truing / lacing a bike wheel advice

[fettler]

Learn/practise on an old tatty wheel you don't care about first.

 

[DrmZ]

I started building my own wheels two years ago after watching Ali C's tutorial.
It's not that hard if you follow his steps and take your time.
And maybe start with not to thin spokes as they are easier to handle.
Here is the video.

If it goes bad just start over

Oh, and I'm using an old cheap Minaura stand that was gifted to me by my mechanic. Would be nice to have a better one but it works well enough.

 

[Frankenorange]

Building wheels is a skill but it isn't at all hard for anyone who can use some basic hand tools and be methodical. I think wheel building has been elevated by people who want to protect their income and/or by people who want to appear amazing. That is how it has attained the black art status, in some circles, that can only be performed by the blessed.

My advice is to not skimp on the spoke keys you buy, as is the case with tools regardless of what you are doing( dont get ripped off though!), and buy quality spokes and nipples.
A cheap wheel jig will be good enough as will truing in a frame/fork with a decent 6 inch rule to hand unless you plan to start a business. A spoke tension meter can be a good idea at the beginning but never forget to learn what the tension feels like, with your fingers. The day will come when you have to put some spokes in a wheel and you wont have the meter.

 

[ishaw]

I've built a few myself after having the need and seeing the cost of a full build. I bought a cheap jig which while not the best, does the job.

I've been fairly successful, if I'm not sure about the end result, it's a trip to the lbs for a true, which doesn't cost a lot. My lbs said once that they'd take a loosely laced wheel and it would still qualify as a true rather than a build job.

Give it a go, it's very satisfying once you've done it.

Online guides have been super helpful to get the leading spoke in the right place.

 

[August Bicycles]

Building wheels is a skill but it isn't at all hard for anyone who can use some basic hand tools and be methodical. I think wheel building has been elevated by people who want to protect their income and/or by people who want to appear amazing. That is how it has attained the black art status, in some circles, that can only be performed by the blessed.

My advice is to not skimp on the spoke keys you buy, as is the case with tools regardless of what you are doing( dont get ripped off though!), and buy quality spokes and nipples.
A cheap wheel jig will be good enough as will truing in a frame/fork with a decent 6 inch rule to hand unless you plan to start a business. A spoke tension meter can be a good idea at the beginning but never forget to learn what the tension feels like, with your fingers. The day will come when you have to put some spokes in a wheel and you wont have the meter.

I build wheels for a living, from past experience I have shared plenty of knowledge with people. A couple of them decided to start their own wheelbuilding brands as a hobby subsidised by their day jobs, they also got in touch with a few of the brands that I regularly built for and offered to supply them at a cheaper rate than me. Thankfully I had loyal clients that let me know and continued to work with me knowing that this was my only income.

Due to this, I tend not to discuss my process with anyone.

Some of the reason that wheelbuilders charge what they do is overheads, cost of tools and the upkeep of them (recalibration of tensiometers etc) and the price of public liability insurance. Also some wheels only get built after a lengthy discussion with the client, 10-20 emails maybe. This is all time that needs to be charged for. Usually rim tapes/tubeless tape is included in build labour too. There is also the time taken to measure all parts and calculate spoke lengths. We cut and thread spokes in-house to 0.5mm increments for more precision, off the shelf spokes are usually available in 2mm increments.

I encourage people to do as much stuff themselves as they can and be self sufficient, you don’t need the best/most expensive tools out there to do a great job.

But I feel that lots of people think that we overcharge without considering the aspects I’ve previously mentioned.

Sorry! Haha. Rant over!

 

[synchronicity]

I say have a go at it yourself. To be able to build a wheelset, it's definitely a milestone to achieve.
I've only built a couple of wheels but it's a very rewarding process doing it yourself.

My first pair used plain straight gauge spokes and brass nipples.
I'm about to build another set, this time with double butted spokes and alloy nipples.

 

[synchronicity]

Oh yeah I almost forgot, here's a couple of spoke calculators for you:

https://www.prowheelbuilder.com/spokelengthcalculatorhttps://spokecalc.io/index.php
Here's a free tip (to help you avoid purchasing the wrong length spokes):
If you change the number of spokes in the build, you'll need to redo the spoke calculations*. Don't ask me how I know this.

*Unless they're laced in a radial pattern.

 

[synchronicity]

Building wheels is a skill but it isn't at all hard for anyone who can use some basic hand tools and be methodical. I think wheel building has been elevated by people who want to protect their income and/or by people who want to appear amazing. That is how it has attained the black art status, in some circles, that can only be performed by the blessed.

This.

I got a special "four sided" park spoke wrench, it has a bit of extra material to grab onto each spoke:

 

[Frankenorange]

I build wheels for a living, from past experience I have shared plenty of knowledge with people. A couple of them decided to start their own wheelbuilding brands as a hobby subsidised by their day jobs, they also got in touch with a few of the brands that I regularly built for and offered to supply them at a cheaper rate than me. Thankfully I had loyal clients that let me know and continued to work with me knowing that this was my only income.

Due to this, I tend not to discuss my process with anyone.

Some of the reason that wheelbuilders charge what they do is overheads, cost of tools and the upkeep of them (recalibration of tensiometers etc) and the price of public liability insurance. Also some wheels only get built after a lengthy discussion with the client, 10-20 emails maybe. This is all time that needs to be charged for. Usually rim tapes/tubeless tape is included in build labour too. There is also the time taken to measure all parts and calculate spoke lengths. We cut and thread spokes in-house to 0.5mm increments for more precision, off the shelf spokes are usually available in 2mm increments.

I encourage people to do as much stuff themselves as they can and be self sufficient, you don’t need the best/most expensive tools out there to do a great job.

But I feel that lots of people think that we overcharge without considering the aspects I’ve previously mentioned.

Sorry! Haha. Rant over!

Why not calibrate your own tools by building a tensionmeter calibration jig and using precision ground measures to check DTI's, micrometers and verniers?. Save yourself time and money and the need to double up on tools you send out for cal.
Insurance shouldn't be hanging on you having to use a third party service as if you do it right an engineer paid for by an insurance company will find your tooling to be well within acceptable limits, for wheelbuilding. This isn't nano tech we are dealing with here.

Also; why on earth are you playing email tennis?

If somebody asks you to build 12 spoke wheels and in the next email you find out they are 20 stone and 'send it' off piste then you just say no and tell them what you think they should have. If they dont accept you have done you a favour and you move on to the next person.
Same applies to people who want to argue about heads in/out, crosses and d/s or nds radial. You should know what works and be confident telling someone what you think. If they dont accept then move on.
It is always worth keeping an open mind to what someone says, as they might actually be right, but if you have been doing this for a long time you know what works.

Nothing about building a bicycle wheel should take 10-20 emails/phonecalls. That is absolute madness and you have just told everyone that a client might have to pay for all the time you spend faffing about with other clients.
I would take a guess, based on my experience, that a good portion of the people who want to play text tennis don't end up buying any product. They are timewasters born to suck the last drop of desire out of the self employed and as soon as they are identified contact should cease.

 

[Gtpulse]

It’s not a dark art, I’ve built quite a few wheels now with basic tools. You can true up a wheel well enough in the bike frame on a stand, gradually moving the brake blocks in to help.

I’ve done all that in my own time, for myself, at my leisure and in no particular hurry, usually following someone else’s tutorial or even another wheel.

What I couldn’t/wouldn’t be able to do is anything remotely creative or technical, charge people for it, be able to do it within an acceptable timescale someone would be happy to pay for. I could build a garden wall for myself and indeed have, I’d not be able to build a house if that makes sense at least not as quickly/to the same quality as a time served builder.

I think like any of the skilled trades, quality/speed/price all come with time and experience. A skilled wheelbuilder will know what the best combination will be for what you want to achieve without having to research the web for hours. They’ll probably have most of it sat waiting to be used as well.

I’d also add that the wheels I’ve built have been not expensive stuff, mostly secondhand hubs/rims with new spokes. The couple of times I’ve had expensive hubs/rims to build I’ve dropped them off with a professional, paid for the privilege, and when you pick them up you can tell the difference!