Originally Posted by
Philphine
I like it. I started a "school colors" bike, but got bogged down by my Achilles heel. I can't build wheels, and never seem to have (or want to spend) the extra cash to have it done. but I have a 29er wheel I like (internal 7sp) and a couple of the 29er huffy cruiser frames, so I mean to try it again with one of them.
Grab a couple of old 36 spoke wheels from whatever junk pile you can find and practice standard 3-cross and 3-leading-3-trailing. They use the same spoke length, and most wheels are already standard 3-cross, so you can use one as a reference while relacing the other. Once you have it down, it's easy to do while watching a movie or whatever.
Tensioning and truing once it's laced is a bit more in depth, but once you have the hang of it, doing a pair in a day is easy.
As for painting rims, I painted them, then laced, then cut a piece of a pizza box to match the inside radius of the wheel and used it as a handheld mask while touching up the parts I'd scratched.