Any wheel builders on here? There’s plenty of DIY videos on YouTube that make it look pretty straight forward but wandered what the likelihood is of me turning out a strong and true wheel with no previous experience. Looking at building a front wheel on a dynamo hub and Think it could be quite rewarding.

Buy the Roger Musson book.

Build or make a stand ( I bought one).

Take it nice and slow.

I would say download the book from https://www.wheelpro.co.uk/

Take your time and yes its possible and rewarding.

My advice would be to buy a copy of Roger Musson's book, A Professional Guide to Wheel Building.

If you follow that to the letter you'll end up with a strong and reliable wheel.

I've built 10 using those instructions, once finished I've never had to touch them - other than to replace a cracked rim but it was a Stans Arch Mk3 so a known issue and not a wheel building fault.

You can get the book as a download from his website.

Edit, beaten to it, that's the book above.

Thanks

I agree its a very useful book

As noted take it steady ,use a good truing stand and you should be fine

First set I ever built are still in use after 12 years - I must have truedd them in this time but cannot recall for certain

All good advice above. I’ve built plenty of wheels just using the guide on Sheldon Brown’s website. I’ve never had an issue with my home built wheels.
I’m not a big fan of bike fettling generally but wheel building is satisfying and therapeutic. Just what we need in these times

Agree with all the above. It’s with making or buying a nipple driver to make sure you get each spoke started evenly. There’s all you need to know about that in RM’s book

Buy a spoke tension-omoter and download one of the spread sheets which enable you to input tensions and view the wheel as a circular graph. This helps a hell of a lot to balance spoke tensions and build a nice tight, even tensioned wheel. Bash on, its easier than it looks

I have built about 6 wheels in total and I'm certainly no expert at all. I used to find that as long as I wasn't in a rush and I could spend as long as was needed to get it right then it could be quite a therapeutic activity. I would suggest getting a stand though as it makes life much easier. Having one will see you right in future for truing wheels as well.

I made the Roger Musson jig out of scrap Wood. I’ve built loads of wheels on it and it’s really good

Charliecres wrote: ↑Sat Apr 18, 2020 11:06 pm Agree with all the above. It’s with making or buying a nipple driver to make sure you get each spoke started evenly. There’s all you need to know about that in RM’s book

Having built a few wheels, the bold will help massively. I've spent hours trying to get wheels as good as they already are after initial lacing when using a nipple driver correctly.

The best nipple driver I've used is an old spoke, bent into a similar shape to a normal nipple driver, with a nipple threaded upside down onto the end. You then make sure this nipple won't move, either with threadlock or by crushing the square bit a little with some pliers. This gives you a bit of thread sticking out to engage the nipple you'll be threading onto the wheel spoke, means it's trivial to get through a deep rim without losing the nipple, and engages the nipple the exact same amount on each spoke (you thread it on until it stops, then hold the nipple on the wheel and remove the driver)

Hope that makes sense as it was a game changer for me!

I use a nipple driver drill bit.

https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/cyclus-tool ... ver-249277

ooh never seen one of those
One minute later I have just bought one of those

cheers

I have one of those, still prefer the spoke version as the nipple never drops off into the rim, and the bit never pops off the nipple and starts gouging into the spoke hole either. I'll use it if after the nipples have been fitted I can see the wheel is still significantly short on tension, to save doing 5 turns per nipple (or whatever by it is) hand

What wheel building stands do people use? I've never managed to find one that is a reasonable price and fits big (wide 29) wheels or modern hubs

Minoura FT-1

I'd echo what most people have said re. the Roger Musson book.

For a nipple driver bit I just filed the corners off a flat screwdriver bit (£17 for a bit? Give over!).

I have the Park Tool truing stand - not the Pro one. Does the job but has more flex in it than I'd like. Obviously not really a problem since there's no load on it, but I'd have more confidence in something more solid.

I read a guide from G-Sport george (a great engineer) http://www.gsportbmx.co.uk/custom/wheel ... heels.html
and watched a video by ali clarkson (who definitely gives his self built wheels a workout) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2jTrJYJGd8
2 sets of wheels built and ridden with no problems.
i used a screwdriver both times but appreciate that a nipple driver would be better.
i used my frame and forks to check dish and true and a tension meter (definitely recommend getting one of these!).
it's not difficult if you take your time and do it methodically!

Chrisps wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2020 3:23 pm What wheel building stands do people use?

Musson's book has a complete guide to building one out of wood, with printable templates. It's been pretty much perfect for me. Pictured in secondary use, as an easy way to fit rim tape....

I have a set of 50 year old tub wheels for a road bike project - the rims are alloy (ally alloy specifically) but the spokes are rusty so I want to replace them. Currently the wheels are true and round, so I guess they've not been bent in a previous life. What are my chances if I rebuild them myself with new spokes?

Previous wheel rebuilds have seen me lace the wheel and I take it to my LBS for tightening. Once I tried to rebuild a wheel using a buckled (but almost straight) rim, and it was impossible to get the tensions equal, and the wheel reasonably true (it's almost round though which is nice).

Is wheel building something that once you start a wheel, it needs concentrating on to finish it, or can it be done in 15-20 minute stints (in between other crap)?

And are those £30 wheel building stands on ebay any good?

thanks!!

slarge wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2020 5:37 pm
Is wheel building something that once you start a wheel, it needs concentrating on to finish it, or can it be done in 15-20 minute stints (in between other crap)?

Can't comment on the other questions but for thyi one I'd say you can break it down into two easily. Lacing and tensioning.
Once I've started doing either I'd want to finish to stop me getting lost/confused

Steve, it's mostly a set of stages: lacing; initial tightening; lateral truing; radial truing; destressing; tensioning. So you can pretty much do one a night. Like a lot of things if you are methodical and take your time (especially for your first few wheels), so go four times round the wheel tightening each spoke by half a turn rather than just once doing a full turn as an example then it's pretty straightforward.

Get the Roger Musson electronic book, he's plans for a DIY stand in there. The commercial stands just offer the same functionality but more conveniently.

Chrisps wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2020 3:23 pm What wheel building stands do people use? I've never managed to find one that is a reasonable price and fits big (wide 29) wheels or modern hubs

Pedros... got it off fleabay and similar priced as a new Parktools... vaguely exciting piece of engineering (although I'm not qualified like many on here )

I was planning on buying some new wheels, but this thread has got me thinking.

If I do decide to build, where do folks recommend to buy the parts from?