Building a rear wheel

Wez

Hey guys,

Today I received delivery of my new flip flop hub!

I've been awaiting it's arrival for abut 2 weeks now! Only set me back like e60, for a new one, I'm happy enough!

My next step is to re-construct the wheel which I deconstructed a week ago. I've got my new hub, all my original spokes (satisfied they're in good enough cond. to re-use) and my rim complete with tube and tire.

I've only taken apart my rear wheel, but in the mean time, by salvaging a pair of old forks, I've managed to build myself a truing machine, which measures to 100/mm! So I'm pretty sure my wheels are going to be straight, after a 10 minute job on the front one yesterday, which is straighter than it was new!

My only really query is, how exactly to you know the wheel is dead straight AND right in the middle, it's defo dead straight, but I did it by eye trying to figure if it was dead centre between the forks and not straight but off to the side. Is there a special technique to this, or is it time for another add-on to find dead centre? Or am I being too picky? Does it even matter if it's say 2mm off to one side, aslong as it's straight?

Cheers for any info guys!

Morgan

You can flip the wheel over in the stand to check whether it's centered. You can also get a dishing tool to check it.

Are your old spokes the correct length for the new hub & rim?

david1two3

Your mad .You need a spoke tension tool ,you need a proper jig ,you need to go on a course to learn how its done,I have watched the expert London Wheel builder at work,twenty minutes is as fast as he can do one .Your very brave to try but I think you may come a cropper on this one as truing a wheel is totally different from building one.Good luck and do tell us how you get/got on.

Hungrycol

I think you're mad too. You will need to know the tension is even on every spoke as well as getting the dish right. Get yourself a book: Park Tools, Zinn and the Art... and the proper tools and you should be ok. Alternatively it may be cheaper to get a bike shop to do it.

ashj

Don't listen to them, give it a shot yourself, and let us know how you get on!
(I'm planning to do the same thing myself!)
I got a double-fixed on-one hub for 17.50pounds delivered. bargain!

Ciaran500

IIRC rear wheels are tensioned more on one side than the other. This is one job I'd leave up to a professional.

ashj

Ciaran500 wrote:

IIRC rear wheels are tensioned more on one side than the other. This is one job I'd leave up to a professional.

Geared rear wheels are dished (and tensioned more on one side than the other to get this effect), but that doesn't apply here. A wheel built around a flip-flop hub will be symmetrical.


To add: you can always consult a friendly bike mechanic to give you some tips, and give the wheel a final check when you're done...

Itsfixed

Ignore the naysayers - building a wheel can actually be straightforward if you are careful and take your time. I followed the fantastically easy step-by-step instructions from almost world famous bike guru Sheldon Brown.

My first wheel was so-so, but it was a steep learning curve and quite headwrecking.

My second wheel: much better. Very straight but not perfectly round but you hardly notice this when riding and after three months of fairly rigorous riding, it has not needed to be corrected. The satisfaction of building even a straightish wheel is tremendous. Just do it.

Wheelbuilding, for me was the second last taboo in developing my arsenal of bike mechanic skills. The last one is the headset, for which i need to invest in a headset press. I can't wait. After this, I won't have to go to a bike shop anymore to get something fixed.

david1two3

ashj wrote:

Don't listen to them, give it a shot yourself, and let us know how you get on!
(I'm planning to do the same thing myself!)
I got a double-fixed on-one hub for 17.50pounds delivered. bargain!

Not listening to them (me) and others is not very sound advice . I am a carpenter and like wheels building door hanging is specialist and its one thing to hang a door but door fitting is on another level altogether. Anyone can hang a door but I have seen the results and although not dangerous it is an awful pain to have something that to all intents and purpose is useless.

The dangers you face are real and obvious.The possibility of the wheel failing is real, a guy I know bought new expensive carbon wheels in London,first outing the front wheel collapsed in a race. The first thing he knew was waking up in hospital. You can not safely learn how to do a job which takes years to become good at by just turning up with a bit of flair and care . I was in Cyclelogical a few years ago and Cliff Mulhearn was with his twelve year old son . He gave his son the fiver for building the wheel that he had just finished. I asked Cliff what was to become of the wheel ,the answer was nothing as it would go back to it origon.He just wanted to teach the boy the value of work. I was impressed with his way of showing the boy,no pressure at all .Your situation is totally different.

Would you go on to sell that wheel at a later date or would you do as Cliff would an in the interest of safety destroy your handywork .

Would you let others use your bike or wheel or would you tell the truth about its origon.I could go on but as I dont want to offend you and others I will leave it for the moment.

david1two3

Itsfixed wrote:

Ignore the naysayers - building a wheel can actually be straightforward if you are careful and take your time. I followed the fantastically easy step-by-step instructions from almost world famous bike guru Sheldon Brown.

My first wheel was so-so, but it was a steep learning curve and quite headwrecking.

My second wheel: much better. Very straight but not perfectly round but you hardly notice this when riding and after three months of fairly rigorous riding, it has not needed to be corrected. The satisfaction of building even a straightish wheel is tremendous. Just do it.

Wheelbuilding, for me was the second last taboo in developing my arsenal of bike mechanic skills. The last one is the headset, for which i need to invest in a headset press. I can't wait. After this, I won't have to go to a bike shop anymore to get something fixed.

If my wheel is not round I cannot control my bike ,full stop and thats what I fear will happen ,a full stop with ambulance in attendance. You need to learn from an expert or do yo want to reinvent the wheel , the tensioning tool in itself cost 250 Euros or so and without it you are no where.Do you know for instance how a cordless drill with a slotted bit is used in wheel biuilding, it speeds up the process hugely but even that part of the process is complicated.As I have said in a previous post on this subject and I will elaorate here, I am fairly confident you could and woulkd be held responsible for injuries to anyone injured during the mal performance of your wheel.

Many parts of bike maintainance are straightforward if learned properly, they take seconds to learn but wheels are different, bottom brackets come in many sizes and I havent figured them out yet. Im not great with headsets either. Everything else is easy for me and I would and sometimes do help others with them.I give the clearest instructions possible and then do it or leave them with the confidence to do it. I have a wild sense of humour and its to much for some but on this subject I get very serious indeed.

Hungrycol

I was going to say bring it to Cliff but I didn't want to name drop. He's a master wheel builder, just look behind the counter and you'll they're swamped with wheels to be fixed, built, trued, etc.

There's so much pressure on a wheel esp a rear wheel carrying all your weight. Taking a corner at full speed on a fast descent or hammering on the pedals on an uphill sprint creating lots of side to side wheel flex I'd want to trust my wheels fully. Not something I would do on a wheel I'd built myself! But then again I can't build wheels.

Itsfixed how can you give encouragement to someone by saying that the wheel you built "Very straight but not perfectly round..." Are you kidding me!! That's not wheel building, that wheel messin :rolleyes: !! You must be bouncing up and down like you've put an axel through an egg.

fish-head

Good on you for bothering your arse to do it!

flickerx

I'd also be in the "do it yourself" camp, but would definitely recommend caution. the tensiometer would probably be a good investment. i saw one on ebay before for €75, rrp €200.

how much does the headset thingamjiggie cost? that was the only one part of the bike i built that i couldnt do on my own.

Itsfixed

David123, hungrycol: steady on chaps. When i said not perfectly round, I meant that its only literally 1 or 2mm out if you were to look closely at it in a wheel jig. I certainly don't notice this when riding. You're welcome to try my two bikes for which I built the rear wheels if you don't believe me. I've also carried loads on my rear pannier with no problems.

Granted my wheel building efforts will not be to the precision standards of people like Cliff in Cyclelogical and that's fine. It depends on the cost of the bike. If I were building up an expensive, dream bike i would probably ask him to build wheels for me. With my own cheapish bikes, which are used merely for pondering about on and commuting rather than racing or off-roading, it made more sense to have a go myself.

The same point can be applied to DIY carpentry. If I feel like having a go at a piece of non-essential woodwork and it works out, great. If it doesn't, well it was fun trying.

I think the OP would have the wisdom to judge whether his efforts at building a wheel would be worthy enough to fit on his bike. Patronising him by saying that you should leave this to experts will hopefully make him want to do it even more

david1two3

Itsfixed wrote:

David123, hungrycol: steady on chaps. When i said not perfectly round, I meant that its only literally 1 or 2mm out if you were to look closely at it in a wheel jig. I certainly don't notice this when riding. You're welcome to try my two bikes for which I built the rear wheels if you don't believe me. I've also carried loads on my rear pannier with no problems.

Granted my wheel building efforts will not be to the precision standards of people like Cliff in Cyclelogical and that's fine. It depends on the cost of the bike. If I were building up an expensive, dream bike i would probably ask him to build wheels for me. With my own cheapish bikes, which are used merely for pondering about on and commuting rather than racing or off-roading, it made more sense to have a go myself.

The same point can be applied to DIY carpentry. If I feel like having a go at a piece of non-essential woodwork and it works out, great. If it doesn't, well it was fun trying.

I think the OP would have the wisdom to judge whether his efforts at building a wheel would be worthy enough to fit on his bike. Patronising him by saying that you should leave this to experts will hopefully make him want to do it even more

Its David1two3 as david 123 already exists
The same point cannot be applied to DIY carpentry as you dont ride a shelf down a hill at 40 mph. It is not patronising ,it is not safe to do this without the correct tools or knowledge.

Please dont talk to me about wisdom and cyclists , having watched people taking steepish hills and using their foot on the ground or back wheel to slow down or the guy who couldnt figure this technique and sailed through the red light and across lanes of moving traffic on the same hill and his excuse was that he couldnt stop.I have many other examples of madness with rgard to what is alright,as its only a bike after all

Wez

I completely agree with you 'Itsfixed', I get my fun out of doing things like this as a challenge, all those 'wheel gods' had to start somewhere, am I right? Here I go..

I was using the Sheldon Browne guide to get me through it, found it very good for each step, plenty of detail, just had a bit of confusion when it came to the final crossing spokes, directions and all that jazz! Pulled it off in the end tho, fixie's just finished, have to get a different size sprocket for it tomorrow, but hopefully it should be 'fixed' tomorrow!

I'm going to give it some serious testing before going full on with it of course! stress it as much as I can and check the spokes tension (by hand) as if they hold stiff I'll build some trust in it!

I'll slap up a tute + pics when I finally get it finished!

Hungrycol

Did you put the rim value hole in the right place i.e. to have it in the wide section of the crossing spokes? A common mistake when wheel building, or so I've been told...

Itsfixed

Wez wrote:

I completely agree with you 'Itsfixed', I get my fun out of doing things like this as a challenge, all those 'wheel gods' had to start somewhere, am I right? Here I go..

I was using the Sheldon Browne guide to get me through it, found it very good for each step, plenty of detail, just had a bit of confusion when it came to the final crossing spokes, directions and all that jazz! Pulled it off in the end tho, fixie's just finished, have to get a different size sprocket for it tomorrow, but hopefully it should be 'fixed' tomorrow!

I'm going to give it some serious testing before going full on with it of course! stress it as much as I can and check the spokes tension (by hand) as if they hold stiff I'll build some trust in it!

I'll slap up a tute + pics when I finally get it finished!

Great stuff, glad you're getting a kick out of it! The final crossing spokes flummoxed me too, initially.

fish-head

Wez wrote:

I completely agree with you 'Itsfixed', I get my fun out of doing things like this as a challenge, all those 'wheel gods' had to start somewhere, am I right? Here I go..

I was using the Sheldon Browne guide to get me through it, found it very good for each step, plenty of detail, just had a bit of confusion when it came to the final crossing spokes, directions and all that jazz! Pulled it off in the end tho, fixie's just finished, have to get a different size sprocket for it tomorrow, but hopefully it should be 'fixed' tomorrow!

I'm going to give it some serious testing before going full on with it of course! stress it as much as I can and check the spokes tension (by hand) as if they hold stiff I'll build some trust in it!

I'll slap up a tute + pics when I finally get it finished!

Can't wait to see the finished result.