Anyone on here build wheels? I've always wanted to give it a go. I'm good with my hands/tools, and have patience. I think I would like to upgrade wheels for next season, so a winter build is in the works. Plenty of time.

I'm guessing online is probably the cheapest place to buy parts. I'd love some suggestions for nice deep-v rims and hubs to build up. Here's my bike

I did it with a BMX wheel. I know this is a bit different, size wise and all, but in principle, its all the same right? Really fun project, you really learn a lot from it.

I've been so satisfied with using front Novatech road hub and Formula rear.

This website was very very helpful when I decided to do a funny pattern. I also read Jobst Brandt's book The Bicycle Wheel, which was a very in depth primer for wheel enthusiasts.

There are several sources online https://www.sheldonbrown.com has a step-by-step process.

What I did was post an ad @ a lbs 'community board' offering to pay someone for lessons on wheelbuilding. Someone answered the ad and his teaching process was to have me build several front wheels. He had me dis-assemble them then put them back together w/proper tensioning by 'feel'. I had seven different old wheels. Some of them were steel rims which are much more difficult to true than aluminum. Anyway, when I could breakdown a front rim and re-assemble it in an hour properly tensioned, rounded and trued he let me go on to rear wheels. Several different types and spoke counts. Again, steel and aluminum w/standard gauge spokes.

So, he had me build and rebuild rear wheels w/dished and non-dished w/several different hub types. Some old SA IGH as well as 24 count hub/rim combos. He had me build sets w/2,3,4 and 5 cross. He worked w/me for over 3 months. I bought a Park TS-2 w/base to reward myself. He gave me a certificate that said I was a 'Bona Fide Wheelbuilder with Mad Skillz'. One of my prized possessions. It's on the wall of my bike room.

It was hard, tedious often frustrating work and I'd do it all over again and pay 5 times as much to ride/wrench w/t confidence I have today. It was like wheelbuilding bootcamp. One spoke not tensioned properly and he'd have me tear down all the wheels and re-build them. He charged me $150.00. Turned out we both an affinity for dark beer and fresh ground French pressed coffee. He's one of my best friends now.

^^^^Sounds like a hell of a fun time

It's hard to beat Roger Musson's e-book The Professional Guide to Wheelbuilding.

this story is so good. thanks for sharing.

Building wheels isnt terribly hard, you just have to be patient and not the type to shut down if you screw up.

I just bought parts and tried it until it turned out right. I mainly used Sheldon's site and various online forums as references when I got really stuck. I'm still not done, but I have both front/rear laced (but not tensioned/trued) now... I'd say it's a pretty fun experience!

I used IRO hubs/rims and Sapim Race (I think) spokes and my build came in to about $115 + time.

Lacing is the easiest part.

i ride my own iro/cxp22s on the ftp but i also rebuilt a lot of others and need more practice. which i will get with my ****ty used 32h alex wheels that i use for cross because those ****ers always get hops

I've built about 6 wheels now, using only Sheldon's guide. The first one I built was ehh... (I didn't grease the spoke threads.) I've been very happy with the other 5 so far. It's definitely do-able on your own, and fun too.

Yes, haha. Especially a radial front.

I've built 3 pairs. It is much easier than I thought it would be.
Get one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Park-Tool-TM-1.../dp/B000OZDIGY
Here is a step by step guide written by me:
1. Buy parts and use a spoke length calculator to find spoke length.
2. Wait for parts to come in mail (hardest part of wheelbuilding).
3. Lace em up. (Use an existing wheel as guide - make sure valve hole is between parallel spokes)
4. Hand tighten them.
5. Put your bike on kitchen table upside down and use dropouts with a ruler attached with a rubber band to check vertical trueness. Add a paperclip on the ruler to check lateral trueness. Flip the wheel around back and forth periodically to make sure you didn't accidentally dish the wheel.
6. Be patient and get that **** true. This is very fun, especially if you like doing stuff.
7. Check with tensiometer frequently. 100 - 120 kg. Some will be less, some will be more - you want an average.
8. Re-tension them after a couple hundred miles.
I've never used grease because I didn't want them to loosen up. Don't think they twisted up at all.
I just re-tensioned my Kinlin xr-200 wheels with sapim laser and took them up to avg. 120 kg, they had dropped to around 90-100 kg after a few hundred miles. Totally made them stiffer. I read on some forums that someone did a test and took that rim up to 300 kg without it breaking, so I felt comfortable having some of the spokes over 120 kg. Witness the stiffness.
Anyway. It is very easy and fun. Definitely do it.
PS Cheapest Sapim laser spokes and Kinlin rims I found were from bikehubstore.com.

Sometimes you have to do some spoke bending at the hub flanges and rim to make sure the spoke tension doesn't do the bending for you and consequently loosen the spoke.

I've built a few. Sheldon brown is a great step by step. Just take your time and maybe have someone check them over when you're done if you haven't trued a lot of wheels. I had trued hundreds by the time I tried building so it wasn't as hard for me to get tension figured out as it would be for someone who is new to twisting nipples.

P.S. Tensionmeters are really not necessary. Nice, but not required.

I've always wanted to tackle a wheel build. I'm just one of those people who asplodes in anger when I screw something up though so I'll just go the LBS for now.

Yeah, me too. The guy who taught me was real patient w/me...way more than I was w/myself. I wanted to know how to do everything YESTERDAY!! Finally, as the repetition turned to instinct I began to slow down and found wheelbuilding very relaxing. Still do. Haven't built a set in a couple of years now, but I still check my wheelsets for tensioning consistantcy, 'roundness' and truing regularly. IMHO it's the skill to have in one's hip pocket in terms of cycling tech skills.

As a musician I could appreciate my teacher's approach by making me work hard in practice to make the first 'for keeps' build easy. Btw, I'm still commuting daily on that first build. Give it a try. I found that I'm much more patient in every aspect of my life. Also, I'm never left out of conversation among true cycling geeks.

And 'hairnet' it was a 'hell of a fun time'. Especially trying to properly tension an old Schwinn chrome-plated steel rim after 3 dark beers.

If IRO still has their rims for $15, that is by far the best deal on rims. Once you decide on a hubset, calculate your spoke length with spocalc. It's a spreadsheet with most rim/hubs measurements in it. Calculate out your spoke lengths and go to danscomp.com for your spokes at $.30 for Saipim straight gauge spokes. No reason to buy DB spokes until you know what you're doing.

I suggest getting a good repore with the LBS and getting the hubs and rims online and spokes through them. That way you know it is the correct length (I've had a few mishaps) and you can lace them yourself, take it back to the LBS and have them do a once over to make sure everything is good. Go home and try and true them up yourself, and take it back to the LBS to re-check your work.

It can be a lot of fun but it can also be a pain in the neck. If you can't get it true, sleep on it, tackle it the next day. You'd be surprised how many problems you can fix with a clear mind.

I just built 8 wheels last week and have built about 6 dozen by now. I was taught by a pro wheel builder but, I have the memory of a dog a times so I often refer to this when my brain starts skipping. Tensiometer is pretty clutch until your skills get good enough to do by feel. When I build for someone else I do it by the book to tension and double check uniformity, I don't want any complaints or problems later on. Lack of tension can cause big issues down the line.

Check this guy out ... good wheel resource

Building wheels is an extremely rewarding endeavor. Learning is a matter of patience and frustration management. I'm not a very patient person by nature, so when I get something wrong and have to backtrack a bunch of steps to correct, I start feeling like I'm about to Hulk out:



"What do you mean I have to re-lace half the drive side spokes?!?"

Brandt's book is great as long as you remember that everyone on the planet at one point or another will want to punch him in the face.

I'd also recommend Gerd Schraner's "The Art of Wheelbuilding." He takes a more practical approach than Brandt in his writing, and between the two you'll get a solid idea of how a wheel works and why.