Cy tech wheel building course

slowmart
slowmart Posts: 4,474
I’ve just booked myself on this course, any informed tips?
“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring”

Desmond Tutu

Comments

  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,175
    How much do they charge?

    I always thought I could run wheel building courses, but I'd have to buy more stands...
    left the forum March 2023
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,175
    ... just found out, around £ 400 depending on the outfit...

    Can you hear me sucking through my teeth?
    left the forum March 2023
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,252

    ... just found out, around £ 400 depending on the outfit...

    Can you hear me sucking through my teeth?

    Won't take long to pay off the stands at that price :smiley:
  • Wheelspinner
    Wheelspinner Posts: 6,551
    How many wheels do you want to build? If it's a few sets for yourself, then a course may be overkill. Stick to simple and its not that hard to do.

    If you're intending to make it something more like a business then maybe a training course might be of value.
    Open One+ BMC TE29 Seven 622SL On One Scandal Cervelo RS
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,175

    ... just found out, around £ 400 depending on the outfit...

    Can you hear me sucking through my teeth?

    Won't take long to pay off the stands at that price :smiley:
    ... and the fuxxing adapters for thru axle... :#
    left the forum March 2023
  • Wheelspinner
    Wheelspinner Posts: 6,551

    ... just found out, around £ 400 depending on the outfit...

    Can you hear me sucking through my teeth?

    Won't take long to pay off the stands at that price :smiley:
    ... and the fuxxing adapters for thru axle... :#
    And that other one to build Lefty hubs...
    Open One+ BMC TE29 Seven 622SL On One Scandal Cervelo RS
  • edward.s
    edward.s Posts: 219
    Download the Masson book, read it twice and crack on. £400 would buy you the Park tool clone 'bikehand' stand from Spa cycles, a collection of Spokey brand keys, a Park tension gauge, cheap dishing stick and a nice nipple spinner with cash left over towards your first set of components.

    That's what I did, I've built around 20 wheels now, some pairs have done several thousand miles and gone through some fairly hard off road use and all good.

    The most important factors for me in getting a nice tight true robust wheel were setting the spoke ends in the hubs well and giving them a really good beating at the de-stressing stage.
  • slowmart
    slowmart Posts: 4,474
    I wanted to fast track my understanding and learning as I've always subscribed to the view that training accelerates skills & development. To be honest I never considered wheel building as a business but any avenues may be worth exploring as my initial aim was to build a few wheels, just for personal satisfaction.

    Anyone who has had the tenacity drive and intelligence to self learn this skill has my respect. One of the life lessons i took on board was while being coached on riding a motorcycle quickly round a race track was the view I formed that I could ride for 10 years and would have never considered aspects and tips I was given. Then again i have to accept the fact that i could be thick as shite!

    Still you never regret the things you do , only the things to don't do ;-)
    “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring”

    Desmond Tutu
  • Wheelspinner
    Wheelspinner Posts: 6,551
    As Edward.S says above, get the book by Roger Musson - only 9 quid online and you'll find more than enough info to get you underway. It's very good. I also did that, have built maybe a dozen sets all up in the last 9 years and none of them have killed me (yet). Took the first few I finished to my LBS expert (and he really *is* an expert wheel guy) to be checked out.

    Linkie here:

    https://www.wheelpro.co.uk/wheelbuilding/book.php


    Open One+ BMC TE29 Seven 622SL On One Scandal Cervelo RS
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,175
    It's a matter of confidence and if the OP prefers to learn on a course, that is absolutely fine.

    I also learned DIY, using Gerd Schraner book, which is not as tedious as Roger Musson's one. Of course the first set I built, I passed them on to someone braver, just in case... :D
    left the forum March 2023
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,252

    It's a matter of confidence and if the OP prefers to learn on a course, that is absolutely fine.

    I also learned DIY, using Gerd Schraner book, which is not as tedious as Roger Musson's one. Of course the first set I built, I passed them on to someone braver, just in case... :D

    I used the Musson book and Ugo checked my first set. I then got a tension gauge as I found that was the only way to be sure of even spoke tension. Done a few more since.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    Gen up: is it as difficult as people make it out to be?

    I can't see it being rocket science, so is it more pain in the backside tedious rather than aaaaaaarrrrggghhh i can't do this?
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    Also, is the whole book as boring as this extract from his advert?


    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • whyamihere
    whyamihere Posts: 7,695

    It's a matter of confidence and if the OP prefers to learn on a course, that is absolutely fine.

    I also learned DIY, using Gerd Schraner book, which is not as tedious as Roger Musson's one. Of course the first set I built, I passed them on to someone braver, just in case... :D

    I have the Schraner book as well, I still get it out for every wheel I build because it's something I do infrequently enough that it's good to check. I have a (cheap) truing stand, a (cheaper) dishing gauge and a tension meter, but you don't actually need any of those. The first couple of sets I built were done with minimal equipment, a frame with a couple of pencils zip-tied to it is a pretty good truing stand and the tension can be compared to an existing wheel by hand (squeeze the spokes and see how much they deflect).
  • Wheelspinner
    Wheelspinner Posts: 6,551
    MattFalle said:

    Also, is the whole book as boring as this extract from his advert?


    Yes.

    Open One+ BMC TE29 Seven 622SL On One Scandal Cervelo RS
  • david37
    david37 Posts: 1,313
    edited April 2021
    MattFalle said:

    Gen up: is it as difficult as people make it out to be?

    I can't see it being rocket science, so is it more pain in the backside tedious rather than aaaaaaarrrrggghhh i can't do this?

    the anticipation is worse than the doing it. its actually very straightforward. the musson book has every thing a group of MFs need to know
    scan it, dont read it, or youll sleep for a thousand years.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    grazie! it does look kinda dry - enough to cause some Zzzzzzzs...... A group of slumbering MFs though, that would be joy. Think of the P&Q.....
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • edward.s
    edward.s Posts: 219
    Its not difficult. You need to be methodical and take your time. The Musson book is a bit dry but if you follow his recipie you'll be likely to get a good result.

    The nice bit about building your own is you have oodles of time. I suspect my wheels are just as good as bought 'handmades', the difference is it probably takes me 10 times as long to build them. I don't care as I'm sitting in an armchair with the telly on and a cuppa on hand, not depending on it for paying the mortgage.