wheel building / discussion thread

Funny, Sheldon was the first thing I used way back when. Worked for me.

Very un-Brandtian.

TC: I hate building wheels and do everything I can to avoid it, including bartering with friends and coworkers to build them for me.

It’s a real fucking epidemic. If someone bothered to put together a well-produced wheel building video, something like the new videos from Park Tool, they’d probably be able to steal all the viewers away from dipshits like RJ the Bike Wrecker.

You know what I love about tarck? I can show up in this thread where some amazing minutia of the wheelbuilding process is discussed and bitch about how I can’t figure out a 3 cross, how I’ve fucked up twice and I’m pissed and frustrated. And the response is everyone saying, ‘yeah been there, here’s my story’.

Thank you. I felt like an idiot but I feel a lot better now.

I guess I could throw some sort of video together that doesn’t suck.

Do it! Could be a fun challenge. You do it right, and maybe get business for yourself if you show off your other great builds.

Seriously. I’ve built several wheels and having done so realize what a huge pain in the ass it can be. I don’t think a good video will drive business away. Knowing what I know now I’d happily pay someone competent to do the job if I had the money.

Just keep the liability aspect in mind.

A video with closeups, cuts and sound production (not someone talking in an echo-filled room to a camera mic) would be a 1000000% improvement on what’s out there now.

Man, I read the Jobst book a million years ago and keep a printout of Sheldon’s instructions on hand and have never had a problem with any of the two dozen or so wheels I’ve built.
I love building wheels.
speaking of wheels, anybody want to buy an Alfine8 x WTB ST i25 wheel that I built, rode for like two weeks and decided against?

I don’t suppose anyone would want to pay for this work but if you do, it already exists.

Schraner (the author) has a DVD called ‘Mastering the Wheel’.

Bill Mould also has a DVD called ‘Mastering Wheelbuilding’.

[quote=Shortpants]You know what I love about tarck? I can show up in this thread where some amazing minutia of the wheelbuilding process is discussed and bitch about how I can’t figure out a 3 cross, how I’ve fucked up twice and I’m pissed and frustrated. And the response is everyone saying, ‘yeah been there, here’s my story’.

Thank you. I felt like an idiot but I feel a lot better now.[/quote]

Dude, should’ve seen me lacing up a wheel earlier this week. I decided to go spoke hole by spoke hole on the hub while watching TV. 3 hours later I had 3/4 of them in and when I checked my work 1/3 of that 3/4 was in the wrong place. BUT I did remember after that how to lace them properly (spoke head out on one side of hub, then other side, then spoke head in on one side, then other side. DUH) without looking at a guide so I AM learning.

We are all learning.

Fuck I think I fucked up the directional drilling of the i23s I just laced. Nipple angles look all fucky.

lolz
i’ve got a front wheel around here somewhere that i got the orientation wrong on, so that nice gap in the spokes isn’t at the valve stem.
makes putting air in the tires a pita, and it’s a tubular so i have to add air everytime i ride…i left it though. coz lazy.

My last build was a shit show. Buying would have been better, but the bike needed a rear 26" rim brake on a 130mm hub (old mtb):
[list]
[]Bought two rims from LBS, measured ERD of one rim myself, put rim away and didn’t note which one I measured
[
]Bought spokes from LBS, didn’t double check their lengths (because I saw them do measurements)
[]Laced wheel perfectly on the first try, thought I was a genius, posted pics to instagram
[
]Attempted to tension wheel, spokes turned out to be too long
[]Doubted my ERD measurement, looked on web for ERD, picked a value for this rim that made sense based on the spokes I had
[
]Bought shorter spokes for DS, moved previous DS spokes to NDS
[]Various minor lacing errors mixed in to this point
[
]Attempted to tension, new DS spokes turned out to be too short, made no instagram updates
[]Said fuck it, trusted my original ERD number, bought spokes from Universal Cycles (they give you an extra spoke for each length if you’re ordering a wheel’s worth)
[
]Laced rim with the decal facing the wrong side
[]Relaced with rim decal facing the correct side, tensioned, seems to be good so far
[
]Feel grateful that I was smart enough to order dayruiner wheels from Endpoint
[/list]

[quote=puelnewdle]My last build was a shit show. Buying would have been better, but the bike needed a rear 26" rim brake on a 130mm hub (old mtb):
[list]
[]Bought two rims from LBS, measured ERD of one rim myself, put rim away and didn’t note which one I measured
[
]Bought spokes from LBS, didn’t double check their lengths (because I saw them do measurements)
[]Laced wheel perfectly on the first try, thought I was a genius, posted pics to instagram
[
]Attempted to tension wheel, spokes turned out to be too long
[]Doubted my ERD measurement, looked on web for ERD, picked a value for this rim that made sense based on the spokes I had
[
]Bought shorter spokes for DS, moved previous DS spokes to NDS
[]Various minor lacing errors mixed in to this point
[
]Attempted to tension, new DS spokes turned out to be too short, made no instagram updates
[]Said fuck it, trusted my original ERD number, bought spokes from Universal Cycles (they give you an extra spoke for each length if you’re ordering a wheel’s worth)
[
]Laced rim with the decal facing the wrong side
[]Relaced with rim decal facing the correct side, tensioned, seems to be good so far
[
]Feel grateful that I was smart enough to order dayruiner wheels from Endpoint
[/list][/quote]

[youtube]bmS2QKBD8qU[/youtube]

[quote=bward1028]
Schraner book is great. I have a copy that I could scan for use.[/quote]

Already have one handy, digital copy linky here

I would contribute to a kickstarter for your effort.

[youtube]_MLyw7LiCLc[/youtube]

[quote=iwillbe][quote=puelnewdle]My last build was a shit show. Buying would have been better, but the bike needed a rear 26" rim brake on a 130mm hub (old mtb):
[list]
[]Bought two rims from LBS, measured ERD of one rim myself, put rim away and didn’t note which one I measured
[
]Bought spokes from LBS, didn’t double check their lengths (because I saw them do measurements)
[]Laced wheel perfectly on the first try, thought I was a genius, posted pics to instagram
[
]Attempted to tension wheel, spokes turned out to be too long
[]Doubted my ERD measurement, looked on web for ERD, picked a value for this rim that made sense based on the spokes I had
[
]Bought shorter spokes for DS, moved previous DS spokes to NDS
[]Various minor lacing errors mixed in to this point
[
]Attempted to tension, new DS spokes turned out to be too short, made no instagram updates
[]Said fuck it, trusted my original ERD number, bought spokes from Universal Cycles (they give you an extra spoke for each length if you’re ordering a wheel’s worth)
[
]Laced rim with the decal facing the wrong side
[]Relaced with rim decal facing the correct side, tensioned, seems to be good so far
[
]Feel grateful that I was smart enough to order dayruiner wheels from Endpoint
[/list][/quote]

[youtube]bmS2QKBD8qU[/youtube][/quote]

Ha, so much this.

Anything I end up doing will be a lot shorter or at least in consumable portions. I’d just do it to have a good resource, not looking for anything more. I did a livestream sort of session a few years back where I was building a wheel and let people watch and ask questions. Some saw it and thought it was helpful.