Originally Posted by
Chrisp72
Hello all!
I know that wheel building is a dying art and to do it well you need to use the proper tools which is a bit of an investment. Does anyone build their own wheels in their own set up space? If you work in a bike shop I figure learning to build wheels is part of the training and it's easier with all the tools at your disposal. I feel that wheel building is part art and part science and would like to learn but I don't have the space and I can't justify wheel building one wheel every ten years or so. The cost of investing in the equipment is prohibitive for me...Thoughts?
A spoke key expensive?
That's pretty well all you actually need to build a wheel, and you could even use a small shifting spanner if you were very patient.
The frame or forks can be used to true. Dishing = 3 cans on a flat table with some coins as a height gauge. Little spanner to tap spokes check for even tension, or if you want to be fancy, a phone app.