Originally Posted by
bobotech
4 to 8 hours usually is a good go at a first time wheel for someone who hasn't ever done it before. I think it took me roughly 5 or so. I can now do a wheel in about an hour barring no real screwups.
Same here. The hardest lesson to learn is to apply tension incrementally: tighten every spoke, all the way around the wheel, by 1/4 turn when the wheel is complete, true, and round. You need to iterate through the steps: adjust the spokes to round the wheel, then true, then add 1/4 turn to tension the whole wheel. Then round, true, tension... round, true, tension... round, true, tension.
I'm amazed no one has written a book called "Zen and the Art of Bicycle Wheelbuilding"- it's a very meditative process.