, thanks DiabloScott!

That's how I built my first set of road wheels. With the help of that Bicycling article in the early 80s. My very first experience was when I was 8, after my Shimano 3 spd hub broke. Had to relace a new one to the rim. My mother actually helped out with the 3x pattern.

From Zinn's "The Art of Mountain Bike Repair". Many other sources and methods since but that was a good place to start.

Sheldon (http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html) of course!


Like many of us here. Sheldon - RIP - you da man!!!

Sheldon

My wife got tired of hearing me go on about how lacing wheels was the only thing I wasn't comfortable doing. And so last Christmas she got me a wheel stand. It was a funky 1 armed bandito... not the best, but it's possible to get the wheel centered by flopping it around several times. But I digress.

I lucked out and got in on a small 1 day class at our local Bicycle coop - the Bicycle Kitchen in Los Angeles. It was a tremendous help lacing, truing and tensioning my first wheel under the tutelage of an experienced wheelsmith. It took 2 tries and a few hours, but my front wheel came out real nice. It was actually a re-lace of a 20 year old road wheel. The rim and hub were servicable, however the spokes were rusted beyond help. But again, I digress.

I was able to lace up the back wheel from memory a few weeks later... and yea, with the front as an example. I did have to go back to the Bicycle Kitchen to do a final tensioning (don't have $60 bucks for a tensiometer I'll use just a handfull of times.) and true. But I'm psyched about accomplishing this.

DanO