my H Plus Son rim shipped from china yesterday…
I’m putting it on my powertap road bike hub, should I attempt to build my own… or have a shop do it…
If you’re intimidated, lace it and take it to a shop to finish. Also, tell them it’s your first so they’ll make sure to look over your lacing as well. A powertap’s a pretty expensive hub for a first build.
can you fuck the hub up building a wheel?
Not really, at least not lacing a wheel. Like others have said if you’re nervous you can lace it yourself and have a shop do the final true/tension.
A good shop will help you calculate the right spoke length for the job.
It’s pretty hard to fuck up a regular hub, not sure if there’s anything special about a powertap.
I built my Phil/Aeroheads over a week using Sheldon’s instructions. I took my time, and walked away when I was frustrated. It really wasn’t that hard, it just takes patience.
Otherwise I’d say have Jason at George’s build it.
I’d be impressed if you did. My main concern would be getting even tension throughout. When I got my tensiometer, I was surprised by how far off I was. It won’t blow up, but it will shorten the life of everything.
Wheel-building is easy.
Even a retard like me can do it.
Not having a tensionometer I go by if it feels tight by hand.
I know this is the only way to do it without a proper tensiometer apart from keeping track of turns maybe, but if I were you I’d take the wheels you built into the shop and have them check the tension just to be sure. It’ll be worth it in the long run if you have to pay 20 bucks to get them tensioned rather than having them go out of true quickly or possibly fold in a crash they might have survived.
Noted.
Well, Sheldon does describe a good way of building wheels wo tensionometer: pluck the spoke pairs and listen to the sound. They should be nice and even, and Sheldon even provided a chart about what note you should get from what spoke size/length if properly tensioned. Interestingly, if one spoke from a pair is too loose, you don’t get a ping sound, just a dull thud.
BTW wheelbuilding is reasonably easy. If you do all your other wrenching and are interested/patient you should give it a shot. Sheldon’s guide is good, that’s what I learned from.
AFAIK shops aren’t too elated when you bring them a laced wheel to tension. Lacing is like 1/5 or 1/10 of the job so don’t expect much of a discount. If you can build it up to a reasonable standard with about the right tension they may just finish it for you for the price of a truing I guess.
This may be the case, but IMO selecting the right spoke lengths and lacing are the only “hard” parts. Getting a wheel true, round, and tensioned properly just takes patience and a basic understanding of the concepts involved.
Ok. dishing can be kind of a pain in the ass, but if you get the spoke lengths right and check your work frequently it’s much easier.
i have a hub and a rim just sitting around and i want to learn how to build wheels. i should just order the right length spokes and nipples and set to work with a guide like sheldon’s?
My wheel keeps going out of true, I keep getting really bad spoke twist when I true it up. I think I’m going to get a pro to take a look at it, maybe even retension the entire wheel.
on a 45-N Rockwell scale. Wheelbuilding is a 32
easy way to true wheels get it true while the tension is still low
get it nice and straight without any hops
then go around and tension it up
checking for hops and wobbles between each round of tensioning
i built my wheels on my track bike my firdt build using sheldons instructions
and without a tension meter
and i haven’t had to do anything to them
ive ridden them at least 5000 miles no problems
Calculating spoke length is easy if you have the right measurements. Do it a few times to confirm. Also, tension by tone works really well for balancing tension.
If you have a truing stand, build it yourself.
I guess I’m tone deaf. I had terrible luck with that.
Sounds to me like your spokes are undertensioned and/or you are allowing the spokes to twist when truing. What spokes do you have? Thin or strongly butted spokes tend to twist a lot. One way to minimize the twist is to overtighten the spoke than back it off a bit to unwind the spoke. For example, if you want to add a quarter turn, give it a half turn, then back it off a quarter turn. Bladed spokes are awesome because you can see if the spoke is twisted, and you can even prevent twisting by holding the spoke with a cresent wrench or padded plier. My hand-built bladed-spoke wheels are absolutely flawless because of this.
Sounds to me like your spokes are undertensioned and/or you are allowing the spokes to twist when truing. What spokes do you have? Thin or strongly butted spokes tend to twist a lot. One way to minimize the twist is to overtighten the spoke than back it off a bit to unwind the spoke. For example, if you want to add a quarter turn, give it a half turn, then back it off a quarter turn. Bladed spokes are awesome because you can see if the spoke is twisted, and you can even prevent twisting by holding the spoke with a cresent wrench or padded plier. My hand-built bladed-spoke wheels are absolutely flawless because of this.[/quote]
That is exactly the advice I would have given. Also, tensioning by ear works really well, but you’ll start to get a little snowblind after a while, especially when the pitches start to get really close. If you have a piano or a tuning fork handy to use as an absolute reference point, it will be easier.