Hi, my name is Doug and I'm in Olympia, Washington in the US. I'm 68 and currently have four vintage road bikes and a couple of modern ones. The oldest one is a Bianchi from around 1962 that, at the time, was all "Campi". It was since stolen, stripped and recovered. The frame has been through a several reincarnations. It is currently set up as a sort of Hybred with a six speed, rear, internal hub and just a front and rear sprocket. This allows me to put a chain guard on, pretty up town. It somewhat resembles the old three speeds with the upright handle bars and thumb shifter. I am a little rusty but used to be able to build a bike from the ground up, including building and truing the wheels.
Another Old guy with Old bikes.
- Thread starter Hobo
- Start date
I don't think it would be to racing specs but they stay true once I tune them. I'm pretty shade tree about it. I don't use a jig. I use my eyes and hands with the wheel still on the bike. I also tighten by feel. I pretty much know what the proper torque feels like and make sure that all the spokes are pretty much even. It's kind of like knitting or basket weaving, a very enjoyable and rewarding thing to do. I had a new set of wheels made up for me by a "professional" prior to a long road trip. Within the first 100 miles the wheels were coming apart. I had to stop and tune them by hand, on the road. They didn't come apart again and we traveled a couple more thousand miles before we were done.
Thats a great story Doug. Am building a few set at the mo i get them laced up and take it to my not so local LBS which is a 140mile round trip but for me its worth it for the peace of mind apart from that I do all my own builds its the only way you know its done right
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