Retro Grouch 

Why are you building your own wheels?

Considering the cost of buying a complete prebuilt wheelset vs. buying the components separately, it seems to me that the main reason people build their own wheels is for the satisfaction of doing it themselves and building the best wheel they are capible of building.

If that describes your motivation, then it doesn't make very much sense to me to cheap out on spokes. Get whatever you think is best.

CdCf

Uhm, maybe we don't all live in large US cities, where almost anything can be bought.

Prebuilt wheels here are either extreme racing wheels with half a spoke and hydrogen rims (almost...) or mega-cheap dept. store wheels. They're ok, but hardly something you'd expect to last for very long.

If you want regular 36-spoke wheels with decent quality components, you either have to pay a bike shop to order the parts and build them for you, or order the parts online and build them yourself. The latter is considerably cheaper!

Hobartlemagne 

Cuda- don't forget I have that 27" front wheel and tire I'll give you when I see you next.

PS- Id put the money into the Flyte.

cuda2k

Why? A range of reasons:

1) I want to learn how to build wheels myself. I have a number of custom wheels I'd like to do in the future and I figured this set would be a good place to start before I start doing higher end wheelsets for my other bikes. There is a satisfaction in doing it yourself, and you really learn the ins and outs of truing wheels and such by going through this learning process.

2) I wanted a very particular wheelset for this bike. One that you can not buy new any more. A narrow 27" rim (though Harris does sell a Sun rim wheelset that is narrow), with High Flange hubs (those, you aren't going to get any way but custom unless its a track wheelset).

3) Why cheap out on spokes? Because when you need to buy 72 of them for a wheelset, 0.14 difference in price is $10 difference in the over all price of things. At some point it does become cheaper to buy prebuilt wheels, and while I don't mind going a little over, I'd like to keep the budget within reason.

4) This bike I put together on a pretty low budget to begin with. Picked up the whole bike for $35 off ebay locally, stripped and sold off parts I didn't need till the frame was practically free. Then I painted, decaled and rebuilt it from the ground up as a custom one of a kind. But it will always be a mid-low end frame that doesn't need a $250 wheelset. But it is comfortable as hell out on the road.

urbanknight

Cancel the "might". I had a problem with them, and I had been building wheels for 10 years. If someone wants to build their own wheels with revolution, I suggest making flags out of tape to tell if the spoke is twisting or not... oh, and using oil instead of spoke prep.

Rev.Chuck

The Revolutions are pretty twisty. I use a spoke grabber(modified fourth hand tool) when I get near the end of the build so I don't have to releive the wheel so much.

cuda2k

Anyone see any problems with me building this wheelset with 1.8/1.6 DB DTSwiss Competition spokes? Found a pretty decent price for them.

Retro Grouch 

That wouldn't be my first choice.

You have the smaller 15 gauge at the spoke elbows where they typically break and you have a lighter 16 gauge center section that winds up more easily during the build process.

You have to be careful that you get the right nipples too. Most nipples fit 14 gauge spokes. 14 gauge nipples look the same but they won't hold.

14/15/14 spokes are my default choice unless I have some special reason to do otherwise. If you want to shave the last few dollars from the build, then I'd use straight 14 gauge spokes. Honestly the quality of the build, getting the wheel properly and evenly tensioned, is much more important. You'll be able to build a very durable wheel with either.

blamp28

+100

cuda2k

Fair enough. I was kinda thinking the same thing about the thinkness, though I do know about the different nipple size.

urbanknight

imo 1st choice is 14/15/14 (2.0/1.8/2.0) and 2nd choice is straight 14. Nothing else for a first time build.

masi61

I just thought I would highlight this section. Last I checked, Wolber #58 27" rims aren't what I'd call "narrow" by any means. I have these on my Puch with Phil Wood hubs and they are some of the sturdiest wheels ever. The narrowest width of 27" tires you should run with these would be 27x1-1/8". If you tried to run 27" x 1" width it might work but the rim would be as wide as the tire.

cuda2k

Fair enough, yeah, there are narrower rims out there, but the prices on them are beyond what I had to spend. I measured the Woblers at 21mm between the braking surfaces. My current rims are 24mm, the narrowest I've come across yet are 19mm. Like everything one has to balance the cost to the benifit. The 21mm give me the benifit I'm looking for, and allows me to run the tire width of choice (1 1/8").

masi61

They're good rims for sure. Your current ones (the ones you're swapping out that is) sound like some clunkers, even for touring. I just went out and measured my Wolber 58's with a metric dial caliper and I'm getting 23mm between the braking surfaces. My Continental Ultra Sport 27 x 1-1/8" tires measure 28.5 mm wide and look proportional combined with these boxy rims. I like fatty tires even for fast riding BTW. I've got pretty pricey Michelin Pro 2 Races in 700 x 25mm on my Flyte when I could have gone with 23's and I have no regrets (these measure an actual 27.1mm wide by the way).

Cycocommute's recommendation of going with the DT Alpine spokes sounds like a good one. I would be looking into those seriously. Have you decided which spokes you are going to be running with? Too bad you can't get those spline drive spoke nipples that used to be available back in the 1990's - I think the company that manufactured those folded.

cuda2k

Thanks all for for the advise and information. I ordered wheelsmith 2.0/1.8 DB spokes from Nashbar this afternoon. The wheel build will likely start later this month when I have a bit of time to sit down for a few hours and do it slowly and carefully.

Nessism

I’ve built several sets of wheels using 15/16 (1.8/1.6) DT spokes and have had excellent results. Dura-Ace 9 speed 28 hole hubs, Open Pro rims, 15/16 front and non drive rear, 14/15 drive rear. I use a Park tension gauge to make sure the tension is consistent. Never broke a spoke and wheels hardly ever need to be trued (actually, on two sets currently in use, about 5k miles per set, the only time I trued them is when I bought the Park tension tool and I wanted to play around with it). It might help that I weigh 170 lbs. and use brass nipples. Honestly though, 15/16’s are pretty darn tough, particularly when you use 28 – 36 of them. You guys worry too much.

blamp28

Report back how it goes and don't be shy if you run into a snag.

cuda2k

Certainly will blamp. It should be a learning experience, for better or worse.

I'm combining these hubs:



with these rims:

jimblairo

I just had a wheel set built up using Alpine III's on an XT hub and Mavuc XM 719 rims.