Duncan Ave.

I'm finally getting around to upgrading the steel wheels on my 1980ish Grand Prix. I scored a set of wheels from an eary 80's Panasonic (I think.) Suntour hubs and alloy Araya rims.

Of course, stupid me wasn't happy to just throw them on and ride off into the sunset. Noooo, I had to take them apart and relace with new spokes. Did I mention that I have no clue what I am doing?

At any rate, I have managed to calculate the proper spoke length and, with the help of Sheldon Brown's website, get them relaced 3X.

But I am confused about the spoke tension. Everything I am reading says to use the rim manufacturers recommended spoke tension. How do I go about finding this?

If it helps, we are talking about low flange hubs, 27" wheels, and DT Competition 2.0/1.8/2.0 double butted spokes. And I got a Park tensionmeter.

Thanks, I just know the good folks in the C&V know the answer right off the top of their heads.

Old Fat Guy

https://www.jimlangley.net/wrench/wheelbuildfull.html

King of Kadence

Somewhere there's a manufacturers recommendation for maximum spoke tension for a given component. I don't know where to find any.

On the wheels I build, primarily 27" weinmann rims, normandy high flange hubs and the same double butted spokes, I shoot for just over 20 on the park scale for front wheels and rear drive side, and the non drive usually falls in at somewhere over over 15 on the park scale. The 20 number on the park scale is usually where I start to round off nipples. That number has been giving me taut, trouble free wheels.

Duncan Ave.

Okay, that is helpful. And kinda of jives with the advice given on the link oldfatguy supplied. The link basically said get them true and round then tighten two revolutions (in increments.) So far I have trued the front loosely and then tightened 1 revolution, which put me at about 15-17 on the Park scale. So one more turn would be close to 20 on the park scale. (Or maybe over, I'll keep an eye on that.)

I was just trying to figure out if I was anywhere near the ballpark, or still way across town.

King of Kadence

I usually don't think of truing and tensioning in a matter of specific turns of the nipple. I'm always truing laterally, radially and dishing, multiple times. As the wheel comes up to tension. I usually twist nipples 1/4 and then 1/8 turns as things start to even out.

And of course use spoke prep (I've just begun using linseed oil) and grease between the nipple & rim follow all the other rules of setting spoke heads, stress relieving, preventing wind up, blah, blah.

nlerner

+1 to what K of K writes. I haven't used a tensionmeter, but one of the mistakes I made when first building wheels was to over tension them in fear of a loosely tensioned rim. As a result, I had no wiggle room to do any significant truing (and taco-ed a few in the process). So go slowly, work on vertical truing first, then lateral, back to vertical, etc. By doing that, I have found that I don't have to worry about final tension, and that my wheels stay true after lots of riding.

Neal

King of Kadence

Then once I'm all done and get to ride them, almost nothing feels better. My pedal motion is converted effortlessly to forward propulsion and I feel it's all because of the tight wheels I've just built. Probably just placebo, please don't tell me if it is.

bikemore 

1+

Duncan Ave.

Thanks for all the helpful tips. Yeah, I did the linseed oil thing, and seated the heads, etc.

I am sure once you have done it a few times, it becomes instinctual (that's a word, isn't it?)--you get a "feel" for what is right. I just don't have anything to compare to.

I'll keep tinkering with it. ..And try not to obsess.

Amani576

Too late. You messed with them, you'll never stop thinking about them, so long as you're the one riding them. I built new wheels not too long ago, and always sort of admire what I did. I doubt I built the best wheels I could have, but I DID IT. You'll always be a little proud of them, and always obsess, even just a little bit.
-Gene-

jack002

One thing to keep you humble about it (possibly) is this. Around the tire valve do the spokes go like this / \ or like this | | ? Ok, let the inner obsession begin... now.

miamijim

If you realy want to obsess are the dirve spoke heads in or out? Is the hub label oriented so you can read it while looking down when seated? Are the rim labels oriented so they can be read from the drive side of the bike?

King of Kadence

For drive spokes it's spoke heads in. Only because that's the way old 27" schwinns are.

Schwinn approved and Normandy hubs have labels going around the axles. Labels on the front are pointed to the valve hole and can be read from the drive side as well as the rim label.

A C&V pet peeve of mine is tire labels not being lined up with the tire valve on the drive side.

lotek 

I bought some D'Allesandro tubulars and none of the labels match up with either the valve, or each other.
nice riding tire ( NOS italian made) but poor quality control.

Marty

Doohickie

Is it poor quality control if it's just a label? Functionality is where it's at.