respoking a wheel
#1
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respoking a wheel
I have a new wheel. I threaded it myself.
I messed up a bit on the pattern so that the hole for the air is jammed into a small spoke triangle.
I am thinking about undoing the entire thing. Do I have to replace the spokes?
I messed up a bit on the pattern so that the hole for the air is jammed into a small spoke triangle.
I am thinking about undoing the entire thing. Do I have to replace the spokes?
#3
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the only problem, and it may be enough to cause most to re-lace the wheel, is that it may be difficult or possibly even impossible to fill the tire, depending on your pump-head and valve length. i've done the same thing, probably on more than one occasion
, and just left it that way for a while. eventually when i had good reason to rebuild the wheel, i fixed it.
, and just left it that way for a while. eventually when i had good reason to rebuild the wheel, i fixed it.
Last edited by hueyhoolihan; 12-17-14 at 05:03 PM.
#4
I just did the same thing on my first wheel build. I'm going to relace the wheel again and make sure I am careful when bending the spokes and I take my time getting even tension across the entire wheel.
#5
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No, you don't have to replace the spokes but you do have to relace the wheel. You may not have to remove all the spokes and start again but it can be difficult to find where you have made a mistake.
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Stuart Black
Dreamin' of Bemidji Down the Mississippi (in part)
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
#6
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IF The pattern is OK, is everything is right except for the placement of the valve hole, then it's very fast and easy to relace, without taking the spokes from the hub.
Get some string, or dental floss, and tie each pair of spokes together at the cross. Then keeping the wheel flat on your table, remove all the nipples. Move the rim around 2 spoke holes, so the valve is in the right place, and the right/left or (top/bottom with the wheel flat) spokes are going to the right holes in the rim. Then connect the nipples working the crossed pairs together.
If you've finished, tensioned and trued the wheel, the easier option is to drill a new valve hole in the right place, but I know that nobody here on BF would be able to live with a wheel that had two valve holes. Perish the thought and forget that I dared suggest it.
BTW- you really don't have to do anything at all. Having the valve hole at a cross will not affect anything, and you won't have issues pumping (test for yourself). BITD it wasn't rare to see newbies with the spokes crossing at the valve hole. Back then we used to karate chop our Silca pumps to remove them, and the worst that would happen is they'd bang into the cross "safety net" and bounce back a bit.
The ONLY drawback to having the spokes cross at the valve is that snooty riders will point it out.
Get some string, or dental floss, and tie each pair of spokes together at the cross. Then keeping the wheel flat on your table, remove all the nipples. Move the rim around 2 spoke holes, so the valve is in the right place, and the right/left or (top/bottom with the wheel flat) spokes are going to the right holes in the rim. Then connect the nipples working the crossed pairs together.
If you've finished, tensioned and trued the wheel, the easier option is to drill a new valve hole in the right place, but I know that nobody here on BF would be able to live with a wheel that had two valve holes. Perish the thought and forget that I dared suggest it.
BTW- you really don't have to do anything at all. Having the valve hole at a cross will not affect anything, and you won't have issues pumping (test for yourself). BITD it wasn't rare to see newbies with the spokes crossing at the valve hole. Back then we used to karate chop our Silca pumps to remove them, and the worst that would happen is they'd bang into the cross "safety net" and bounce back a bit.
The ONLY drawback to having the spokes cross at the valve is that snooty riders will point it out.
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An ounce of diagnosis is worth a pound of cure.
Just because I'm tired of arguing, doesn't mean you're right.
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WARNING, I'm from New York. Thin skinned people should maintain safe distance.
Last edited by FBinNY; 12-17-14 at 03:21 PM.
#8
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#9
It shouldn't be too hard to do. If it is a shift of one spoke or so, you could probably loosen all the spokes, then remove one spoke, then move all the rest forward one hole. You still need to re-true the whole wheel.
Are you worried about looks, or is the build significantly impacting functionality?
Are you worried about looks, or is the build significantly impacting functionality?
#10
aka Tom Reingold




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It's OK to do this by two spokes but not by one. The spoke holes in the rim are offset left and right. Crossing them makes for a bad wheel.
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#11
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From: Above ground, Walnut Creek, Ca
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It shouldn't be too hard to do. If it is a shift of one spoke or so, you could probably loosen all the spokes, then remove one spoke, then move all the rest forward one hole. You still need to re-true the whole wheel.
Are you worried about looks, or is the build significantly impacting functionality?
Are you worried about looks, or is the build significantly impacting functionality?
IMO, anyone that has attempted to do what the OP suggests will soon find it next to impossible and will in short order de-lace and start all over.
Last edited by hueyhoolihan; 12-20-14 at 01:17 AM.
#12
I think Small/Small is 2 spokes off from big/big, so one should be ok.
However, if you're relacing one of the other patterns, then it would involve flipping the rim unless it is an OC rim.
And, that may be stretching the length of the spokes a little bit.
#13
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Flipping the rim doesn't change the left-right pattern.
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#14
#15
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BTW- you really don't have to do anything at all. Having the valve hole at a cross will not affect anything, and you won't have issues pumping (test for yourself). BITD it wasn't rare to see newbies with the spokes crossing at the valve hole. Back then we used to karate chop our Silca pumps to remove them, and the worst that would happen is they'd bang into the cross "safety net" and bounce back a bit.
The ONLY drawback to having the spokes cross at the valve is that snooty riders will point it out.
The ONLY drawback to having the spokes cross at the valve is that snooty riders will point it out.
#16
aka Tom Reingold




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You are mistaken. A right spoke is in a right hole in the rim. Flip the rim around. Now the right spoke is in a left hole. This is a bad situation. The spoke reaches from the right flange to the hole on the left side of the rim.
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“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author
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#17
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You cannot reverse either the rim or hub right for left because then the spoke will be going from one side in the hub to the opposite in the rim. We recently had a thread where someone was having spoke breakage at the threads because of this very issue.
OTOH - it's easy to accidentally reverse the wind of the hub, so counter clockwise spokes are now clockwise. This happens to people when attaching the second phase of spokes on the 1st flange. I suspect it's this very error which led to the problem this thread is about.
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An ounce of diagnosis is worth a pound of cure.
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“One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions” - Adm Grace Murray Hopper - USN
WARNING, I'm from New York. Thin skinned people should maintain safe distance.
FB
Chain-L site
An ounce of diagnosis is worth a pound of cure.
Just because I'm tired of arguing, doesn't mean you're right.
“One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions” - Adm Grace Murray Hopper - USN
WARNING, I'm from New York. Thin skinned people should maintain safe distance.
#18
I lace up a wheel a bit differently than many. I'll put my first left and right pulling spokes through the hub and into the first two corresponding holes behind the valve hole. You have to start a couple hub holes above the label if you want the label to line up with the valve stem on the finished wheel (OCD). This assures that the spokes on the other side of the valve hole will be trailing spokes thus putting the valve hole in the generally accepted appropriate placement. I lace all of my pulling spokes in pairs first, skipping the holes where the trailing spokes will go. Then I lace the first set of trailing spokes checking for appropriate rotation of the hub, label and valve hole placement, and cross pattern. From that point the lacing is fool proof as long as you maintain the appropriate cross pattern. Using this technique I can lace a 36 spoke wheel 3 or 4 cross in about 20-25 minutes working at a leisurely pace, rockin out to my favorite tunes and enjoying my beverage of choice. There might be faster ways, but I do this for fun in my spare time, not on a production line. Since I started doing it this way, I've never had to back up to figure out and correct a mistake in lacing.
#20
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Sometimes, but not nearly always. It is important to check for this just in case, but it is very common for rim holes to be drilled straight down the middle. Certainly my favorite Kinlin rims are.
#21
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Of course, I wish I would have known that before I laced them the traditional (wrong) way. I had to redo both wheels.
Last edited by SquidPuppet; 12-18-14 at 03:37 PM.
#22
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I would do a laceover. Buy another rim and lay it over the laced wheel with the orientation and phase of the spokes the way they should be. Then secure the 2 rims together with tape at 3 equidistant points. Transfer the spokes one at a time from the badly built wheel to the new rim until you have filled the new rim with a couple of turns on each nipple to secure. Then true the wheel. Granted, you'll have an extra rim, but it could be done again if you ever trash a wheel on the road.
#23
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I would do a laceover. Buy another rim and lay it over the laced wheel with the orientation and phase of the spokes the way they should be. Then secure the 2 rims together with tape at 3 equidistant points. Transfer the spokes one at a time from the badly built wheel to the new rim until you have filled the new rim with a couple of turns on each nipple to secure. Then true the wheel. Granted, you'll have an extra rim, but it could be done again if you ever trash a wheel on the road.
IF they can lace it wrong, they can lace it correctly and have a usable wheel DAYS before the spare rim shows up.
#24
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I would do a laceover. Buy another rim and lay it over the laced wheel with the orientation and phase of the spokes the way they should be. Then secure the 2 rims together with tape at 3 equidistant points. Transfer the spokes one at a time from the badly built wheel to the new rim until you have filled the new rim with a couple of turns on each nipple to secure. Then true the wheel. Granted, you'll have an extra rim, but it could be done again if you ever trash a wheel on the road.
#25
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From: Houston, TX
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