Are You Interested in Building Your Own Wheels

Lumpy Roads

Hi Guys,
This is certainly not an advert, but an account of a very interesting day I spent recently building my own wheels. Earlier this year I had Ugo (thanks Paulo) build me a set of wheels, Archtype H Son Plus on Hope 3 Hubs. A brilliant set of wheels that I know I will have years of use from. I got around to wondering how difficult it must be, so after some research I discovered a company called bicycles by design (first and last name drop) based in Ironbridge near Telford. They specialise in building frames but also run a wheel building course, the cost of which is similar to the fee typically charged by accomplished wheel builders for a pair of wheels. The craic was, that you order your parts through them, RRP less 10% I believe, they get the parts in. You receive about 90 minutes worth of theory, covering the benefits of different lacings, and an insight into the stresses each part of the wheel experiences. You then start to lace and tension your own wheels, under very close supervision. I have no technical background so I was dubious about what I would have at the end of the day. Peter Bird (Only personal name drop) one of the partners, oversees the build, allowing me to go wrong, without causing any damage so that I could discover my own mistake and then showing me how to correct it. By the end of the day, after lots of spinning, tensioning, relieving, checking, tensioning, relieving, checking and on and on. Peter checks the wheels and approves them. At the end of the day, you have learnt a lot, not enough to go into business, but certainly enough to correct a problem and a fine set of wheels that you have built yourself. I am sure there are other companies out there who provide a similar service, but after all the chat on this forum about hand built wheels, of which I am a fan. This is a great opportunity for folk to learn and take possession of their own hand built set.
Hope I haven't bored you.
Steve

aberdeen_lune

Very interesting sounds like a great way to learn. It's a very useful skill.

mfin

Lumpy Roads wrote:

Hi Guys,

This is certainly not an advert, but an account of a very interesting day I spent recently building my own wheels...

Earlier this year I had Ugo (thanks Paulo) build me a set of wheels, Archtype H Son Plus on Hope 3 Hubs. A brilliant set of wheels that I know I will have years of use from. I got around to wondering how difficult it must be, so after some research I discovered a company called bicycles by design (first and last name drop) based in Ironbridge near Telford. They specialise in building frames but also run a wheel building course, the cost of which is similar to the fee typically charged by accomplished wheel builders for a pair of wheels.

The craic was, that you order your parts through them, RRP less 10% I believe, they get the parts in. You receive about 90 minutes worth of theory, covering the benefits of different lacings, and an insight into the stresses each part of the wheel experiences. You then start to lace and tension your own wheels, under very close supervision.

I have no technical background so I was dubious about what I would have at the end of the day. Peter Bird (Only personal name drop) one of the partners, oversees the build, allowing me to go wrong, without causing any damage so that I could discover my own mistake and then showing me how to correct it. By the end of the day, after lots of spinning, tensioning, relieving, checking, tensioning, relieving, checking and so on Peter checks the wheels and approves them.

At the end of the day, you have learnt a lot, not enough to go into business, but certainly enough to correct a problem and a fine set of wheels that you have built yourself. I am sure there are other companies out there who provide a similar service, but after all the chat on this forum about hand built wheels, of which I am a fan. This is a great opportunity for folk to learn and take possession of their own hand built set.

Hope I haven't bored you.
Steve

Added some paras for you so it's easier to read for people, cos it is quite interesting.

ugo.santalucia

Learning the DIY saves you a lot of money in the long run. If you are lucky enough to have an LBS which doesn't charge 50 pounds an hour and doesn't have a two weeks waiting list to replace a bottom bracket, then fine, but otherwise it is imperative to learn to do everything yourself.
I am an advocate of learning from your own mistakes, but also going the route of paying somebody to teach you a skill is still a better option than forking out a lot of money every time there is a small problem.

Seeing what an 80 pounds service buy you these days... well... that's pretty much what I do to my bike every other week.
Building wheels is relatively easy, useful even if you only ride Mavic wheels and there is something special about using something you made yourself... as building a frame involves a lot of tools that not many can afford, building wheels is second in line

Lumpy Roads

Cheers Ugo, your eye for detail is what makes my bike roll smoothly!

slowbike

Only bit I'm not sure of (I'm sure theres loads more I don't know about) is spoke tension - without buying a tension gauge, is there a rough'n'ready method of establishing you have enough spoke tension?

ugo.santalucia

Slowbike wrote:

Only bit I'm not sure of (I'm sure theres loads more I don't know about) is spoke tension - without buying a tension gauge, is there a rough'n'ready method of establishing you have enough spoke tension?

Get a tension gauge... the Park one is as good as my DT Swiss one and only costs 50 quid or so. It comes with a calibration chart that includes the vast majority of spokes on the market, including Mavic Zicral spokes and other nonsense

alan_sherman

Some people need to learn in a classroom environment, some can read a manual and give it a go. I found Sheldon brown's guide to building wheels brilliant. Covers the basics of a 32/36 hole 2 or 3 cross design. I find it best to do the lacing one evening, then leave to the next before tensioning and truing.

giant_man

Sounds pretty good to me. Good skill to have for such a reasonable price imo.

slowbike

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

Only bit I'm not sure of (I'm sure theres loads more I don't know about) is spoke tension - without buying a tension gauge, is there a rough'n'ready method of establishing you have enough spoke tension?

Get a tension gauge... the Park one is as good as my DT Swiss one and only costs 50 quid or so. It comes with a calibration chart that includes the vast majority of spokes on the market, including Mavic Zicral spokes and other nonsense

yer - there we have the problem - £50 or so goes a long way to buying a new wheel ... if it was a tenner then it would (probably be crap but) worth a punt ..but at £50 it really depends how often you intend to build new wheels ...

giant_man

yes only seems worth it if you are going to build wheels on a regular basis

flasher

Built my first set of 'winter wheels' a couple of months ago, took 2 evenings and was very satisfying. Cost all up including a truing stand and PT tension meter was the same as had I bought them from an established wheel builder!

Loads of on-line resources and if it goes wrong take them apart and start again :oops:

ugo.santalucia

giant man wrote:

yes only seems worth it if you are going to build wheels on a regular basis

Guys, I don't know your financial position... but a set of tyres cost 50 quid, a chain cost 30 quid and so does a low end cassette... I don't think 50 quid for a nice tool that lasts a lifetime is a lot of money. You can use it to check your wheels even if you don't build your own. Besides, once you buy the tools, you will build your own wheels, that's pretty much a given. I'm pretty sure you can resell it on Ebay for 40 quid, should you be in dire straits

giant_man

so which park tool is this ugo?

ugo.santalucia

giant man wrote:

so which park tool is this ugo?

Park Tool TM1

slowbike

ugo.santalucia wrote:

giant man wrote:

yes only seems worth it if you are going to build wheels on a regular basis

Guys, I don't know your financial position... but a set of tyres cost 50 quid, a chain cost 30 quid and so does a low end cassette... I don't think 50 quid for a nice tool that lasts a lifetime is a lot of money. You can use it to check your wheels even if you don't build your own. Besides, once you buy the tools, you will build your own wheels, that's pretty much a given. I'm pretty sure you can resell it on Ebay for 40 quid, should you be in dire straits

Tyres & tubes are consumables ...

I buy tools that allow me to save money - so that crank puller will get used a few times and saves me from getting the LBS to do it.
Spoke key - yup, got one of those, useful for truing a wheel, not used much, doesn't cost much though.
Spoke tension gauge - I really can't see myself building sets of wheels on a regular basis - it's something I'd play at (and have done) . £50 is easily affordable, but I'd need to justify it as above - it just doesn't do that atm.

For my first wheel build I re-used a rim & spokes but replaced the knackered hub. I've gauged tension by plucking the spokes and making it about the same as similar wheels (same length and diameter spokes) - I'm not too bothered about it as its a turbo wheel ... for now!

ugo.santalucia

Slowbike wrote:

Tyres & tubes are consumables ...

I buy tools that allow me to save money - so that crank puller will get used a few times and saves me from getting the LBS to do it.
Spoke key - yup, got one of those, useful for truing a wheel, not used much, doesn't cost much though.
Spoke tension gauge - I really can't see myself building sets of wheels on a regular basis - it's something I'd play at (and have done) . £50 is easily affordable, but I'd need to justify it as above - it just doesn't do that atm.

For my first wheel build I re-used a rim & spokes but replaced the knackered hub. I've gauged tension by plucking the spokes and making it about the same as similar wheels (same length and diameter spokes) - I'm not too bothered about it as its a turbo wheel ... for now!

Then don't buy it... I don't sell Park tools...

slowbike

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Then don't buy it... I don't sell Park tools...

I'm not going too ... yet ... I just wondered if there was a rough'n'ready way to establish spoke tension that would satisfy us plebs too stingy to buy a tension gauge ... plucking them is ok - providing the length and diameter are the same - but it does rely on the other wheel being correctly set up ...

rich164h

Any recommendations for truing stands? or ones to avoid?

ugo.santalucia

rich164h wrote:

Any recommendations for truing stands? or ones to avoid?

Years ago I did build some decent wheels with a Tacx one, but of course it is a cheap wobbly thing. I'd say build your own or get a Park Tool one. The TS 1 is not overly expensive. The TS 2.2 is THE ONE.
Unlike what you read on the Strada website, the quality of a wheel and the cost of the truing stand have nothing in common

londoncommuter

Are all cheap ones wobbly and not up to the task? Rose do a really cheap one for just £34:

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/rose ... aid:553818

Waste of time or bargain?

ugo.santalucia

londoncommuter wrote:

Are all cheap ones wobbly and not up to the task? Rose do a really cheap one for just £34:

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/rose ... aid:553818

Waste of time or bargain?

You can build a good wheel even with a wobbly stand... people give too much importance to a stand. A good stand will save you time and some can dish the wheel too, but it won't build a better wheel. If you have to build wheels day in day out, get a good one, otherwise it doesn't matter.
As for accuracy, a wheel with a total offset of 0.2 mm (+ or - 0.1 mm) mm rides the same as one with a total offset of 0.4-0.5, which is achievable with any stand

flasher

I bought the Tacx one from Germany, and for the £35 that I paid am very happy with it, doesn't feel at all wobbly, but then I've only used it half a dozen times. Clamps on to the work bench which I'd say would make it more stable than the Rose one.

dee4life2005

I've rebuild my wheels a couple of times now, to replace a knackered hub and following a couple of videos on YouTube I found it relatively straight-forward. In order to true the wheel I just mounted it back on the bike, attached a tie-wrap to one of the seat-stays and positioned it next to the braking surface of the rim. This allowed me to check for lateral trueness. I did similar for radial trueness. Using a ruler I was able to roughly check the dish of the wheel.

I used a Park Tools TM1 to check the spoke tension and make sure they were fairly evenly tensioned - I always find I have a couple that are bit too high / too low when I check them.

The wheel is by no means perfect,but it runs perfectly true even after 400 miles that I've put on it so far.

gezebo

rich164h wrote:

Any recommendations for truing stands? or ones to avoid?

I bought this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wheel-Truing- ... 27d99586bf

Heavy but very sturdy and free standing. Probably better quality than basic park tool ones. I guess the chap selling them works in a factory and just runs a few off on a plasma cutter every now and then. I've noticed he knocks up a few other bits and bobs too.