Wheel building questions, tips & advice

Knuckles

Knuckles

Lives under a bridge
Couldn't find a general wheel building thread with a search on the phone, so here one is.....

To kick off, I have decided to do a couple of wheel builds.

A set of XT to Rhyno Lite 24s for the young bloke and relacing some Hope Pro 2s to Nuke Proof Generator rims I got ridiculously cheap for the dirt jumper.

I need some info on nipples. I've got DT Swiss straight 14g spokes, which came with alloy nipples. I want to use brass, rather than the allys for obvious reasons.

DT nipples seem to be the go to jobbies, but cost up to a 500% premium over others. The wheelsmith ones look good and a decent price, but was wondering about others, such as pillar, sapim, etc.

Or should I just suck up the cost and get the proloks?

Any advice appreciated.
 
moorey

moorey

call me Mia
Fuckwit thread had been quiet lately, just have a stab. I've done half a dozen and never fucked up. How hard could it be?
 
Knuckles

Knuckles

Lives under a bridge
moorey said:
Fuckwit thread had been quiet lately, just have a stab. I've done half a dozen and never fucked up. How hard could it be?
Click to expand...
Am using the have a stab method for the boy, but I'm a bit more precious about my spine.
 
pink poodle

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
I've brought a lot of spokes from CRC over the years. Always got DT and they always came with nipples. I've never had a nipple problem...suck it up and get the DT. The confidence will help you ride with more chilled style.
 
Knuckles

Knuckles

Lives under a bridge
pink poodle said:
I've brought a lot of spokes from CRC over the years. Always got DT and they always came with nipples. I've never had a nipple problem...suck it up and get the DT. The confidence will help you ride with more chilled style.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you skim read don't you. Have the spokes, DT champion straight gauge, came with nipples, don't want to use alloy.

:whistle:
 
Knuckles

Knuckles

Lives under a bridge
fatboyonabike said:
http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/wheelbuilding/book.php
worth every cent..
the only prob with brass nips, is the more tweaking you do, the more the plating comes off as you scratch them...where as, unless you have coloured ally nipples, they stay silver...black nipples are really hard to keep black for a beginner!
Click to expand...
Yep, I have and will be using Rogers tome. Not really concerned about appearance, just not keen on stripping or breaking nipples on the repeated casings these wheels are sure to experience.
 
Knuckles

Knuckles

Lives under a bridge
Oh, and how do you measure nipples? The ones that came with the spokes are listed as 12mm long, but I can't find where it's measured from....
 
binner

binner

Hath shat hymself
Shaw shank

Knuckles said:
Oh, and how do you measure nipples? The ones that came with the spokes are listed as 12mm long, but I can't find where it's measured from....
Click to expand...
I think the nipple length is the entire length, as the thread continues all the way down to the seat of the head.
 
S

SummitFever

Eats Squid
How many brass nips do you need? I've got DT swiss 12mm brass with silver plated finish I could swap for the DT alloy's you've got.
 
pink poodle

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
cabletieperformance said:
out of curiousity how much would a wheel generally cost to build by a builder labour wise front and rear if parts supplied
Click to expand...
I was in need of new rear wheels last year. Purchased hubs through LBS, thinking I'd get a sweet deal on a build...they wanted $65 just for the labour. In recent times I've been quoted 40-70 at various local shops.

Privately the rates can be a lot better. If you're on good terms with someone in the know you might get them done for a low amount of cash or beer/wristy. Never hurts to put it to a few peeps you know.
 
link1896

link1896

Mr Greenfield
it's been a good 15 years since I've built a wheel, before discs even. hunting for spokes right now. rims seem to have gotten cheaper, but spokes/nips haven't?
 
pink poodle

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
link1896 said:
it's been a good 15 years since I've built a wheel, before discs even. hunting for spokes right now. rims seem to have gotten cheaper, but spokes/nips haven't?
Click to expand...
MTB direct had a pretty sweet deal running recently. I think it was only on silver spokes though.
 
Ackland

Ackland

chats d'élevage
To be honest...
If you can't work it out, get someone else to do it
You risk a lengthy post in the FW thread.
Wheels aren't as easy to build well as most Muppets think. Just ask any decent mechanic about all the builds they've had to fix
 
JTmofo

JTmofo

XC Enthusiast
Knuckles said:
Couldn't find a general wheel building thread with a search on the phone, so here one is.....

To kick off, I have decided to do a couple of wheel builds.

A set of XT to Rhyno Lite 24s for the young bloke and relacing some Hope Pro 2s to Nuke Proof Generator rims I got ridiculously cheap for the dirt jumper.

I need some info on nipples. I've got DT Swiss straight 14g spokes, which came with alloy nipples. I want to use brass, rather than the allys for obvious reasons.

DT nipples seem to be the go to jobbies, but cost up to a 500% premium over others. The wheelsmith ones look good and a decent price, but was wondering about others, such as pillar, sapim, etc.

Or should I just suck up the cost and get the proloks?

Any advice appreciated.
Click to expand...

Building your own wheels can be very rewarding.
Brass nipples are brass nipples tho, and I wouldn't bother with the pro locks.
Evenly tensioned spokes will keep the nipples from undoing.
 
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