Just built my first wheel + Info for first time builder...

[keithglos]

If your hub has the correct spacing to be used then the wheel should be centralised over the spacing, whether front or rear. European wheels were always built with the inside spokes going in opposite directions. I always found this easier than having them face the same way, another americanism.
The spoke holes in some rims are angled as well as staggered.
Some hubs have alternate spoke hole countersinks, these are to support the bend in the spokes.
If you want to look like a professional wheel builder have your spokes in the same direction and pick up 8 between thumb and forefinger 3 or 4 inches from the thread and fan them out using the second finger. Makes it easy to drop them through the hub if the rolled thread has enough clearance.
I have mentoined before I sometimes bought spokes in excess of 100 gross lots for my little 1 man shop.

 

[keithglos]

I have recently been looking at a few of the youtube instructional videos on wheel building. I have not found one that really has a clue. In one case the video of a front wheel being spoked takes 2 hours. This should be a 3 minute job.
The perpetrator even keeps referring to "drive side" while attempting to lace up a front wheel, using a hub without a spindle.
Even one from Raleigh Heritage was pathetic.
I always used a particular procedure right from the early 1950s, and was not surprised when I saw in person both BSA and Hercules factory employees using the same simple method.
I have probably tried to describe this previously, but if anyone is interested I will have another attempt.

Keith

 

[Takingabreak]

I can only speak for myself but I'd appreciate your experience of wheel building jotted down for me to learn from. I have built my own wheels using the Roger Musson book / method but I would not say I'm proficient or particularly talented in this area. Every time I build a wheel, I need to follow the lacing instructions from the book. It would be really interesting to hear how wheelbuilders could tell when the tension is high enough and even enough. I've bought all the kit, tensionmeter and jig and dishing tool etc but I really am a prime example of "all the gear but no idea"

I'd also really like to know what was used back in the day to lube the spoke threads which would also stop them loosening over time.

Basically, I'm all ears

 

[pigman]

The 3 minutes to lace a wheel might be apt for someone doing this day in day out, but is unrealistic for the amateur enthusiast lacing a wheel on an infrequent basis.

Like anything pro v amateur. My dad was a brickie who could knock up a wall in next to no time (hours). For me the same task was a days-long project

 

[3wheeler7]

Being a self taught amateur it now takes me about 2 hours to complete a wheel to my satisfaction, assuming I've got the correct length spokes.
For 27" wheels getting the right spoke lengths can be challenging, especially if you want stainless double butted ones, anything over 300mm can be hard to find so when I do find a supplier (at a reasonable price) I buy a few packs, or buy longer ones and cut down and re-thread them.
It's not uncommon for me to spend 2 or 3 days on a wheel, including stripping. polishing hub and rim, cutting and threading spokes, building, truing, test fitting to frame and correcting dishing if required, but it's very satisfying when you can say "I built those wheels".
I tension the spokes by feel and sound when running a finger nail over them whilst spinning, I've found factory/pro built wheels vary quite a lot in overall tension and I think it's more important that each spoke is tensioned equally, but when building "less then true" vintage rims it's not always possible.
I always soak the spoke nipples in thick oil prior to fitting.

 

[frkl]

I tried to build my first wheel when I was in the 9th grade, early 1990s. I used Jobst Brandt's The Bicycle Wheel. It was a traumatic experience, I fiddled with the wheel for weeks before handing the thing over to the local shop to build. Not saying anything about the book, I just couldn't seem to go from the printed words to hand movements...

The experience put me off building wheels for a couple of decades, really. But then I decided to try again and find the whole thing tremendously satisfying.

I came across the attached articles in some wheel building blog, I cannot for the life of me remember where. They are from Bicycling Magazine, 1986. The method has produced very good wheels for me. My only difficulty with the method, if I remember, was that if you are particular about the last cross being inside or outside, then you have to think harder...

 

[novocaine]

I used to build wheels to destress after dealing with a shitty customer.
even then, 20 minutes lace time was acceptable and truing was a minimum of an hour with stress releiving and dishing.
I don't build many these days and only for myself, so I take it easy, it's still 20 minutes lacing time, but truing can be a few hours spread over a day or so. Getting it to 80-90% takes minutes, getting it to 90-95% takes an hour, getting it to 95-99% can take a few hours. It's a question of when is good, good enough.

as to what you grease the nipples with, baby oil, but when I'm building a wheel, I'll dip the spoke thread in the lithium grease pot and put a dab on the back side of the flange before fitting it to the wheel.

I do now have a spoke tension meter, it turns out all the wheels I have in my posession that I've built are fairly equel already, amazing really.

EDIT to add, Sheldon Browns guide is still the best out there and I still occasionally look at it when I haven't built a wheel for a while.

 

[jim haseltine]

I've no idea how many wheels I built over the time I was in the trade but it must have been pushing a thousand. Over the last 25 years I've built a grand total of 9 - all for myself and 5 of those were in last year. It was only last year that I invested in a real jig having used my bike frames previously, picked up a spoke thread roller at around the same time too. I think tension meters are of more use to an inexperienced builder than to a skilled wheelwright. Yes, I've seen videos of them being used in DT Swiss wheel building etc but then the workers there are effectively on a production line where conditions and pressures are different to those in your LBS.
As for spoke thread lubrication, I put the nipples in a pot of clean engine oil - that way it's not just the threads that are lubricated but there's also a coating between the nipple and the rim seat. Doesn't matter how much they're lubricated or what with, a properly tensioned spoke will not work loose.

 

[Woz]

I have recently been looking at a few of the youtube instructional videos on wheel building. I have not found one that really has a clue. In one case the video of a front wheel being spoked takes 2 hours. This should be a 3 minute job.
The perpetrator even keeps referring to "drive side" while attempting to lace up a front wheel, using a hub without a spindle.
Even one from Raleigh Heritage was pathetic.
I always used a particular procedure right from the early 1950s, and was not surprised when I saw in person both BSA and Hercules factory employees using the same simple method.
I have probably tried to describe this previously, but if anyone is interested I will have another attempt.

Keith

Love this post.

In my youth going around Brian Rourkes in the late-80s there was (if memory serves me right) a dedicated wheel builder named Phil.

Surname I do not know, and someone from the Potteries may remember him. It was like watching Jimmy Hendrix; producing music and in a flow state. He was a chain smoker too, so he did this trick of lacing with either a fag in hand or swapping to mouth when needed as well at the same time as lacing. It impressed me for life. High end wheels with home made filed out slots in the hub for aero spokes or low end winter club wheels didn´t seem to matter to him, each was perfect with no scratches on the hub, spoke or rim. At that time there was no changing room, and even me trying skin shorts on in the mechanics back room and showing off the crown jewels just next to him didn´t flinch his concentration and flow state.

Enough "Happy Days" memories. As said a while back, you need to be good and do lacing every day to get to that level of comfort with the materials and develop muscle memory. My own view if you are doing it yourself on a ad-hoc irregular bases, no one is behind you with a stop-watch and it is best to enjoy it and take your time to do a proper job.