New tricks....

debeli

Well into my fifties and, as of recently, a wearer of reading glasses to see little things close-up, I have just built my first wheel....

A neighbour lent me the jig, a dishing tool and a book on the technical side of things, then I ordered the parts from my LBS.

What a bizarre, confounding, frustrating, arcane but ultimately hugely satisfying process. I do not claim to be an overnight expert.... very far from it.

I have built precisely two wheels, a front and a rear for the same bike. It is an old, rigid MTB that is being turned into a sort of street rat thingummy.... so we went with fairly ordinary 32-spoke wheels on a hub for the original 7-speed cassette. Nothing fancy, but quite nice parts.... butted spokes and so on.

I am surprised what an engaging and fascinating enterprise it was. Rounding, trueing, dishing.... I may never build another in my life, but I do recommend giving it a go... just for the giggles and the lovely internal glow when you first see it spinning, round, true and dished.

Message ends.

rolf_f

Have you got to the bit where you put a tyre on, pump it up and it is no longer true anymore?!

homers_double

Which bike shop sold you the extra dot? They need shooting!

darkhairedlord

should this be in mtb workshop and tech?

debeli

Technically it was built as an MTB, but it has been nowhere near a field or a mountain for decades. The cassette for the rear is a 13-21 and the granny will be ditched from the front. Road tyres too, so not really an MTB.

I wrote the piece really just to extol the benefits of trying something new... I hear a few people say they'd like to have a go at building a wheel and I thought this might help.

It seemed like a general road thread to me. Apologies if not.

As to the superfluity of dots, I get mine at dotdotdot.com and they had a sale on... I shall
pay more attention in future. Probably.

Matthewfalle

Debeli wrote:

Well into my fifties and, as of recently, a wearer of reading glasses to see little things close-up, I have just built my first wheel....

A neighbour lent me the jig, a dishing tool and a book on the technical side of things, then I ordered the parts from my LBS.

What a bizarre, confounding, frustrating, arcane but ultimately hugely satisfying process. I do not claim to be an overnight expert.... very far from it.

I have built precisely two wheels, a front and a rear for the same bike. It is an old, rigid MTB that is being turned into a sort of street rat thingummy.... so we went with fairly ordinary 32-spoke wheels on a hub for the original 7-speed cassette. Nothing fancy, but quite nice parts.... butted spokes and so on.

I am surprised what an engaging and fascinating enterprise it was. Rounding, trueing, dishing.... I may never build another in my life, but I do recommend giving it a go... just for the giggles and the lovely internal glow when you first see it spinning, round, true and dished.

Message ends.

Riockin' post - funny, inspirational, catching the feelings that all of us with grease under our finger nails and those small annoying cuts just above our finger nails that sting feel whenever we want to try something new.

Hat, biggly.

step83

Rolf F wrote:

Have you got to the bit where you put a tyre on, pump it up and it is no longer true anymore?!

Does my head in that, you miss checking one spoke tension an end up wit ha pringle wheel

daniel_b

Great stuff!

I bought two yellow track rims a while back, and picked up a stand from a club member for £60.
Waiting for 11 spd disc hubs to become remotely affordable, and will then have a go at it, tricky with a young family, and making time for cycling\training as well to fit it in though - hopefully within a few years!

veronese68

Rolf F wrote:

Have you got to the bit where you put a tyre on, pump it up and it is no longer true anymore?!

I haven't done that bit yet. Did I do it wrong?
Nice post and completely agree with the OP.