Respoking a wheel.

Wayne Pein said:

I've built two wheelsets a few years ago that came out great using a borrowed Park truing
stand that I no longer have access to, so I have a minor amount of experience. I've got some
factory built wheels with straight 14 guage spokes that I'd like to rebuild with thin, swaged
(butted) spokes.

I did this when I was a teenager, when I first learned of the existence of butted spokes. It's
really a pretty silly thing to do if there's nothing wront with the existing wheel, but that didn't
stop me. That was the first wheel I ever built. It came out fine, despite not having any source for
instruction.

Quoted message said:

It seems it would be pretty easy to simply replace one spoke at a time, tightening each replaced
spoke to bring the wheel back true??? I'd of course stress relieve when done.

Or would it be better to take it fully apart and start from the beginning?

That would be MUCH easier than bending each spoke around all of the others. If you're determined to
do this, just chop the old spokes out and start over. You might find my Wheelbuilding article
heplful, thousands of others have:

sheldonbrown.comwheelbuild.htmlOpen ↗

Sheldon "Double Bubble" Brown +---------------------------------------------------------+
| The more that I look around this earth, the more | convinced I become that it is used by other
| planets | as an insane asylum." --George Bernard Shaw |
+---------------------------------------------------------+ Harris Cyclery, West Newton,
Massachusetts Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041 harriscyclery.comharriscyclery.comOpen ↗ Hard-to-find parts
shipped Worldwide captainbike.comcaptainbike.comOpen ↗ sheldonbrown.comsheldonbrown.comOpen ↗

Sheldon Brown said:

just chop the old spokes out and start over.

Do not, however, chop out the old spokes before removing the cogs.

Stergios

Sheldon Brown said:

I did this when I was a teenager, when I first learned of the existence of butted spokes. It's
really a pretty silly thing to do if there's nothing wront with the existing wheel, but that
didn't stop me.

Yes, I've wrestled with the inherent silliness of this proposed rebuild, and I don't have real
justification except that fat straight gauge spokes annoy
me :-)

Wayne

Stergios Papadakis <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Sheldon Brown wrote:
:>
:> just chop the old spokes out and start over.

: Do not, however, chop out the old spokes before removing the cogs.

: Stergios

Freewheel style only. Does not apply to a cassette.

--------------------------------
Bob Masse' [email hidden]
--------------------------------

Wayne-<< It seems it would be pretty easy to simply replace one spoke at a time, tightening each
replaced spoke to bring the wheel back true??? I'd of course stress relieve when done.

Or would it be better to take it fully apart and start from the beginning? >><BR><BR>

Take all the tension off the rim, cut the old spokes out, relace and start over. Good experience.

<< My reservation in doing this is not having a truing stand and dish tool, especially for the rear
wheel. >><BR><BR>

Borrow these??

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

Quoted message said:

<< My reservation in doing this is not having a truing stand and dish tool, especially for the
rear wheel. >><BR><BR>

Borrow these??

Performance has a truing stand on sale for 34.99 if you can't borrow one. Don't know how good it
is-says it has automatic centering though. Might check with your LBS too.

I've trued and build a couple wheels without a workstand or truing stand by flipping the bike over
and using my thumb to check against the brakes (sorry Sheldon! I know I've been breaking 3 or so
rules at once!). But I'm about to enter the modern age-just ordered a truing stand this morning.

To check dish, can one just flip the wheel around in a stand, and see if the feelers are in the
same position?