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Noob wheel building question: What am i doing wrong?

Old 08-25-11, 11:26 AM
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Noob wheel building question: What am i doing wrong?

Trying to build my first set of wheels, and i'm running into problems right away.
I'm building the standard 32 spoke, 3-cross, and i'm following the instructions in Jobst Brandt's book pretty close (I think). The first two set of spokes go in fine. I get the hub turned as far as it will go, but when i start putting the cross spokes in i just can't make the buggers reach.

Is there a common problem that i'm running into here? My LBS, who i trust, measured the spokes, so I don't think they are too short. what else could this be?
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Old 08-25-11, 11:49 AM
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I started wheel building using a combination of Jobst's book, and the Sheldon Brown pages, https://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

If you follow Sheldon's method for lacing, and have a build wheel to check against, it should work.
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Old 08-25-11, 12:18 PM
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Are you fully threading on the first set? If so, that could be your issue. I thread all nipples on two full turns at first until all spokes are laced then bring the tension up on all spokes a little at a time.
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Old 08-25-11, 12:35 PM
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I've been going with 4 full turns on each nipple (as per jobst's advice). I tried again with less threading per nipple, which seemed to help, but spokes still didn't quite make it, and the nipples that were on kept falling off.

Jobst suggests putting the first two sets of spokes on straight and then rotating the hub, whereas sheldon brown seems to advocate starting with the hub already rotated. Is this a 6/half-dozen issue, or is there an advantage to either of these methods?
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Old 08-25-11, 12:46 PM
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Originally Posted by musicsucks
I've been going with 4 full turns on each nipple (as per jobst's advice). I tried again with less threading per nipple, which seemed to help, but spokes still didn't quite make it, and the nipples that were on kept falling off.

Jobst suggests putting the first two sets of spokes on straight and then rotating the hub, whereas sheldon brown seems to advocate starting with the hub already rotated. Is this a 6/half-dozen issue, or is there an advantage to either of these methods?
doesn't really matter which way you do it as long as the spokes are in the correct spot, but to get the leading spokes started, you will have to get the hub rotated. make sure that when you try and rotate the hub that none of the nipples are hanging up on the rim keeping it from twisting completely.
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Old 08-25-11, 02:16 PM
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I had a similar problem with my first build. I realized that I was (incorrectly) lacing each side in the same direction (when viewing from the side). I had to go back and lace one side clockwise and the other counter clockwise. I hope that's not too confusing. Difficult to put into words.
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Old 08-25-11, 02:36 PM
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Originally Posted by musicsucks
Trying to build my first set of wheels, and i'm running into problems right away.
I'm building the standard 32 spoke, 3-cross, and i'm following the instructions in Jobst Brandt's book pretty close (I think). The first two set of spokes go in fine. I get the hub turned as far as it will go, but when i start putting the cross spokes in i just can't make the buggers reach.

Is there a common problem that i'm running into here? My LBS, who i trust, measured the spokes, so I don't think they are too short. what else could this be?
Did you double check with a spoke calculator ? Trustworthy people make mistakes .
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Old 08-25-11, 07:03 PM
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Yea, post the rim effective diameter and your hub measurements and we can verify your spoke length.
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Old 08-26-11, 10:18 AM
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Okay, i've got an alexrims x2100 which, according to the internet, has an ERD of 598.4

And an old Tiagra hub, which again according to the internet has a flange diameter of 38mm and a hub to flange center of 34.

My spokes are 287. I think they ought to be 293. Does this sound right?
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Old 08-26-11, 12:08 PM
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293.42 @ 293.00 it is...

...ya got the wrong size spokes fella...they won't work for 2X either...

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Old 08-26-11, 01:00 PM
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wrong spokes size! I had that happen once when I ordered some spokes. They came in a bundle and 1/2 the spokes were the wrong size. I had measured correctly but they sent the wong ones.
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Old 08-26-11, 04:59 PM
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Went back to the bike shop. Apparently they had measured for a 2x. Got some longer spokes. They laced up nice. Will try to true them up tomorrow, hopefully it works out.
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Old 08-28-11, 04:48 AM
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Did you lace up all trailing or leading spokes first, rather than one whole side first?

Cause I don't think that's the way to go; you'll have to lace up 16 spokes rather than 8 to find out you have the wrong size - which is obvious now...

I lace a whole side first, then the remaining heads-out spokes next. It's easier to handle when you get the 9th spoke in rather than waiting until the 17th. Although it does take practice to be able to lace up the last 1/4 without bending them too far.
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