Sorry, but I knew the Braxtons and 3 minutes was not a tall tale. I do believe that there has been bike mechanic contests at mt bike events (dale: the classic content is about wheel building skills in the 70s by Braxton, who was a frame builder) and the mechanics have thrown together wheels and ride a bike away in the same amount of time or so.
Robb Rasmussen
>From: The Maaslands <TheMaaslands@comcast.net>
>To: Classic Rendezvous <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Subject: I: [CR]Twisted Spokes and Missoula in the 70's
>Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 13:55:16 -0500
>
>Robb wrote:
>
> > Of course, there are many ways to build wheels. In
> > the seventies, I remember the Braxton boys (sons of
> > Sam Braxton, framebuilder, et al) in Missoula, Montana
> > would tell about timed wheel building races. I think they claimed
> > a time of around 3 minutes from a pile of spokes, rim and
> > hub to a rideable wheel. They talked about this during
> > TOSRV (Tour of the Swan River Valley-231 miles in 2 days)
>
>3 minutes seems to be a tall tale to me! Perhaps it was a 12 hole rim? My
>best time ever for a front wheel before the period of super stiff rims was
>around 15 minutes, with a few extra minutes for the rear.
>
>Steven Maasland
>Moorestown, NJ
>
>
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