Originally Posted by
seeker333
Additionally, if you wish to prevent the spokes from their eventual, inexorable detensioning and concomitant de-truing of the wheel, you need to use some kind of threadlocker compound like Spokeprep, Loctite blue or boiled linseed oil (also an excellent steel frame rustproofing agent).
Nope. Sufficient tension is all it takes, noting that more flexible rims sometimes need thinner spokes with more stretch to stay within their limits. That's OK - the proliferation of 2.3mm hub drilling compatible aero spokes like the DT Aerolite and Sapim CX-Ray have shown us that 2.0/1.5mm spokes work great even for heavier riders provided you use a high enough spoke count for the rider weight. The extra windup is easy to compensate for with tape flags on the first spoke (front) or two (rear) after the hole or Sharpie dots on every spoke.
Jobst Brandt recommends oil in _The Bicycle Wheel_, although I prefer grease or anti-seize to keep water out after the build.
When I build wheels that way they stay true until they have an accident which bends the rim or damages a spoke.
Building a good durable wheel is not a trivial matter
It's simple enough school children can do it, with Jobst testing his book by having each of his grade school sons build a wheelset with no additional help.
and in some cases it is not economically sensible.
It depends on your time frame. Over years you win as long as you consider wheel building a meditative activity not a sacrifice of billable hours.
Properly tensioned and stress relieved quality spokes last for hundreds of thousands of miles provided you avoid chloride corrosion stress cracks and knicks from things like over-shifted chains.
Wear out or bend a Sun Ringle and you can have a good-as-new wheel for under $25 and half the time it takes to build from scratch. Remove tension, tape the new rim on in three places, transfer spokes one at a time taking the opportunity to lubricate nipple threads and rim sockets, cut tape, and finish as you would a normal wheel build although you're starting with stress relieved spokes with spoke lines corrected.
That's in-line with the least expensive wheels from QBP.
You can also do the same with $80 rims on Dura Ace or Record hubs that'd cost a lot more to duplicate as complete wheels.
Bearings go too but can usually be replaced (except for Shimano cups)