wheel building
 

how many of you here build wheels? it's the one thing on a bike i have never done myself. but bike shops can be expensive and ****ty mechanics can let you down. so i figured i might try to pick it up. it's probably a pretty steep learning curve, so i wanted to hear other peoples experiences before buying a bunch of gear. do tell...

it's not hard, sheldon's site has a pretty good tutorial.
go for it!

it's not nearly as hard as you'd link, assuming you have half (or even 25%) of a brain. Performance has a truing stand that's only like $40, and it served me very well. There are a couple of people who didn't like it, though.

Do it! It's fun to brag.

my first wheel took me 3 hours to build without any prior knowledge. it lasted for years. second wheel took an hour. I put something on the chainstay to true it.

If you're good at truing a wheel and have some concept of what kind of tension the spokes should have, then you can build a wheel. Singlespeed wheels are a good place to start because the right and left spokes are usually the same length and there usually isn't any dish. Try Sheldon Brown's site on wheel building...

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

That will run you through the basics. If you're mechanically inclined it won't be a problem for you. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Read Gerd Schraners book on wheelbuilding
Jobst Brandt has one too but I much prefer Schraner.

rad. that's what i like to hear. i'm generally good with technical things, especially ones that required physical action. i'm a diy sound electronics nerd, so i'm used to slaving away over something until i get it right. i'm sure spokes are a bit more forgiving than electronics. at least the spokes won't shock me, or start smoking.
:D

I dove in and built a front wheel after a bit of reading up (Sheldon's tutorial is good). Got the parts and some linseed oil, and used a fork and brakes (progressively tightened with a tie as the wheel took shape) in place of a truing stand. It's been three bruising years without so much as a 1/4" turn of a nipple. You can do it.

Yeah, I bought that performance truing stand, took an old 27 inch wheel and removed the spokes. Bought new ones and followed Sheldon's page. Now the wheel is on my beater and its still totally true.

If you have a good ear you can equalize spoke tension by pitch. I do that, then bring it into an LBS with a tensiometer and have them tell me how close I am to 100 [whatever the unit is]. Usually I just have to tweak it like a half turn and then true the wheel and its finished. Its sort of shockingly easy and you should totally go for it.

has anyone got the book "the bicycle wheel" (or whatever it's called) that sheldon recommends? i was thinking of picking that up as a guide.

books??? awww, you don't need no stinkin' books. there's more than enough info on the web.

I built my wheels for the fixie, too. You can't really go wrong if you follow Sheldon's instructions, esp. if you can true a wheel already. I don't think I'll ever ride a wheel I didn't build (OK, unless there's a steep discount on a complete bike I want badly...)

Yes that is the one by Jobst Brandt.

THough in my opinion the Gerd Schraner book called the "Art of Wheelbuilding" is way better. His lacing method alone is worth it.

^^^Scan it, post it or PM it. I won't tell. ;)

you're probably right. i might get it anyway tho, as it seems pretty interesting.
i decided to try this out because i found some hums and rims i want to get and i asked how much it would be to build the wheels at my lbs and they said $40 each. i figured i could just spend that loot on wheel-building tools and do it myself.

Yep, we've got it. http://harriscyclery.com/books

Sheldon "Wheels" Brown

Seconded. And wheelbuilding is a stone cold gas.

wheres a good place toget spokes and nipples?

I have built 9 rims so far, road, mtb, and cyclocross with disc. Not really difficult if you do it enough. All I use is the Performance truing stand and the bike as the final gauge. Radial, three cross, is what I have been playing with. The first two rims were a learning experience but after that and a little research no problem with building them nowadays.

FYI,
Schraner's book is on sale at AMAZON
Dogbait

Just make sure you replace DT with Sapim throughout the book.

DT supposedly changed the distance from the elbow to the head to make lacing easier for machines, which causes them to break a lot easier.

Never built or rode DT so I can't confirm, but I do take my LBS's word for it.

Sapims have been great so far!

i usually get the from my lbs, so i don't have to deal with figuring out spoke lengths. i bring them the hub and rim, tell them what lacing pattern i'm going to use, and they do all the math.

Wheelbuilding is super-not-hard. Not easy, but definitely easier than filing your taxes.

Also, building a wheel is a great way to while away a rainy afternoon (like the past 8 days).

... all you need really...
Well, hubs spokes/nipples and rims will help also.

If your going to splash out for a truing stand think about spending the cash on a tension meter instead. The park one is the same sort of price as a cheap truing stand. It removes all the guess work from trying to get the correct amount of tension and you can check the tension is even between spokes.

For just a couple of wheels it's not too much bother to use the frame instead of a truing stand.