My Budget Wheel Build

[davidj]

Re:

Not as agressively as some suggest, that may be the cause. I worked on the principle I can correct later, which is not an option for a professional wheel builder.

 

[Anthony]

Re: Re:

Today I discovered the difference between professionally built wheels and my home built wheels. I thought the back end felt a little loose and put it down to low tyre pressure, but it wasn't. I guess the nipples had set into their seats, the spoke elbows had settled into the hub and the spokes themselves had stretched., or I didn't tension them high enough .

Whatever the drive side spokes in the rear wheel had lost the tension I had originally set. Best bit is when you have built the wheel re-tensioning is so easy. Whipped the tyre and rim tape off, put a 1/8th turn on every spoke and then corrected alignment, back on the bike and it took less than 20 minutes.

I think inadequate tension is very likely to be the cause - the others you have suggested don't sound plausible to me.
I'm very surprised that the remedy you describe was effective. I would certainly have expected the various nipples to have come undone to different extents, so that a complete re-tensioning process would be needed.
I would suggest that the solution to both problems would be to buy yourself a Park Tools spoke tension meter. It was only after I got mine that I discovered how even wheels that were as true as I could make them (using a truing stand) still had alarming variations in spoke tensions, with the lowest ones sometimes dangerously low (i.e., liable to come undone in service and not protecting their nearby partners against undue stresses).
I think you've done a remarkably good job with very few tools, but I have to say that in my view now, a wheel isn't finished unless (a) it is perfectly true, (b) all the spokes have high tension, and (c) all the tensions are within 10% either way of the target average tension for that side of the wheel. Consequently, I don't think it is feasible to build a wheel properly without a tension meter.

 

[davidj]

Re:

Thanks for your contribution Anthony, as the title of the thread suggests this is definitely a Budget wheel build so a spoke tension meter is not on the cards. I really wanted to prove to myself that a wheel could be successfully built with the spoke key being the only dedicated tool used, plus I am cheap .

What your post did though was make me address the checking of my wheel in a different fashion. Today I put the front wheel in my budget stand and I was delighted to see it was still true, previously I would probably have left it at that and refitted it to the bike. Instead I checked all the spokes for tension, by plucking them, and made all the corrections I felt necessary. I then checked and made minor adjustments to the dishing before finally truing the wheel.

I feel I have an even better front wheel now thanks to you motivating me to put more effort in. I will do the same with the back wheel tomorrow.