After seeing the price of wheels i determined that buying 2 hubs would be way cheaper so i practiced on this wheel, apart from needing to be centered it spins fine
by mangothefoxxo
After seeing the price of wheels i determined that buying 2 hubs would be way cheaper so i practiced on this wheel, apart from needing to be centered it spins fine
by mangothefoxxo
9 Comments
Worry? Nah.. My only real trouble on first attempt is that I ordered spokes that were too long and protuded through the nipple.
Cars, tram lines, black ice. Just the usual stuff.
Jokes aside, the first time I built a wheel I didn’t do the spokes up tight enough. I don’t know whether that’s a common newby mistake but it was easy to correct. I’ve built a lot of wheels since then and every one has been fine (including that first one once the spokes were tensioned properly lol)
Take the spoke key with you and don’t go very far for the first test rides 🙂 Depends on how you released tension, etc spoke nipples may undo a bit. Or a lot.
Good luck and congrats on your first wheel!
Nice, I also love to build wheels occasionally. Learned from Sheldon Brown’s website. My favorite wheels was for a trials bike with different diameter flanges hubs. I managed to lace the wheel with the same spoke lengths, on the left side was 3 crossings and on the right- 2.
https://preview.redd.it/ppstz2dr2cme1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=a16b61e0adee13deab2a4e6974cd95273fa09f03
It looks OK from here. You got the valve hole in the right place and the spokes look correctly crossed.
Now you need to work up the tension. Do you have a tensiometer? ( I’m seeing the spoke pointing toward the orange legs of that planter looking very loose)
On a front, you can take the tension up to about 90%, then start to focus on truing and the other 10% of the tension after that.
If I’m seeing right, the seam is across from the valve, but the sticker is not centered on the seam, right?
Ride for a week and then test the tension and true again, it will probably need a touch up
Tension is the tricky part. It’s possible to build a wheel that’s nice and true but has tension issues. Either too low, too high, or uneven. Too high risks destroying the wheel. Too low or uneven risks the wheel coming out of true easily.
A good tension meter isn’t cheap. The cheap ones can’t be trusted to give you an accurate absolute value, but they’re good enough for getting consistent tension, which is important.
It looks good. Did you check the dish?
Did you set the spokes by pressing on the wheel while laying it down on its side, and flipping it over to do the other side? Very satisfying to hear the spokes plop and settle.