Homebrew01

Exacto-mundo.

79pmooney

I was just thinking the other day how nice it was riding really sweet wheels. Round, true, very even spoke tensions. Now I know I am just a hack and these wheels are junk because I have never looked at the hub label when I built wheels and never plan to. In my life's priorities, hub rotation rates about 2,895th. I guess it is good that others rank it a lot higher. (Paves the way for an earlier entrance into heaven?)

Edit: greasing the spoke threads and nipple seats means far more to me even though no one but me will ever know.

Ben

pacificaslim

And by all means, sunglasses over helmet straps.

FBinNY 

Actually not, except for the OCD crowd. But in a way the OCD crowd is driving the process, because if you're not OCD you get accused of being sloppy and not attentive to details.

Homebrew01

For posing purposes, I think the valve stem should be at the ground, pointing up. Therefore, the hub logo should be opposite the valve stem, so that it's visible when the valve is at the bottom.

Homebrew01

That sort of ties in to the "you can't fix that" crowd, that declares anything out of factory spec as ruined and in need of replacement.

Earl Grey

Hey, even Sheldon Brown seems to have been a logo / valve hole believer, though I don't know whether he was OCD:

"If the hub has a label running along the barrel, it should be located so that it can be read through the valve hole. These things will not affect the performance of the wheel, but good wheelbuilders pay attention to these things as a matter of pride and esthetics."

Wheelbuilding

Ronno6

What if the hub logo is the Confederate Battle Flag ??

dedhed

I just checked mine .The 2 bikes that actually have good enough hubs to have logos 1 - random, 1 - OCD compliant. A third one the Brit who built my Raleigh S-A S-5 hub wheel in '68 wasn't in compliance either. All have given good service in actual use. The random Ultegra/open pros are on my commuter which have easy 15K miles of urban midwest pothole commuting and been trued once after their first season of use. I'm satisfied with whoever built them's work even if I can't see the logo through the valve hole when I replace tires on them.

chriskmurray

Absolutely true, very very few will ever notice but for those who do it will mean the world to them. Those who are obsessive enough to notice are usually obsessive enough to tell everyone they know about how disappointed they are with their new wheels.

Thankfully I, along with most full time wheel builders I assume, fall into the OCD crowd naturally so it is something we would do anyways, especially as it takes no extra effort/time to do. At the very least I feel since I build wheels for a living I should hold myself to higher standards than my customers will ever have, this goes with both aesthetics and performance.

migrantwing

I guess I'm an amateur, wannabe wheelbuilder then. I never said I was anything other than an amateur wheelbuilder. This is my first wheel build and I just wanted to follow the method/s I've read and viewed. I am, also, far from being an idiot

Some people don't care if they tape their bars in a mirror image of each other. Some do. Some people don't care if their curtains match their carpet. Some do. Some people don't care if they wear blue shoes with a grey suit. Some do.

I understand that these little things like hub logos and valves lining up don't matter in the whole mechanical credibility of a bike, but aesthetics are always nice.

I also like to know how things are done, hence my question. I research and ask advice from those more proficient than myself in certain areas, and give opinion, advice, experience and expertise in areas in which I excel or of which I have knowledge.

Tunnelrat81

I prefer to lace with the trailing spokes heads in (a la Roger Musson & others) and I've found that it's pretty simple to get this done right. My key (first) spoke when lacing will be on the NDS, and it will be a leading spoke. I simple line up the logo, find the spoke hole in the NDS flange closest to the label, and count backward the number of holes based on the number of crosses I'm lacing. On a 3x laced wheel, I count backward 3 holes and that's where my key spoke goes. I then don't have to really keep track of it until I've dropped all the spokes for that pass into the hub (every other flange hole on the NDS). Then I go back, quickly re-count to verify my key spoke and pull it up to the rim just behind the valve hole to install my first nipple and commence lacing. Done and done. If the drilling alignment happens to be opposite (meaning that your first NDS spoke has to go to the second rim hole from the valve), or if the label on the hub doesn't line up perfectly with the spoke hole on that flange, tending to favor one additional spoke hole if necessary seems to keep my labels lined up well.

If you're lacing with the trailing spokes heads out (a la Sheldon Brown & others) You would use generally the same approach, but count forward to the 3rd spoke hole in the flange for the key spoke, drop the rest of your spokes in place and begin lacing by taking that spoke and inserting it into the first rim hole in front of the valve hole.

Hope this helps. It's really not that hard once you do it once or twice, but the leading/trailing thing can throw you off until you have more experience with it. The important thing to remember is that if you want the trailing (pulling) spokes to be heads in, you count backward from the label and lace behind the valve hole, and if you want the trailing spokes to be heads out, you count forward and lace that spoke in front of the valve hole. This can be confusing, but because you always lace the heads out spokes first, you need to toggle their direction accordingly when deciding how you want the trailing spokes to be oriented in the completed wheel.

-Jeremy

GravelMN

Ummm . . . you mean like the way people who are attentive to aesthetic details and consistency, as well as mechanical function, get accused of being OCD?

To each his/her own. I won't sacrifice function for form, but if I can have both . . . well . . . COOL

migrantwing

Great reply. Thank you, Jeremy! @Tunnelrat81

Trakhak

This topic is a prime instance of the principle behind one of George Carlin's observations re human nature: "Everyone who drives slower than me is an idiot and everyone who drives faster than me is a maniac."

migrantwing

Ha! I like it!

Dan Burkhart 

So what about the people who want the logos removed wherever possible? I have a couple of customers that request that on every build.

Homebrew01

Everyone who rides slower than me is a weak rider, and anyone who rides faster is a strong rider.

Looigi

That actually can matter, as straps under eyeglasses usually lie flatter and produce less wind noise.

mconlonx

On wheels I build for myself, hub labels fall within +/- a couple of spokes of lining up with the valve hole is perfectly good enough for me. Where I draw the OCD line is that the front hub label read in the same direction as the rear wheel label.

On wheels I build for customers, I line the label up with the valve hole because wheel snobs have convinced those who shop custom wheels that this is the way it should be. Or the mechanic is incompetent, not a craftsman, etc. And I now ask the leading or trailing spokes in/out question having been burnt about it once.

DiabloScott

If the hub logo lines up with the valve hole, then that means the oil hole is on the opposite side and won't be dripping oil onto the valve when posing for photos with the valve at the bottom and the cover leaks.

mconlonx

#extremelyimportant !