To pay or to DIY

i want to learn how to do wheels
triniriderz, could you make me a flat pack jig?

What were you doing for the other four minutes?

I have taught a few of my pals to do the basics, as I was getting far too many dragging me into it by proxy to do jobs for their friends. I just don't have the time.

I have loaned some tools to two of them that share a house with a couple more bikers, and now I just point folks up there if I am asked for help. It is just off my local hill, so I pop in most days and if there is anything they are struggling with I lend a hand.

As far as bike specific tools apart from what I loaned they are using a set from Halford's.

...and a LIDL bike repair stand!

Necessity is the mother of invention.

I learned about building wheels as a kid, because I insisted on cycling my racer all over the hills, (or mountains as you English would call them).

No way I could afford to go to the bike shop for repairs, all my pocket money went on things I couldn't make myself and parts.

Wheel building is no great art.

It is craft, and anyone can get a handle on it with a bit of practise.

At the basic level at least.

It is amazingly skilful at the higher end.

Once you start dishing wheels etc. it gets more involved, but at the end of the day it is still just a case of practise for what most of us need.

So much more satisfying than buying them ready made, but buying machine made Alex wheels and tuning them up can work out as cheap as well!

maybe its seeing the more skilled part of wheel building that has put me off so far
it looks complicated but people say its not

Wheel buiding is thought of as a black art and even building rear wheels that require dishing is easy to understand after the first time you do it with the correct tools..

Start off with doing a front wheel, same lengh spokes both sides and quite straight forward.. The hardest part I would imagine before the online spoke calculators came out was getting the correct lengh spokes but even this is a doddle now...

Dont get me wrong when you get into the more specific spoke config's its a different story but most people would not have a problem building a 32 hole 3 cross wheelset and should give it a go you will not regret it..

You can build a jig from lots of things so long as the wheel is held and you have a gauge for how much the rim is out you can build a respectable wheel..

I will put a link to the thread that has some basic wheel building links so if anyone is interested you have a resource..
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... 7ca8d91c3c

The jig was inspired buy this::: just didnt have the fancy wood at the time ..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/questionma ... otostream/

Good post T.

I started off using my racer inverted on a work bench as my truing jig.

Not for a long time have I built a wheel for myself from scratch, just rebuilt and tuned.

I can do just about the lot by eye now, on the fly. Still not a master of the craft, but I will always be able to get by.

It is certainly something I would suggest everyone learns, tuning wheels is after all one of your basic weekly tasks on a bike.

A tweak here and there can save you from a wheel going out of true, and possibly collapsing.