I wanted to thank everyone who helped with advice on building wheels.I asked about websites, books,
etc. I ended up buying Jobst Brandt's book ("The Bicycle Wheel"😉. This is a good book. The only
fault I can see in it, IMHO, is that the first half of it is pretty useless for anyone who isn't a
mechanical engineer. I got about half way through the first half before I realized that it wasn't
going to help me in any way. The second half, the part about building and truing wheels, is great.
Sheldon Brown's site is particularly good also.
With this help, I built my first wheel yesterday and rode it today!!! It feels great so far, no
problems, and it stayed true.
It is your standard 3-cross, 32-hole training wheel, built from a Mavic CXP-21 rim and Shimano
Ultegra FH-6500 rear hub. Since I'm more concerned with wheel strength than weight, I used DT Swiss
straight gauge spokes as opposed to double butted.
Lacing it was easy from the instructions in the book. I'd been taught a different method in the past
(one side at a time as opposed to one spoke direction at a time as in the book). I took my time
lacing it, bringing the tension up, fixing the dish, and then trueing it up. Cake walk 😉 It
certainly helps if you know how to true a wheel. Knowing how to lace one doesn't hurt either. The
only step I hadn't done prior was the one in the middle, ie., bringing the wheel up to tension and
dishing it. But, this was pretty easy once I'd read how to do it properly.
Tools used: trueing stand and spoke wrench.
Now I feel like a more complete cyclist and mechanic... its a sweet feeling.
It was a lot easier than I thought it would be once the process was demystified; definitely not
rocket science.
Thanks once again,
- Boyd S.