Wheel building

[SFP]

Rebuilt the wheels on my Mercian KoM this week. Sputnik rims on Deore XT 36 hole hubs in a 3 cross pattern . I took all day but it's best not to rush these things,

Bravo.... in time it will be faster.

From what I recall when I was learning to build wheels (many many years ago)... the master builder (Lenny) I was learning from said, "your first four to half dozen will take forever to build and in the end you won't be happy - but you will have built a rideable wheel - Own That. Next you will learn through practice to build wheels you can beat the hell out of!"

I spent the next six months practising. Everytime I was sitting down in the evening or weekend watching the idiot box (TV) I would be building/re-building wheels.

It's a skill IMHO worth learning but so so so cannot be rushed.

Stick to 32/36 hole rims, three cross while you learn. Stay away from alloy nipples during the learning phase. Spend the money on a Park nipple driver. Lube/grease every eyelet and every spoke.

In no time you will have it.

Then ya ride the hell of a set you built and the smile on your face, and pride you feel from having built those wheels - priceless.

Again congrats!

 

[SFP]

On the flip side... a bit of old school bike shop humour....

The best way to sell new wheels to customers - sell them a spoke wrench.

 

[Tootyred]

This is fantastic...and it comes with access to a good spoke calculator and plans to build jigs etc.

Has everything you will probably ever need including WHY your doing stuff on a wheel, which is frankly the key to repairing and building great wheels.

Anybody can lace up a wheel, but making it a good wheel (especially with used parts) requires a bit of understanding of whats going on.

https://www.wheelpro.co.uk/wheelbuilding/book.php

 

[baron von greenback]

Thanks for all the tips guys been reading and watching videos I think I got it it my head only bit I worried about is the last spokes were you go 2 over one under then there's the trueing has anyone used one of them black stands they only cheap of eBay cheers couldn't find any info on wheel building snow flakes etc were you twist spokes I know people don't like it but they look good