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Your First Wheel Build...

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Your First Wheel Build...

Old 07-25-19, 08:59 PM
  #26  
RobbieTunes
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Originally Posted by vintagerando
I have a Park truing stand, spokes, nipples, polished vintage Mavic rim and a polished high flange campy hub......all sitting in the garage. I have no idea where to begin
It was a dark and stormy night.
I woke from fitful slumber to a vision of building wheels.
I laughed and went right back to sleep.
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Old 07-26-19, 12:56 AM
  #27  
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My first set would have been in the early 80s and i would have used, used everything. Spokes, nipples, hubs and rims. It probably was an old sturmy archer hub. The book was a general maintenance and advice book by a husband and wife. There was one chapter with a tutorial for a 36 spoke 4 cross wheel build. Been building them that way ever since. I'm sure I'm not the best at it but mine always get me home.
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Old 07-26-19, 01:33 AM
  #28  
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Built my first set this year using TB14 rims. Built another wheel in the mean time and was about to start on my 4th until the shop cancelled my rim order and the bike I was planning to build it for turned out to be broken beyond repair.

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Old 07-26-19, 03:03 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by BFisher
Hey, cool thread.

While it was a great learning experience, and I've done a few more since then, I still don't really enjoy building wheels.

Agreed. Building a set makes retrueing a much easier proposition. I built my first set on my shoestring racing budget. I could afford the mavic hoops and spokes but cut my cheap Shimano hubs off a entery level Japanese bike. Using the frame as my truing stand and a pencil held in place with a rubber band I slowly made the rim round and then straight. It came together very quickly and each spoke soon had a satisfying "twing" when plucked. They all sounded very close in pitch. Those wheels lasted about three years of racing and another six of commuting without much or any readjustment. It was fun and very informative. Near poverty can be a great teacher.
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Old 07-26-19, 04:33 AM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by vintagerando
I have a Park truing stand, spokes, nipples, polished vintage Mavic rim and a polished high flange campy hub......all sitting in the garage. I have no idea where to begin
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

From that, I made my first set of wheels, probably a decade ago. Campagnolo high-flange Gran Sport hubs on Fiamme red labels. Sold them. Gonna see them again this fall.

btb 023 by iabisdb, on Flickr
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Old 07-26-19, 05:48 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by JaccoW
Built my first set this year using TB14 rims. Built another wheel in the mean time and was about to start on my 4th until the shop cancelled my rim order and the bike I was planning to build it for turned out to be broken beyond repair.
TB14 rims are well made and build easily. Box section rims are a good choice for classic wheels. The machined brake track gives good braking performance. They are a little on the heavy side but their other features more than make up for that, to my way of thinking anyway. A good choice.
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Old 07-26-19, 05:59 AM
  #32  
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@vintagerando,

Follow iab's advice and utilize Sheldon's instructions. They are very easy to follow.

If you take your time and stick to them, you'll have yourself a sweet new wheel.
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Old 07-26-19, 06:44 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by speedevil
TB14 rims are well made and build easily. Box section rims are a good choice for classic wheels. The machined brake track gives good braking performance. They are a little on the heavy side but their other features more than make up for that, to my way of thinking anyway. A good choice.
Agreed, not sure about the weight though but I wasn't looking for the very lightest bike. They're 490 grams (17.28 oz) and for a rando/touring build. They were a fairly decent weight improvement over the Weinmann concave rims the bike used before though.

More info about the build in this post.
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Old 07-26-19, 04:37 PM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by seedsbelize
Mine was about ten years ago. A Sante hub I bought off Ebay and a rim off my hybrid Giant. Still going strong, though that wheel has become my spare front. I used Roger Musson's ebook, which I later had printed. I've done a few since, and am in the procrastination stage for the next few. I have hubs, rims, and a box of leftover spokes, some of which will hopefully be the length that I need. I am very good at truing wheels, and enjoy building them.
I just realized that I built a rear at the same time. That one must still be in regular service. Shimano 600 on Araya CTL370. I have a number of those, so who is to say which it is. Though I built all of them.
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Old 07-29-19, 04:16 PM
  #35  
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Read the entire Sheldon Brown guide then print out the color coded lacing instructions. Go slow. Try to pay attention to roundness and lateral true at the same time. And dish if it's the rear. Start with a front

Last edited by jrozzelle; 07-29-19 at 04:18 PM. Reason: edit
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Old 07-29-19, 05:20 PM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by gaucho777
.... limped home gingerly the last 10 miles.
Awww, c'mon, you can get a few more miles out of that wheel !

Originally Posted by gaucho777
.... another crack starting to form at the brake surface.
Well, OK, maybe not.

My first wheelbuild was a pair of tubulars for time-trialing back in 1976. Maillard M. M. Atom high flange hubs, Araya rims. Truing stand was the Gitane frame (my first 10-speed) and Mafac Racer brake pads. Did not even know there was such a thing as a dishing tool. Jobst's book was not out yet, that would've helped. The wheels stayed true (they almost had no choice, I wire-tied and soldered the spokes (which was all the rage back then for a "stiffer wheel"). Later I learned that Jobst would not agree. My wheels are still gathering dust in the garage after I stopped racing. Clincher tires were a lot cheaper than tubulars by the time I resumed cycling later in life, there was no going back. I'll never forget the sound and feel of 110 psi tubulars the first time out, though.

Great picture, goucho777.
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Old 07-29-19, 06:11 PM
  #37  
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I’m about to begin this journey. VO Diagonale 650b rims, DT Swiss Comp spokes & brass nipples, Phil freewheel rear and SON 28 front.
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Old 07-29-19, 08:12 PM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by JaccoW
Agreed, not sure about the weight though but I wasn't looking for the very lightest bike. They're 490 grams (17.28 oz) and for a rando/touring build. They were a fairly decent weight improvement over the Weinmann concave rims the bike used before though.

More info about the build in this post.
That's a beautiful build, by the way.
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Old 07-29-19, 08:21 PM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by speedevil
The maiden voyage on a bike that you built, including wheels that you built, is a pretty special moment. I think that building your own wheels is sort-of like a masters thesis for bike mechanics. It's not really too hard to do, but it does take some practice and care to do it right.

Congratulations.
I'll agree fully, but add that a lot of patience and persistence is needed to tension it properly. Then again, if you have the short-term memory loss that I have, then everything gets checked several times over.
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Old 07-29-19, 08:23 PM
  #40  
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I have 11,463 miles and counting on my first wheel. Origin-8 branded flip-flop rear hub, 36 2.0-1.8-2.0 spokes laced 3x, on an old 26" Weinmann concave rim. Being my first wheel, I've gone back and evened out the tensions and had to true it once or twice along the way, but it's been nothing less than reliable.
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Old 07-29-19, 09:12 PM
  #41  
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First wheels around 1972, sitting in my 8 x 40 trailer in Valley Trailer Park in Columbia, The Who blasting on the stereo. Used Sloane's book to build them. No concern for even tension, just so they were true. Tore them down last year to use the Super Champion rims with some Pelissier 2000 hubs. Amazingly straight and true after 46 years. Only reason I tore them down was the Atom hubs I had built them with so long ago.
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Old 08-19-19, 12:56 PM
  #42  
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I just read your post today. Rather interesting that this afternoon while working in the garage what sounded like a bomb went off right behind me as a tire I mounted yesterday decided to blow itself off the rim today! I built the wheel set in 1986 while stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. The hubs were Campy NR large-flange that I picked up in 1975 - these are from the time before that CPSC regulation crap came out and have straight levers - and the rims were Bike Nashbar house branded rims UT17 700x28 that I had ordered in 1986. The bead on the rear rim just gave out and the tire then blew off the rim. These rims lasted 33 years and I never had to adjust anything. I ordered new rims and will start the rebuild when they arrive and after I have cleaned and polished the hubs.

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Old 08-20-19, 10:01 PM
  #43  
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My first pair of wheels I built (this spring) was from a pair of mid-70's Schwinn LeTour high flange I polished up pretty nice, new spokes from DansComp and a set of VO PBP rims I got cheap from @speedevil. They are nice and true and currently have pride of place on my flagship - my 1971 Grandis.

My first single wheel build, a couple years ago, was Weinmann RM 19 that I rebuilt from the original parts. The only interesting part of that story is how I came to need to rebuild a wheel less than 3 years old and with only a couple thousand miles on it: One very busy summer night at the hotel I run, I was sleeping in the storeroom as is my custom when I'm on duty all night and all the hotel rooms are booked. Comfy cot, total darkness, not bad for sleeping. It's the same room I keep most of my bikes in. My Trek600 was the one I had ridden to work that morning and it was leaning up against the table near the door into the lobby. A couple hours after bedding down, I get up, BADLY needing a restroom (from the three beers or so I had before bedtime) and a bit groggy and wobbly (from same). I don't remember what I tripped on in the pitch darkness, but fell in a way that tacoed the nearly new front wheel on the Trek. Much late night cursing.

After viewing a YouTube that showed how to straighten a tacoed rim, I thought "I can do that" and I did, removing the rim from the spokes, straightening it out more or less and rebuilding it with the original parts. I just looked at a different front wheel as a guide on how to lace it. Results? Not quite perfect, but nearly so and still usable.
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Old 08-21-19, 10:26 AM
  #44  
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I built my first set of wheels when I was 14, following the instructions in Eugene Sloane's The Complete Book of Bicycling. It was the porcupine method. They end up with asymmetrical pulling spokes. Not that it mattered, but that was something people used to discuss on rides. First and last time I ever built that way. They had Rigida rims and Avocet hubs, because that's what my budget allowed. They turned out OK, though a few months later I decided I hated clinchers and relaced them as sew ups.
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Old 08-21-19, 11:36 AM
  #45  
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i have had a very mixed result love/hate with wheelbuilding

I use the sheldon instructions

the first wheel I built maybe 8 years ago (deore hub, cr18 rim, db spokes) DB spokes is still going strong win +1

the second wheelset I built was a long story.... used velocity rims and didn't realize the subtle angles on the hole in the rim for right flange/left flange and laced them backward....didn't realize this until I finally got by go to guy at the LBS to get them true...... and I started seeing cracks in the rim a few years later overalll neutral to lose +1

my last build went great....until the spokes were uniformly too long.... not sure is it was a mis calculation or some how I messed up the laceing........ ended up moving the wheel on to someone else to deal with lose +1

I have come to the conclusion that I have done this enough to sorta check the box off, but am not supper on it so will leave building to others who have perfected the art.....until I try again
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