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