When I was a kid learning bicycle mechanics by trial and error I deconstructed a couple of wheels but building one up is a foreign endeavor. Because I have more time than money, and it's not so difficult a job that only a professional mechanic can perform, I took on the task of wheelbuilder. Equipped with a few very helpful resources including this webpage by Mike T., Sheldon Brown's wheelbuilding article and the instructional video "Mastering the Wheel" featuring UCI master mechanic Gerd Schraner, I easily assembled a set of beautiful wheels. Once completed the wheels only needed to be adjusted for tension and trued. I don't have a proper stand for this process but it can be done on the overturned frame of the bike. Having a go at it using the bike frame method I was able to balance the lateral movement but vertical truing proved to be beyond my ability. Adjusting for a round-shaped rim was difficult and frustrating so I took the wheels to the shop for a professional to complete the job.
The ever exciting and expressive Gerd Schraner.
Because I am a "soul rider" rather than a club racer I decided on a build that will provide agility yet still retain strength as well - 28h 2x on the front and 32h 3x on the rear. Radial spoking has become common on the front end of many bicycles because it allows for a light wheel, but the likelihood of the wheel becoming totally out of balance when a spoke breaks is enough for me to stick with a traditional 2x pattern. I chose Wheelsmith double-butted spokes, a great all-purpose spoke to which I am partial but there are other excellent options like DT Swiss Competition or Sapim CX Ray. Spoke choice is a personal preference from one person to the next. Choose wisely though. To determine the proper length of the spokes I used two calculators to be doubly certain; one is called Edd and the other is the DT Swiss Spokes Calculator. Both are available online. On the rear I recommend using brass nipples on the drive-side of the wheel for additional strength with all other nipples being alloy. This will add a minute amount to the overall weight of the bike so if you're a weight weenie you just might decide against brass. The other main components are Velocity Aerohead rims with Aerohead OC on the rear and White Industries hubs, H2 front and H3 rear. If you chose the Aerohead OC for your rear wheel remember that the position of the offset side of the rim is opposite the drive-side of the hub. The offset side of the rim should be on the small flange side of the rear hub. Of all the research I did about this rim I never read anything that explained this. I actually built the rear wheel twice because at first I thought the offset side of the rim was on the drive-side only to learn it goes the other way. Do not make the same mistake I did.
For the benefit of any wheel building newbies like myself here are a few prep pointers:
Depending on the manufacturer your rim may have little ringlets hiding inside, leftovers from the drilling of the holes on the outside of the rim.
To remove the ringlets shake and tilt the rim until the ringlet is over the hole then carefully hook the ringlet with the angled end of a spoke. Viola! It pops right out.
Lubricate the threads of the spoke so the nipple turns easily.
Lubricate the outside of the nipples also to reduce friction for easy turning. .
Use brass nipples (right) on the drive-side of the rear wheel, alloy (left) for all other spokes.
A piece of tape over the valve stem hole will help easily orient the wheel while you're lacing it.
I've forgone documenting the whole process of lacing the wheel. That is all well illustrated in many other source materials. But what I will say is the process is quite simple. Once you get started it all makes sense.
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