johnrichard07

I am a newbie when it comes to knowledge and experience with bicycles. My problem is that I am worried regarding the reliability of my wheels since it has 36 holes but laced to a 48h MOB bmx hub (I recently decided to try riding fixed gear after using freewheel for almost a year).

Apparently, I ended up buying the wrong hub (48h), when my rims are 36h. Nevertheless, I asked the bike mechanic in our village if it's possible for him to lace it using the 48h hubs. So he did, and upon searching the web about lacing 48h hub to 36rims, I found out that it was indeed possible... but what concerns me is that the bike mechanic did something different compared to what I found on the web. Ideally, he needs to skip a hole after 3 spokes so it would be something like this (I,I,I,o,I,I,I,o,I,I,I,o...), so basically 6 holes will be skipped on each flange. Instead of skipping a hole after 3 spokes, he did something quite different like (4,skip,2,skip,2,skip,3,skip,4,skip,3,skip) so he indeed skipped 6 holes but in my opinion the he way divided it was somehow weird? Thus, it makes me worry since almost every thread or topic that I found on the web regarding lacing a 48h hub to a 36h rim would require you to skip a hole after 3 spokes, and according to some you might need to trim or adjust the length of the spokes. On the other hand, the mechanic didn't trim any spoke and just used them as is.

Here are some pics:

https://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6e5b6eec.jpg

https://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...ps89c753b2.jpg

https://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...ps88f259af.jpg

Little Darwin

Doing 36 spokes on a 48 hub is not something that people tend to do very often, so what you see online could be many people who just followed the recommendations of the first person who posted directions online, and parrot back the same response.

Honestly, wheels are often over-engineered. and people sometimes even build with sub-optimal patterns for looks (like crow's foot or radial) so if the wheels are true, and spoke tension seems reasonable, I wouldn't sweat it too much.

I built a wheel when I was 14 or 15 and it was back before the internet. I did a lot of guessing, and looked at a couple of other wheels. Later I discovered that although I did some things right, I made a couple of mistakes and didn't do things the standard way, but the wheels lasted me for several years until I moved away, riding roads and mountain bike type terrain (back before there were mountain bikes)... so, especially if the person who built your wheels is experienced, and has a good reputation, I would ride them...

FMB42

Well, only time will tell.

Meanwhile, I'm both surprised that you didn't exchange/return the hub and that the mechanic would even consider such a lash-up (pun(s) intended).

Anyway, I'd re-do the wheel if it bothers you to the point of distracting you while riding...

fietsbob

wheels are usually spoked in groups of 4 . 36 is 9 .. 48 is 12.. theres your 3 , the difference..

obsessing over it is optional ..

zenith

I think your wheel is fine. If its true and it doesn't dish ride it. There's enough spokes to hold it. Also what you see on the web is not always the best way to do things.