Can anyone teach me to lace wheels?

[GreigR]

Afternoon,

I've always wanted to be able to lace/build me own wheels, I'm currently building a bike and rather than send the rims, hubs and spokes away to be built, I was wondering if anyone would be able to help out.

I'm happy to travel/provide beer etc.

Many Thanks

[AyBee]

You can pay for courses or watch YouTube I'd imagine. Building decent wheels will probably require enough equipment that it's probably not worth doing it yourself IMO.

[Fluffsri]

You'll need a jig to get it right, you could make one or buy one £45 and upwards. My mate learnt how to, has a jig and now does it on his lunchtime when he's bored for a few £. Paid for his jig numerous times lol.

[anonymous-user]

There are some great wheelbuilding videos on youtube

It isn't difficult to do at a basic level and it can feel quite rewarding to ride on a set of wheels you have built yourself

But there is, as with most skills, a world of difference to between a beginner and an expert. And it doesn't half show and feel in the finished wheel ime

[sjg]

I used Roger Musson's book (the Wheelpro guy) - he explains everything very clearly and I had no problems following along. It includes plans for a jig you can make fairly easily in MDF or plywood.

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

[vxsmithers]

sjg said:

I used Roger Musson's book (the Wheelpro guy) - he explains everything very clearly and I had no problems following along. It includes plans for a jig you can make fairly easily in MDF or plywood.

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

Me too, I've built a few wheels now but I did buy a wheel stand as it was no more expensive than making one, plus a tensiometer as well for peace of mind - makes it even easier as it takes the guess out of twanging spokes

[upsidedownmark]

Fluffsri said:

You'll need a jig to get it right, you could make one or buy one £45 and upwards. My mate learnt how to, has a jig and now does it on his lunchtime when he's bored for a few £. Paid for his jig numerous times lol.

Not really..

I'd recommend starting with the sheldon brown stuff: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuilding/index.h...

I've always built mine using the bike as a jig. Perhaps a little more fiddly, but it's there and free - just use the brakes to true / find high points, a zip tie will help you dish and check roundness. I've recently re-rimmed my worn out first set, make it 6 I've built in that fashion. Make sure you have a half decent spoke key, not one of these 3 sided, fits everything ones from halfords/evans.The only other tool I'd quite like is a tensiometer - my tensioning is done by a squeeze and compare to a known good/build wheel, which isn't terribly scientific.

Thing is, you can't have round, even spoke tensions and perfectly true all at the same time unless everything is perfectly round and true out of the box (which it isn't). Usually you'll have to compromise - pull out the wiggle, and the spoke tensions aren't quite even, etc.

[gazza285]

Agree with not needing a jig, and I used to build motorcycle wheels for a living, and have built lots of bicycle wheels. Never used a tension meter either.

Main advice is bring the tension up evenly, or else you end up with an egg shape, side to side truing is easy, but the trick is to get the up and down right first.

[idiotgap]

I used the Roger Musson book as mentioned earlier and built the MDF stand to his design as detailed there, also the dish gauge. Super rewarding to do it yourself. I did get it a bit wrong on the second wheel and broke a few spokes, but no harm done, I learned something and wasn't expensive to put right. I'm going to try building some disc wheels next I think (don't have a bike for them yet!).

[Herman Toothrot]

Its a piece of piss, don't let any one convince you its some black art. Buy a spoke tension meter and some boiled linseed oil, if you have the frame you want to use the wheel in use that as jig. Spoke calculation loads of online calculators, I use Pro Wheel Builder. My 1st time I followed the pink bike guide on 32 spoke 3 cross, its dead easy.

http://www.prowheelbuilder.com/spokelengthcalculat...

https://www.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threa...

I've done about 10 wheels so far, the 2nd pair I built i'm currently hammering doing DH in Gran Canaria which is rocky as, I've dented the rear rim but it still runs arrow true and spoke tension has remained spot on, it really isn't hard to build wheels so just go for it.

Key points are build tension evenly and build tension evenly, you can't build it evenly without a tension meter it basically impossible unless you are some calibrated guitarist who can feel the difference in tension of a 1.8mm steel wire with their finger if you do that you won't have and dips and the wheel will be perfect as you've put it together.

Edited by Herman Toothrot on Thursday 18th January 20:55

[gazza285]

Herman Toothrot said:

Key points are build tension evenly and build tension evenly, you can't build it evenly without a tension meter it basically impossible unless you are some calibrated guitarist who can feel the difference in tension of a 1.8mm steel wire with their finger if you do that you won't have and dips and the wheel will be perfect as you've put it together.

Wha?

[The Rookie]

Another vote for Roger Mussons excellent book.

I built a set of lightweight XC 26" wheels - 1432g using Stans Alpine race only limited life low weight limit etc etc rims - 3 years ago and they are still running perfectly despite frequent trips to trail centres and a fairly ham fisted rider.

[Dave2t]

Be methodical and you'll be fine, tension meter and a good stand are nice to have but not essential, and lacing I find is the quick bit. 2 cross on some stiff rims is adequate and not complex.

[Herman Toothrot]

gazza285 said:

Wha?

Quite simple with out a tension meter I bet 99% of people's wheels would be complete st. You should be looking up what tension the rims are designed to work at and then building them to that tension. Without a tension meter it's a wild stab in the dark, manufactures tension can range anywhere from 80 Kilograms force (Kfg) and as high as 230 Kilograms force, I guess your finger can tell you that?

Edited by Herman Toothrot on Friday 19th January 18:47

[gazza285]

Herman Toothrot said:

gazza285 said:

Wha?

Quite simple with out a tension meter I bet 99% of people's wheels would be complete st. You should be looking up what tension the rims are designed to work at and then building them to that tension. Without a tension meter it's a wild stab in the dark, manufactures tension can range anywhere from 80 Kilograms force (Kfg) and as high as 230 Kilograms force, I guess your finger can tell you that?

It was more in response to your stream of consciousness, had you been drinking when you typed it?

On the subject of wheel building and tensiometers, this is an interesting article.

https://www.wheelpro.co.uk/support/tensiometers/

One other tip for the OP, don't use alloy nipples, brass nipples are much better, they are less prone to galling and damage from the spoke key, and will not suffer from galvanic corrosion, unlike an alloy one.

[upsidedownmark]

Herman Toothrot said:

Quite simple with out a tension meter I bet 99% of people's wheels would be complete st. You should be looking up what tension the rims are designed to work at and then building them to that tension. Without a tension meter it's a wild stab in the dark, manufactures tension can range anywhere from 80 Kilograms force (Kfg) and as high as 230 Kilograms force, I guess your finger can tell you that?

Edited by Herman Toothrot on Friday 19th January 18:47

That they may, but like torque on bolts, it simply isn't that critical. Tight enough they don't undo, and not so tight you break something. With most modern stuff you'll struggle to overtighten.

[idiotgap]

upsidedownmark said:

Herman Toothrot said:

Quite simple with out a tension meter I bet 99% of people's wheels would be complete st. You should be looking up what tension the rims are designed to work at and then building them to that tension. Without a tension meter it's a wild stab in the dark, manufactures tension can range anywhere from 80 Kilograms force (Kfg) and as high as 230 Kilograms force, I guess your finger can tell you that?

Edited by Herman Toothrot on Friday 19th January 18:47

That they may, but like torque on bolts, it simply isn't that critical. Tight enough they don't undo, and not so tight you break something. With most modern stuff you'll struggle to overtighten.

Apparently most tension meters aren't calibrated anyway so unless you get a super expensive one you are really only able to tell if one spoke is tighter than another and an idea what the ball-park tension is. Mostly I've read they aren't essential and I don't have one.

[breamster]

I built a pair of wheels for the first time a few months ago and it wasn't as difficult as I expected. A borrowed truing stand and a quality spoke key was all I bought.

I followed the online tutorial from Sheldon Brown. I took my time, focused initially on the up/down first and made small 1/4 adjustments and opened a bottle of red in front of the TV.

I actually found it really enjoyable. The wheels were quickly trued and my son has been bouncing them around with no issues at all.

My main bit of advice as an enthusiastic learner is to try to improve the level of trueness with each turn of the spoke key rather than perfect it (if that make sense) and repeat until done.

With regards to a truing meter, I didn't use one. I scientifically dinged each spoke with a small screw driver and any odd sounding spoke dealt with. This was good enough for me but I was building the wheels for a cross country mtb on a budget. If I was building a set of road wheels for a time trial bike costing £000s I would think differently.

How far you go with it depends on the how much you are investing in the build and the proposed use.

[WarrenG]

gazza285 said:

Herman Toothrot said:

gazza285 said:

Wha?

Quite simple with out a tension meter I bet 99% of people's wheels would be complete st. You should be looking up what tension the rims are designed to work at and then building them to that tension. Without a tension meter it's a wild stab in the dark, manufactures tension can range anywhere from 80 Kilograms force (Kfg) and as high as 230 Kilograms force, I guess your finger can tell you that?

It was more in response to your stream of consciousness, had you been drinking when you typed it?

On the subject of wheel building and tensiometers, this is an interesting article.

https://www.wheelpro.co.uk/support/tensiometers/

One other tip for the OP, don't use alloy nipples, brass nipples are much better, they are less prone to galling and damage from the spoke key, and will not suffer from galvanic corrosion, unlike an alloy one.

The finger can tell you what you need to know - play the spoke like a guitar string and listen - the note is directly linked to tension. You can get apps on your phone designed to tell you the kgf of your spoke based on the dimensions, spoke count, cross number and the sound it makes.
But even without the app, the sounds will be evenly tuned, if the wheel is balanced.

On iOS check out "tensioner" I've used it to build an rebuild 4 wheel sets (the rebuild was a set of Rovals for a mate, who the LBS stuffed them up and they kept breaking spokes, I replaced all and they were lovely)

Edited by WarrenG on Tuesday 23 January 19:31

[gazza285]

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