For some, wheel building has an aura of mystery around it, a skill that seems to be held only by wizened mechanics who lurk in the dark recesses of bike shops. Even in the age of instant access to YouTube tutorials on pretty much any topic imaginable, when faced with a rim, a hub, and a pile of spokes, many riders would rather leave the heavy lifting to their local guru. That's nothing to be ashamed of – it takes time to become proficient at building up a strong set of wheels, and it's a skill that isn't required as often as something like adjusting a derailleur or even bleeding a set of brakes, especially given the sheer number of high quality pre-built wheelsets on the market.
However, there is something to be said for the sense of satisfaction that comes from building your own wheels, and with winter approaching in the Northern Hemisphere the time is ripe for broadening your range of technical know-how. It's helpful to have a knowledgeable friend on hand to guide you through the process, although you may need to bribe them with beverages or baked goods – watching a newcomer figuring out the basics can be a tedious task. Be careful, though, because before you know it, you'll be quoting Jobst Brandt, and waxing poetic about the merits of a 32-hole hub laced up in a three-cross pattern with brass nipples.
I built my first set a few years ago now and am probably at half a dozen sets. They've all been fantastic. Therapeutic to build and maintain. Love it.
Also is this the place to mention you can build absolutely bombproof wheels for about $400? Since learning to do this, I just laugh at the $1k wheelsets getting kicked around this site.
Stans Flow MK3 - $66 all day online ($132 for set)
Bitex Hubs (bikehubstore.com) - $175-$240 depending on options (for the set)
Spokes - $40
Tape/stems - $20
............and whammy, $400+/- you have a killer wheelset.
I wasn't faulting anyone for buying a set of wheels, just pointing out quality doesn't have to cost $1k in the wheel game. Building is one way to get around it. Buying sensibly, of course, is another.
The prebuilt wheelset (with 240 hubs, admittedly) would be $1200. I'll skip on 50g less weight in the hubs where it matters least to save $800, thank you.
www.miketechinfo.com/new-tech-wheels-tires.htm
Combined, they make the ultimate wheelbuilding guide!
I cannot recommend buying a copy and trying for yourself strongly enough.
bearings are the cheapest they can get there hands on by the way they have lasted or tolerances are poor
novatec is better
they may have improved in the last year and there are different options i had the best ones they offered
get what you pay for
@Boardlife69 I wish I'd paid for brass nipples instead of using the free aluminium ones that came with my rims - I damaged a few of the alu ones badly while building before managing to make a Squorx nipple driver out of a T25 bolt. Minor truing will be OK but I'm going to wait until I change tyres before retensioning the wheels completely using the nipple driver under the tape.
Agree alu nipples are the spawn of satin himself.
Utterly utterly useless things if you ride in any inclement weather or even live by the sea.
www.chainreactioncycles.com/ca/en/hope-tech-enduro-pro-4-mtb-rear-wheel/rp-prod145803?gs=1&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=Chain+Reaction-CA-PLA-PLA-All-DT-SE-Shopping+QLB+Manufacturer&utm_medium=base&utm_content=mkwid|s23NGYp82_dc|pcrid|55959036932|pkw||pmt||prd|530265CA
I've been straightening wheels a bunch of times both alu and carbon but never taken the build from scratch plunge.
Trying to make a bombproof trail set using:
DT350 boost
WTB i29 Asym.
DT Comp spokes on brass nips.
$440
The book Art of wheel building is not as good.
When I built a new mountain unicycle wheel (broke the original rim) I thought I was clever and used plain 2.3mm spokes. I was surprised to find out that the supplied nipples fitted my standard black Park Tool wrench. Not sure what thickness that is, but the black wrench that also fits the nipples that come with 2mm DT spokes. After a couple of months riding, I cracked the nipple .
petitdragon999.free.fr/VTT/Roger-Musson---The-Professional-Guide-to-Wheelbuilding-v5.pdf
@vinay: DT Alpine are hard to get. Very few shops stock them. But yes, I'd love to have them on my wheels.
@WAKIdesigns : Yeah I used to be able to get them through my lbs but they discontinued them so now the easiest sources (for me) are bike24.com and rosebikes.com.
@Lornholio : Unicycle wheels are subject to relatively high and sudden alternating loads (because there is no freewheel). Though I've never broken a spoke there, only a rim and a nipple.
Unicycle vs bicycle aside though, I have seen more than one broken spoke at either end so I don't think it's attributable to anything super obvious.
I’ve built a lot of Danny Macaskills wheels too and he never broke one
Wheel building can seem complicated but once you get the hang of it it’s extremely logical. Good quality parts do make a huuuuge difference though
This is probably the biggest pain in the arse about wheel building. Once you’ve got all the bits it’s nice to sit down with a beverage and get into it. Or at least it was before parenthood.
1- Obviously, you want it laced correctly in terms of preparation, leading/trailing spoke loads, open box over valve, hub logos lining up properly, etc..
2- When you build a lot of wheels, you're thinking about the entire process from the onset. Usually takes less time to build from scratch as opposed to building from an inexperienced lacer's starting point.
3- To truly ensure the wheel is built professionally (both parts and labor) and provide a guarantee, the shop should take ownership from start to finish.
Lacing is just the first step to building a wheel. While it certainly affects the rest of the build and the final product, the real 'art' of wheelbuilding begins when the wheel hits the truing stand.
Step 2: build their wheels
Step 3: drink their beer
Steps are not necessary in the correct order
1. Drink their beer.
2. Build their wheels.
3. ... unlace and try again.
1. Make friends
2. Bring them beer
3. Have them build your wheels
4. Then, let them drink the beer
How long do you take guys for build a MTB wheel? What is your best time? Mine 30 minutes with Stans flow MK3, Hope pro 4 hub, DT swiss champion spokes and brass nipples.
Truing wheels can also be satisfying, especially when you revive an almost hopeless case and it holds on for one more race/trip/season. But trying to true some low quality cheap wheels.....It can be done, but it's so annoying/frustrating, because you know it's not gonna hold straight for long. Have had to do it way too much for customers who don't want to invest on some decent quality rims/wheels, but are willing to waste a lot of money during longer period of time to keep their cheap wheels running...Having hard time to find the logic behind that.
Jobst (RIP) would say the correct number of spokes is 36.
I truly enjoy building wheels, and its not that hard to get a pretty good build. Just read a few articles, watch a few youtubes and use common sense.
If you´re accurate and spend the time you will get a better build than machine built wheels, and I guess that an expert builder can squeeze another 10-15% performance over your own build...... if you lace it correctly, tensioned it evenly and are meticulous.
I've been building wheels for about 10 years now and only recently have I really stepped up my game, after I started working with a better wheelbuilder than myself. Having someone with whom to brainstorm ideas is a great way to expand your knowledge base and try new things with bike mechanics.
A lot of garage mechanics make this mistake, and start with a losing combination. Maybe it's obvious like they're trying to reuse old alloy nipples, maybe they're using spokes that aren't the correct length.... but it's also just as easy to buy the latest design and have it turn out that the new rim was too soft or brittle.
the difference between a master and and amateur like me isn't the quality of the wheel build (or at least, not enough to matter), it's the speed at which they can do it. my builds take >3 hours - one wheel is a full night for me. a really good builder can do it in like 1/4 the time.
Right you are--an occasional builder can do a good job, but will spend a lot of time going in circles. The step up in proficiency comes when one can adjust true, roundness, tension, and dish simultaneously. That is how professionals make the jump from 1+ hr. builds down to 30 min builds.
but i was shocked at how much more proficient I became between build #1 and build #5 - things became much, much more intuitive.
A big advantage of building your own wheels is that you can purchase extra spokes and nipples, for quick repairs. For my DH wheels I always have a spare rim/nipples/spokes ready to go.
Undo-twist-do went wrong, so I had to start from scratch. No internet tutorials; took me 3 hours.
Took it to LBS for proper truing (the guy told me it was hard) and the wheel, so stiff, never ever had to be retrued, and it looked really sick.
Mine and the guy a I got the idea from are the only two twisted lacing wheels I've seen. I'm always thinking about doing it again.
I was a 90 pounds monkey back then, but I used to huck to flat a lot and race on a fully rigid bike, the fact that the wheel stayed true forever left me wondering...
Hahaha
I'd be faster if I did it more often, but I love lacing wheels.
Things that have made my wheel building experience even better:
Park 4 sided nipple wrench- never strip a nipple again
To insert a nipple into a rim without losing it, screw it onto a spoke upside down and insert into hole.
Get a truing stand- Park TS-8 is great for beginners
My wife bought me the COOLEST tool ever, a spoke threader. Just cut any spoke to length with a Dremel tool and thread it. This takes about a minute a spoke, but means you just buy longer spokes and it they're too long, just cut'n thread
It is possible to lace up extremely strong wheels for a fraction of the cost of buying them, and if they do fail, it's easy enough to fix them, because you have a better idea of what to do.
gotta build the dam thing now lol
Park 4 sided nipple wrench- never strip a nipple again
To insert a nipple into a rim without losing it, screw it onto a spoke upside down and insert into hole.
Get a truing stand- Park TS-8 is great for beginners
Beer? Never hurts! Music? Comfy chair.
Follow the instructions on Sheldon Browns website. I use a spoke calculator to figure out correct spoke length, this is probably the hardest part. I use leonard.io
Have fun!
Do some honest research based journalism and you’d have to admit that most of those wheels fall apart in a multitude of ways on anybody that really rides.
If you ride gently and don’t have to true them yes. If you ride hard, and/or a lot. Then the nipples usually start rounding, regardless of which tool you use, then they start binding to the spoke. Then in the lighter gauge spokes, they twist at the butting point and stretch. Or the nipples deform enough that they can only be maintained a few times before the nipples need to be changed out.
This goes for most pre built wheels out there.
theyre still in fine shape
That’s a free ride bike.
Things have changed since 07, there’s this new category of bike that gets ridden just as hard as your free ride bike but all the parts are 30% lighter.
If you had the oem wheels off the new specialized enduro, you would probably have a different story.