Resident wheel builder?

[ishaw]

I had a go at building my first wheel the other day, 3 cross rear. Turned out pretty well though not 100% sure about spoke tension. Looks great though.

Surely you could just lace all the bits together (ish) and take it to your lbs to get 'trued'?

Ian

 

[Steve Kish]

Wheelbuilding is very complicated.

You have to have the right spokes, the correct rims and hubs as well. Making sure that you have the same number of holes in the hubs and rims can be a difficult and demanding job.

Also, lacing with spokes is fraught with perils. You have to make sure that the threaded bit goes through the hubs and then the rims .... in that order. This requires maximum concentration.

Dishing is too complicated to even mention, so don't bother with it. Any problems here can always be resolved by bending the forks or stays outwards and inserting as many washers as you need.

Trueing a wheel can be avoided by just tightening each spoke 15 turns and then slackening off the brake blocks until they don't touch the rims.

Stick to these simple principles and you'll get a set of wheels suitable for any application (apart from riding the bike).