Butterthebean

I have a rear wheel that I bought from Harris Cyclery and I have taken it apart so I can practice wheel building. The wheel is a 700, 126mm spacing, 36H freewheel hub. I followed the instructions on Sheldon Browns website in reassembling it. I inserted all the trailing spokes first. They run on the inside of the hub flange. Then I inserting all the leading spokes so they run on the outside of the hub flange. Problem is, the trailing spokes all stick so far out of the rim, they appear to be almost an inch too long. And all the leading spokes are almost too short. I've tried to rotate the hub forward but cannot rotate it once all the spokes are in. And it seems impossible to keep it stationary (and rotated) while inserting all the spokes.

What do I need to do to get this right???

thanks

DevilsGT2

Is the wheel dished?

waterrockets 

^^^^To clarify: are all the spokes the same length, or are the drive side spokes shorter? If they're different, do you have the drive side spokes on the non-drive side?

Butterthebean

The drive side spokes were slightly shorter, maybe 2 mm, but I put them back on the drive side. The problem is, the trailing spokes, whether on the drive side or not, all seem to be way too long now, and the leading spokes, drive side or not, are all too short. Seems like something to do with rotation of the hub or something. The hub is rotated so that the trailing spokes are not radial. It is a 3 cross pattern, but still, all those trailing spokes are sticking so far out of the rim that I cannot tighten up the nipples near enough.

roadfix

You need to rotate that hub even further....???

Wil Davis

Read Gerd Schraner's "The Art of Wheelbuilding" (see pp.66 "Schraner's Method"); his method is simple to learn, is very easy to follow and you always know where you are should you become distracted. If you make a mistake during the lacing you can see it immediately and therefore the error is easy to correct.

- Wil

Noam Zane

Take it apart and start over paying attention to spoke placement in the hub flanges.

p4nh4ndle

Yeah, I had that problem once when I was in a hurry to build a wheel, but was drinking beer at the same time. I had to assemble it twice to get the lacing right.

Matthew "slightly sloshed" Panas

Little Darwin

If you are like me, just console yourself by knoweing that "one size does not fit all" and "one process does not work best for everyone"

After thinking I was doing something wrong, I discovered that I was apparently always hanging a couple of nipples on the rim, and so wasn't completely seating the spokes...

As long as you get the pattern right, don't sweat it too much.

I found that for me, I was able to work it out better by changing the order of the lacing... while maintaining the overall pattern. I couldn't maintain the right twist to hold the first set of spokes in place until I tweaked the order of lacing a little bit.

Of course, I am a little strange.

King of Kadence

According to Gerd Schraner's "The Art of Wheelbuilding", after inserting the trailing keyspoke(the keyspoke is right next to the valve hole), count off 8 holes in the hub and insert one leading spoke and thread it too the second spot opposite the valve hole.

My keyspoke is the first one you see on the left.


After three spokes, the hub is stable and placed pretty much where it should be.

cny-bikeman

There should be nothing to prevent the trailing spokes from seating fully when you rotate the rim, but only if you have not already put in the leading spokes. Take the leading spokes out of the rim. All the remaining (trailing) spokes should be pointed in the same direction. Rotate the hub until all of the spokes nipples are seated fully into the rim, then put in the first leading spoke, being careful to cross the correct number of spokes. Continue with the other spokes.

Bob Dopolina 

I agree. I think you put the leading spokes one hole to far around the hub in the direction you are rotating the hub.

In future, you can avoid this buy lacing the first pulling spoke (next to the valve hole) on BOTH SIDES as the first pair of spokes you install. The rim should go left side first them right side (based on the orientation of the hole in the rim).

This will give you a fixed reference point.

tellyho

It sounds like you have one side laced 4x and one side laced 3x. Or 3 and 2. I've done it before by mistake and had that result.

Butterthebean

figured it out. I was essentially doing a 2 cross, instead of a 3 cross. I was not going over far enough with my first leading spoke, duh. All is better now.

Now if I could only get it true. I guess I have all night.

melville

If you put ALL the spokes in the hub from the start (sometimes called the Schwinn method) you can verify your lacing pattern in real time instead of doing a bunch of freaky voodoo counting.

90 seconds to fill the hub, minimal bending of the spokes in the lacing process and the thinking part of lacing up is done with the first pair nippled on each side.

I can't be the last one who does this, can I?

Later

Mel

Bob Dopolina 

I had a mechanic who used to use this method at work. There were two problems:

1. I found that the spokes had a tendency to scratch the nice, shiny new rim (this is bad).
2. In a shop, so often you have to walk away from what you are doing to do something else and then come back to the wheel 30 minutes later. This method can cause you to make lacing errors or at least cost you a bunch of time figuring out just where in the heck you are in this build.

maybe if you used it all the time, or if you did it at home, this might not happen. I've never done it that way myself, but I watched this mechanic get it wrong more than once so I kind of made up my mind about it from that perspective.

p4nh4ndle

I've always wanted to try this, just to see if it would speed up the whole "lace the spoke. twist the nipple" ordeal. That time (with the beer) I messed up the lacing I essentially started over with the wheel laced and crossed (after I corrected my errors) and it seemed to save some time.
though I'd agree. if you had to walk away from your work, it could become confusing.

Deanster04

Could see that in the photo. When you play with an already built wheel photograph the wheel with some additional closeups so you can mimic the job.

geo8rge

"I have a rear wheel that I bought from Harris Cyclery and I have taken it apart so I can practice wheel building. "

I personally think buying a pretensioned wheel and untensioning it is a really bad idea. If you were going to do it marking spoke and hub holes with numbered tape would be a good idea.

In general I find that using colored tape is a good way of keeping track of where the 4 spoke groups are, where the valve and key spokes are. Go to radio shack and get a set of muti colored electrical tapes.

Have an already made wheel on hand as an 'answer key' in case you get lost.

melville

Did your mechanic have other "issues?" Seriously, the thought process is over once you have the first pair of spokes 'nippled.'

Yes you can scratch the rim if you are not careful. Not a problem after you've done a few.

I've done this in a shop where I was covering salespeople on lunchbreaks, done it while answering questions on the phone ("bring you bike a little closer to the phone"), could probably do it blindfolded. If the time and motion people at Schwinn felt another method was easier or faster we'd be calling that the "Schwinn method."

Later

Mel