How did your first wheel build go? Vote!

[Techno Destructo]

Have you built your own wheel before? How did the wheel do after time?

Feel free to share your stories (especially if it's a catastrophic failure one!!!)

 

[Matt C]

Was ok. Valve hole ended up in wrong spot. Was my own wheel so i wasn't really fussed. Have only built 60 odd over the years but i have to addmit, it is one of my favorite jobs as a mechanic.

 

[McBain]

First wheels I built were fine, after I'd laced them up, couldn't dish the rear, pulled it apart, measured the spokes to find that I'd been sold the wrong length (argh!), swapped them and rebuilt them. Easy. (Lesson learned: double check everything, and then check it again.)

Ok, those were old-style Mavic 321 DH rims on boat anchor XT hubs, so pretty hard to get wrong. They are still trucking on a mate's bike, 8 years on.

The only wheels I've had issues with were replacing some lightish weight rims that were a complete PITA to get true. And then a few weeks after replacing one of them, the rear hub died, so I just gave up on them.

Oh, and stick to sane spoke counts, like 32 or 36h. Trying to find replacement 24 or 28h hubs/rims is a nightmare.

 

[Techno Destructo]

Was ok. Valve hole ended up in wrong spot. Was my own wheel so i wasn't really fussed. Have only built 60 odd over the years but i have to addmit, it is one of my favorite jobs as a mechanic.

Yeah, I did my first two over the weekend and that happened to me too!

I laced both of them up, and only after finishing the second one, did I realise that the spokes around the valve hole weren't perpendicular (that sweet spot was one set of spokes to the side).... ARRRGGHHH!!!! Like you said, not a critical error, but could be a pain in the ass for accessing the tire valve.

So I thought, "Heyyyy, no problem! I'll just move all the spokes one hole over and the valve will be in the right spot!"

Well, that meant completely undoing a spoke and removing it from the nipple, then completely undoing the spoke beside it, and plugging that spoke into the previous spoke's nipple. 32 times for each wheel. What a pain in the ass that was.

And after I went to ALL that work, only then did I realize... the spoke holes in my rims were offset to one side of the rim or the other to work in accordance with the alternating spokes from either side of the hub. So my brilliant place to avoid completely disassembing the wheels and relacing them again (which arguably was probably just as much work as doing it properly) actually dumped me with 2 completely incorrect wheel builds!!! So I took two properly laced wheels, except for the minor technicality of the valve hole in the wrong spot, and ruined the lace jobs. Had to redo both wheels lacing jobs from scratch again.

It ended up taking me a solid 2 hours to lace two wheels. Ack.

 

[framd0]

couldn't even ride it, i had spokes coming out above the rim, laced it wrong lol

 

[fezi]

So far so good on my 1st wheel build. Getting all four factors right at the same time proved not as easy as I thought, still got one high spot on the diameter that I can't get rid of, but its only 1mm over 3 spokes so I'm not too worried. Other than that the hardest bit was getting uniform tension. After building the wheelset I spoke to a mechanic friend and he said he's never used a tension gauge before....

 

[Tom Foolery]

I can't even true a wheel after getting a loose spoke.

 

[Tazed]

First build was about 7 years ago.
Dismantled them several times and repeated the build to imprint the process into my brain a little better.
Bought a DT Swiss nipple driver and Minoura Pro Wheel stand and dish tool and managed to get most builds within a 1mm (lateral and radial) zone pretty quickly.
It's true - it's all about feel, and you develop a good sense of that once you have the technicals (lacing patterns) down.
I never used a tension gauge, just pluck the spokes (I've got a decent ear for tone) and keep using the stand to check for true.
Just tightened the nipples up as much as I dared!
I showed a few sets to the jaded guys at a few shops and they were pretty impressed, so I guess I did OK.
I'm still not really confident at measuring hubs and rims and calculating spoke lengths, so if I build a set up, I just get the bike shop lads to order in the right parts for me.
First set I built for someone else (about 5 years ago) are still running straight.
They've never been re-trued, but then my friend doesn't ride very hard or a lot!

 

[dhDRucer]

Did mine 3 weeks ago.Ck ss to a sun ringle ryhno lite(cheap rim until i get 24's).The first time i couldnt get the last 4 spokes to there holes, cracked a shit as i didnt think i did anything wrong and thought the spokes were wrong.ended up realizing i started doing 4 cross on the last side acidently.

Pulled apart and relaced and she is all good, true as.

 

[CHUCK101]

Was ok. Valve hole ended up in wrong spot. Was my own wheel so i wasn't really fussed. Have only built 60 odd over the years but i have to addmit, it is one of my favorite jobs as a mechanic.

it is one of the best jobs, but it cam get abit boring after about 3 wheels in a row.

 

[McBain]

I'm still not really confident at measuring hubs and rims and calculating spoke lengths, so if I build a set up, I just get the bike shop lads to order in the right parts for me.

http://www.dtswiss.com/SpokesCalc/Calculator.aspx

After building the wheelset I spoke to a mechanic friend and he said he's never used a tension gauge before....

I'm not bagging this mechanic (he might build brilliant wheels), but trusting the local wrench isn't always the best idea - I've seen some pretty bad wheel builds come out of bikeshops where the mechanic thinks they know what they are doing, but obviously don't. Stress relieving spokes does not mean putting the wheel on the ground and standing on it, for example.

Problem is, it is hard to tell which are the duds, and which know their stuff (which is why I build my own - at least I know who to blame!).

 

[Matt C]

Yeah, I did my first two over the weekend and that happened to me too!

I laced both of them up, and only after finishing the second one, did I realise that the spokes around the valve hole weren't perpendicular (that sweet spot was one set of spokes to the side).... ARRRGGHHH!!!! Like you said, not a critical error, but could be a pain in the ass for accessing the tire valve.

So I thought, "Heyyyy, no problem! I'll just move all the spokes one hole over and the valve will be in the right spot!"

Well, that meant completely undoing a spoke and removing it from the nipple, then completely undoing the spoke beside it, and plugging that spoke into the previous spoke's nipple. 32 times for each wheel. What a pain in the ass that was.

And after I went to ALL that work, only then did I realize... the spoke holes in my rims were offset to one side of the rim or the other to work in accordance with the alternating spokes from either side of the hub. So my brilliant place to avoid completely disassembing the wheels and relacing them again (which arguably was probably just as much work as doing it properly) actually dumped me with 2 completely incorrect wheel builds!!! So I took two properly laced wheels, except for the minor technicality of the valve hole in the wrong spot, and ruined the lace jobs. Had to redo both wheels lacing jobs from scratch again.

It ended up taking me a solid 2 hours to lace two wheels. Ack.

Did that too ! Now they get re laced if the brand logo doesn't line up with the valve aswell !

it is one of the best jobs, but it cam get abit boring after about 3 wheels in a row.

Boring ! No way, better than 3 dirty bikes to service in a row

 

[dilzy]

All good apart from valve in the wrong spot.

Mate suggested using linseed oil instead of dt spoke freeze and it works great. Keeps the nipples seize free and lightly locked when the linseed dry's out.

 

[triples]

For those having the problem with the spokes crossing over the valve, start point should be second to the right of the valve.

 

[Wiffle]

Built my first one about 12 months ago at a time of urgent need (enduro race the next day) with a lot of help from Roger Musson; trued it once (about 1mm in 2-3 spots) over the space of 6 months. Got the bug, rebuilt them with lighter spokes and different hubs, and then built a bling set that came out at 1815gm in a 28mm width. Trued the bling set by a few mm once after a stick tried to eat my back wheel, haven't touched them since. Get RM's book and you won't regret it, it makes wheelbuilding (relatively) easy.
PS You should generally start lacing from the first hole to the left of the valve hole (when looking from the drive side) if you want to keep things neat...

 

[scblack]

Back as a teenager I always used to make my own BMX wheels. The easiest way to ensure valve placement was I would have a built wheel sitting beside me, and match the placements of the spokes and valve beside it as I put them on. Couldn't go wrong that way. Made the lacing easy. Then just gradually tightened the way around the wheel, until it is straight and round.

Have never built a MTB wheel though.

 

[Plankosaurus]

did my first one a couple of weeks ago, didn't put a whole lot of thought into it, and just loosely followed a guide on the inter-web (i'm a male, so loosely is the the only way i'll ever follow instructions, IF i actually use them ). i got the lacing right first time, most likely a fluke, but tensioned it up all wrong. the resulting bumps, dips and wobbles looked WAY too hard to fix from where it was so i undid it all again and re-tensioned it in a much more systematic manner. worked a treat and i had it true in no time.

it was a front, so probably a fair whack easier than a rear, but i was pretty stoked to get it so right the first time round. time will tell if i'm still proud of my work, i might re-asses my opinion if i end up with a spoke skewering my eyeball or something

 

[LJohn]

Valve hole on one didn't quite end up where I wanted it. But a brilliant mentor and patience got me a damn nice set of wheels. Not an easy pattern either. 27 spoke rear, 24 spoke front, using 36 and 32 hole rims respectively.

Rear laced 9 radial non drive, 18 three cross drive. Stays in true, feels fantastic. Really comfortable. Used a black ano 402g Aerohead from way back, DA 7801 hub, DT competitions and red alloy nipples.

Front is laced in a crazy manner. Kind of like G3 on Campy wheels. Front is 4 groups of 2 laced one cross, and in the middle of those two from the other side there is a radial single. So it was a complete pain in the ass to get tensioned properly. In use, it's solid as a rock though. Used a 403g black ano aerohead, DT revos, red nipples and a White Industries Ti hub. Ended up a very light, smooth, reliable wheelset for very little money.

 

[s_govers01]

well you have all done better than me as i havent built up the courage yet to build my own wheel, quite frankly wouldnt know where to start and very sure it would turn out to be a failure.

 

[kill_switch]

said solid as a rock, if only the builds after that turned out as good, guess i just fluked the first one