 |
| The completed rear wheel |
This will be an article on how I approach building a wheel set. So, while some of my choices may seem outside the norms of wheel building, this is how I've always done it, and to my knowledge, I've never had any failures related to how I built a wheel up for someone else or for myself.
Wheel building can get to be a 'religion' and people get way into the weeds when it comes to technicalities, preferences, and such. I find a lot of this is unnecessary for the result which I want to achieve: That being a long-lasting, true wheel that I can rely on. Again - so far as I know - I've achieved this goal. Certainly for myself, I have done so, and I'm not about to change how I do things because of this. You may have a differing opinion, and this is fine. You do you. I'll do what works best for me. Thanks....
 |
| The parts for the front wheel |
Okay, let's dive in here. I am using an old Bontrager Duster rim, 32 holes, an old Chris King hub, again with 32 holes, and I am lacing these up in my "signature" style utilizing black spokes, black brass nipples, silver spokes, and silver brass nipples. I lace all silver spokes with black nipples on one side, all black spokes with silver nipples on the other side, and each wheel is a mirror image of the other when it comes to spoke/nipple color. Complicated, I know, and I am not sure how I came to doing things this way, but I like the outcome. Plus it is unique to my wheels, as far as I know.
Ari Andonopoulous cut and threaded these spokes for me. I think they are Sapim straight gauge. I know they are straight gauge, but what brand they are is maybe different than Sapim. Whatever.... DT Swiss, Wheelsmith, Sapim, all are good as far as I am concerned. I don't really care about the brand as long as it is a well-known, mainstream choice in the bicycle world.
Brass nipples because alloy, while lighter, can corrode and fail easily if sealant gets at them, or if the spokes do not pass all the way through them when tensioned up. I'd just rather not worry about this and so brass works just fine with me.
The rim is maybe one of Bontrager branded rims best products. Obviously Bontrager did not make these. They were just stickered up as Bontrager rims.Trek does build wheels in Wisconsin, but they do not extrude the rims and manufacture them here, at least not that I could find. But whatever....Duster rims are great rims if you can find them. A little heavy, yes, but durable and easy to build with.
Then it is on to prepping the spokes. I like to use Wheelsmith Spoke Prep. It is not cheap. However; it works and I have never had an issue with this product. (Link goes to Universal Cycles, by the way. I have no affiliation with this company or Wheelsmith)
After applying a thin coating of Spoke Prep to the threads of each spoke, it is on to lacing the wheel. Before we get there, a word about other spoke preparation sauces.
Linseed oil is the go-to for old school builders. DT Swiss has a concoction I've used a time or two as well which I do not mind. A mild thread locking compound can be used in a pinch, but be aware this usually impedes truing after the fact, as thread lockers can be stubborn to break free.
I learned how to lace wheels from Gerd Schraner's "The Art of Wheelbuilding" (Amazon link) and I have utilized his four part wheel lacing method ever since. Some folks can insert all the spokes at once and go to town. Some do it in halves. Whatever your mind can wrap around, you all end up lacing the same basket weave. Cool... I do mine in four parts. I am not changing that.
Some folks get into the "outward facing spokes" versus "inward facing spokes" and what way you twist the hub and which spokes "lead" and which "follow". It's all debatable. I've see folks argue every configuration. I lace my wheels a certain way, and it works.
It just works. Every time.
Anyway, I've noticed that when you lace up in quadrants, like I do, you know immediately when you've got either the wrong length spokes, or if you miss-laced a spoke. I like that, because then I can easily go back and find what I did wrong. I had to do this with the rear wheel build as I miss-placed a spoke in the 3rd set. It was an easily corrected mistake. Gotta quit thinking about other stuff when I lace wheels and pay attention to what I am doing!
There are a bunch of little tricks and knowledge bits I use when lacing up a wheel which I won't get in to here. It would be too difficult to explain some of it without intense visual presentation. But suffice it to say that if you take your time, have a book like Gerd Schraner's, (or whatever wheel building "bible" you subscribe to), and stay in tune to the process, you could also build up a wheel.
It is a very satisfying thing to have built up a wheel and one that is durable, smooth, and one which could last for years. Not to mention how amazing a structure a wheel is. Taking lengths of wire, brass nuts, an aluminum extrusion shaped into a rim, and a wheel hub, and turning it into a lightweight, strong structure is, to my mind, a minor miracle.
I guess I find wheels fascinating. Maybe this is why I like building wheel sets for myself.
 |
| The final product - a laced up wheel. It will now go over to the stand to be tensioned. |
After lacing has been completed, the wheel goes into my Park truing stand I have had for decades and it gets tensioned up. I used to use a Wheelsmith tensionometer, but it is way out of its service interval and Wheelsmith no longer calibrates these tools anymore. So, I use a Park Tools tensionometer. It's fine. They work well and I get usable, long-lasting wheels all the same.
I don't get all in the weeds with dial gauges to true wheels nor do I use the digital tensioning specs and super-fancy dishing tools, etc. That's all well and fine. I have my wheels, they work well, and stay straight and true. I see no need to go to such lengths, but again, if you do, that's awesome.
Next up: Mounting tires and setting the wheels up on the Fargo Gen 1. Stay tuned....
6 comments:
I built my first wheels 30 years ago out of necessity because I was too broke to afford a whole wheelset so I replaced the rims. Yes I reused the spokes. Please don't beat me. Over the years I've built a couple dozen sets for myself and friends so I feel competent but I don't consider myself an expert by any means. All the old school books call for raw linseed oil which is not easy to find (the boiled stuff is everywhere). I use anti seize and apart from being messy it"s worked fine. I've never had a problem with it. Was this a bad choice?
@Phillip Cowan - The anti-seize compound would keep nipples and spokes free from corroding together and rendering your wheel un-truable. As long as your nipples and spokes do not loosen over time then I see no problem, even though that is a choice I probably would not make for my wheels.
Thread treatments exist to help prevent the load-unload cycles a spoke goes through during usage from backing off the nipple and causing loosened spokes. This compound must also allow wheels to be trued, so nipples cannot be held in place so well that you cannot turn the nipple with a spoke wrench at any time. Then this compound must also prevent galvanic corrosion, oxidation, and debris from rendering the nipple unturnable.
That's a lot to expect a spoke treatment to do.
I've built dozens of wheels using the same book and method you use and never had a failure and rarely even have had them become untrue. The only change I ever made was switching to brass nipples for the reasons you state. It was nice being able to use colors in alloy, but one bad experience with that will push you to using brass and never turning back. It's a negligible weight difference, especially for those of us that don't care about the weight too much. I rode those wheels you built on your sawyer for a long time with no issues (with those Chris King hubs).
@Ben W - Thanks Ben! I appreciate you letting me pick those CK hubs up from you. I suspect these wheels will last a long time and I look forward to putting many miles on them.
Like you, I’m a 4-step wheel builder. It just makes sense and that moment halfway in when I twist the hub to determine its direction is priceless. In fact, most of what you offered up there is in line with my preferred method, but I know you only gave away a fraction of the story.
But one key there, as mentioned by Ben as well, is the use of brass nipples. Case in point: I have a set of Cantu Rova carbon gravel wheels that John (Wilmeth, co-owner of Cantu) built with brass spokes. He built them in 2018 and I’ve never had to touch a spoke. They remain as true and round today as when I pulled them out of the box. Those wheels have at least 10,000 miles on them and have been used on five bikes (that I can think of). That’s value… but I digress.
Building wheels is a deeply personal experience for me. It gets to the core of what I love about bicycles… both literally and metaphorically. I’m so thankful I took the time to learn the skill back in the ‘90s when I had all the tools at my disposal… Today, I own everything I need to build wheels for myself, and on rare occasion, for close friends. I’m thankful for that. It’s a bright spot in a world that seems pretty dark at times.
With all that said, I too am starting to rebuild a set of wheels that had to be put aside in 2022 due to durability issues. Do you remember the Gulo Composites wheels I tested for the old website? They used carbon fiber spokes with alloy ends. The ends would corrode and eventually several spokes broke. I put them back into the box and forgot them until recently. With a little research, I learned that they’d switched from alloy fittings to titanium on their newer models. On a lark I emailed Gulo Composites asking if they’d be willing to send me new spokes to rebuild the wheels and they did. It makes me happy when companies stand behind their products, even six years after I initially received the wheels to review… Impressive. And the wheels will be amazing too. I’m stoked.
I’m stoked for you too, Brother. Have a great day!!
I've built a small number of wheels (8 or so) in my lifetime, with big enough gaps in between that I always have to refer to something to remember how the process works. I enjoy doing it, even though it's not a quick process. I've always used Sheldon Brown's website as a reference for lacing. I take my time and usually had someone smarter and better at it check my work and tension once I'm done. Might be time to invest in the tension gauge and figure that last part out.
Post a Comment