Wheel Building...oh crap...
 

what did I get myself into!!!

I would like to consider myself fairly knowledgeable about bike maintenance.

With my latest build of my first SS/FG I decided to buy hubs and rims at good discount to embark on one of the last pinnacles to great bike mechanic-dom.

Now that I am embarking I'm realizing what a dumb move this was. All said and done I will perhaps have saved $50-70. It looks like it's going to take a lot of work just trying to figure out which length of spokes I'll need, let alone building the wheels.

I'm scared...:cry:

uhhh...then don't do it?

good luck
I have a feeling after you do it, you'll have a much greater respect for wheels and stuff, even if you royally **** it up and end up spending more than a prebuilt, the knowledge and respect at the end will more than make up for it.

At least that's how it works for other things.
Maybe wheels are just pure hell with no up side? Eh.

The measurements are a little intimidating at first but just take your time and double check everything. Get a good pair of calipers to do the fine measurements; if you can find a good book to have by your side it's really worth getting. All in all building a wheel is totally doable, but it definitely takes some time and patience.

Good luck- it's indescribably satisfying once you finish!

Yeah, I built my wheels after like 4 hours of internet research, online spoke calcs, and sheldons page. It was easy. Truing them took about another couple hours; per wheel. For me it wasn't about saving money. 8 hours of my time is worth a lot more than the money it costs to get them built professionally. But the fact that I learned how to do it myself and don't have to take it in to an LBS to get trued is way worth it. After you add in the cost of the tools and the truing stand I probably spent more.

I just laced my first set of wheels today.
Buy the spokes locally and make the wrench double check any of your measurements. If the shop sells you the wrong length, you can blame them. Most online retailers won't take returns on spokes.

My mistakes were:
1. Starting in the wrong hole and having a cross over the valve stem.
2. Lacing the "leading" spokes to the wrong hole so only 1/3rd of them reached.

I had to relace the front completely and figure out what the hell I did wrong on the rear to make all the spokes reach. It turned out I had 2 spokes from the same side right next to each other in two places.

Sheldon's website makes sense, just be sure to actually read it and not just glance over it and think you understand it.

Truing/tensioning starts tomorrow.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/...1de4181ebf.jpg

For your first build have a good local mechanic do the spoke calc for you (or as said earlier at least check you figures). Pay him for this (beer usually works). Even if it costs you more in the long run to build your first set than buying a built set of wheels it's money well spent. Sort of, uh, like an education.

Building you own wheels is very rewarding. And if you buy into all the zen crap it is a way to be more at one with your ride (insert vomit sounds).

There are some nice wheel building videos on YouTube as well.

I'd like to try this some day.

The internets are crazy these days. I have built my own wheels, bike stand, built my own drafting table, coffee table, re-upholstered my couch, made custom drapes for my living room, a custom messenger bag with an old army duffel bag, heck I even learned how to calibrate my T16 (Old surveyors transit) from the plans/diagrams/instructions online. Just start Googling:

wheel lacing
wheel building
spoke calc
spoke calculator
measure bicycle hub
sheldon brown wheel building
spoke length
wheel truing
bicycle wheel true

Shiz like that. Spend a few hours reading the copious amount of available resources, and start building. Worst case scenario, bring your mess to the LBS to SHOW YOU how to fix. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Some people might say wheel building is serious business, leave it to the pro's. I sort of understand that. My race bike's wheels were built by a experienced mechanic. But I was there watching the whole time and I still keep them trued.

I'm trying to get into wheelbuilding myself.

The Spoke calc part isn't too bad. The lacing doesn't seem too bad either as long as you are careful and double check everything. I plan on just doing 32 3x.

The tensioning, truing and dishing (if single fixed or road hub) seems a little more intimidating but not by much.

when i built my wheel, measurements for the right length spokes is what bugged me the most.

but if you have fairly new rims, your lbs might have the program to input the rims and hubs to get the right measurements for spokes.

good luck, in the end it's well worth it.

The more you do it the better you get. Also having the right tools and watching it being done, in a video or in person, the right way the first time is important. Tensioning seemed intimidating until I had someone experienced explain it whilst doing it. Then it seemed easy. After learning everything (not literally of course), the most annoying part of wheel building is initially screwing all the nipples on. specially on a deep-V's.

Just google the rim and google the hub. The measurements will be online somewhere. If not you can measure it yourself with a metric measuring tape (with mm increments) and this website. Easy Cheesy

Also, one tip. Use more than one spoke calc. I made a small error on a rather simple and easy to use one. But when I plugged all my numbers into a more complicated one, once I understood how it all worked, the error became apparent. Saved me from buying a set of spokes too short. Measure twice, cut once.

I'm just repeating many things already said.
1) I definitely didn't save money building my own wheels. I could have bought nicer machine built wheels for the same or less money.
2) I have built four wheels now and I love the fact that I am riding on a component of my own hand. I've been able to mess around and play with several different lacing patterns. I have a three trailing-three leading, a couple different crows foot. I was also able to build a left side drive wheel out of a disc hub ala LoFarkas and others.
3) A large portion of my second comment points to me only. I have never had anyone notice or ask about my "non-standard" lacing patterns. Only a couple people have ever asked about how a left side drive works. Do it for yourself. Take your time. Don't feel like you're the only one to ever lace a wheel only go get three spokes from the end and realize you screwed something up. You unlace it and start again. No harm but a bit of time. View it as a gained skill and fun part of your hobby.

It's not rocket science but it does take a bit of attention to detail.

I still stink at trueing/tensioning a wheel but it gets better every time.

It's good to read the responses I got to this. It's very intimidating at first.

I'm going to enlist the help of a friend who's built his fair share of wheels. Perhaps some beer and an afternoon or two will help.

No one I know has figured out a cheap way to acquire decent spokes.

Thanks for the encouragement. I will be happy to know when I'm flying down hills that I'll have no one to blame but myself if my wheels fail!

:cheers:

When I was a kid my best friend's older brother ran a bike shop out of their garage. I used to watch him lace wheels. The impression I have is that learning to cuss like a sailor is the most important part.

Oh, well apparently I'm perfect for the ****ing part! Haha. no seriously. Whenever my dad felt like being "handy" around the house, it involved lots of cussing. I would like to think that the nut didn't fall to far from the tree.

I re-laced a wheel with radial spoking not long ago. It was such a pain in the ass. Unfortunately I undertensioned the wheel and now the whole thing is like a floppy hat. Now I'm going to respoke it back to standard. Honestly, the only thing keeping me from bringing it back in to the bike shop and having them do it for me is the embarassment. I'm glad I know how to do it and I'm glad I have a trueing stand but from now on I am buying built wheels.

you think radial is a pain in the ass? stop now...

Haha, seriously. Radially spoking, tensioning, Truing is cake compared to 2x, 3x, and hybrids. And thats good cause they seem to come outa of true the quickest for me.

It's really not that hard. If you get it laced and chicken out, a bike shop will probably tension it for you for a reasonable price. The only thing that can go wrong is screwing up the first spoke on the second side (putting it in the wrong hole in the rim). And even then, you just have to unscrew the nipples and move them all over one.

I built my first pair of wheels over the summer. It did take a while, but I had other stuff going on. DT has a good spoke calculator on their website, and there are others - you just need basic info like hub, rim, lacing pattern, etc. Youtube videos I looked at made it look easy, but they didn't give basic info and I had to relace the spokes pretty quickly. Sheldon was helpful with basic truing stuff, but I found his guidelines for lacing the spokes confusing - maybe it was just me. Barnett's manual was the only guide that actually helped me lace a real bike wheel - it's excellent. I did a Record front hub and a centaur rear to Open Pros, and when I was done I put an ad on CL and found a very nice, knowledgeable guy to check them over for a 12 pack.

Wheelbuilding can be cheaper if you get a crazy deal on the hubs. Or if you want a non-standard rim. I picked up some of the IRO blowout $30 hubsets when they had them. Those were super nice for the price.

Also, factory-built wheels usually don't have double butted spokes, at least not the FG ones you see in the sub $200 range.

I just built this (set) from some old Shimano hi-flange hubs that had pristine races and were laced to steel rims. Cheapest Mavic rims available (A119). Straight guage spokes. Around $75 (set). Good for single speed.

Definately go for it! Don't be afraid.

I learned through Sheldon etc but I also found Barnett's explanation on lacing far more easy to comprehend then Sheldon's.

Biggest mistake you can make in the truing/tensioning department is ending up with an under-tensioned wheel. I have been building wheels for a while now ( I am also a mechanic, so do it a lot at the shop) but only got my hands on a tension meter last week, started checking my own wheels and surprise!: undertensioned by about 15 %

If you leave tension way too low (and I have had bikes in for repair that had simply incredibly low tensioned wheels), your wheel can end up tacoing just when you are in that all out sprint or emergency brake manoeuvre.

Might be a good idea to start your first build with straight gauge spokes, because they wind up much less than double butted spokes; easier truing.

As any wheelbuilder will tell you, the real craftsmanship is in the truing/tensioning not the lacing. While this is true, starting with quality components gives you a huge advantage. If you reuse on old rim or use a new crap one, building a wheel can be incredibly frustrating, especially if you are anally retentive about lateral and radial true; you will never get it 100% straight and round with bottom of the barrel components.

Good luck!