Re: [CR]building wheels

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Cinelli)

Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:15:15 -0700
From: "Kurt Sperry" <haxixe@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]building wheels
Cc: "Classic Rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
In-Reply-To: <140112.16326.qm@web55905.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
References: <140112.16326.qm@web55905.mail.re3.yahoo.com>


I strongly encourage anyone who is interested to build their own wheels. I've built mere dozens but by merely following the instructions from books I've had excellent results, both with wheels for myself and ones I've built for friends who've mostly used them for off-road use which is probably a good test for durability. I don't think you need a tensionometer, the human ear is quite sensitive to tonal frequency and the sounds from plucked spokes will tell you all you need probably know about relative tensions if not absolute tension. Fronts in particular are easy, you don't even need a truing stand, just an old bike flipped over with a good straight aligned fork. I use a Park stand that is self centering and don't even use a dishing gauge for rears. I don't really think my wheels have got appreciably better with practice, even my first ones were true and concentric and held up fine, but with practice the process gets a LOT faster and easier.

If you enjoy the process and thus aren't in a hurry and can follow instructions I think even beginners can get great results.

Kurt Sperry Bellingham, Washington USA

2008/9/29 Tom Dalton <tom_s_dalton@yahoo.com>:
> Earle,
>
> I don't know that any recent post was a direct attack on you, but clearly
> you think one was. I don't want to take sides, and I know I'm risking t
> hrowing fuel on your fire, but I have a question: How do you know your wh
> eels are so special? Do you personally ride your own wheels and those
> of other experienced builders and notice a difference? Is that differenc
> e in the feel of the wheels as you ride, or is it a difference in durabilit
> y? Have you ever tried doing a blind comparison? Do you rely on fedba
> ck from other riders who you build wheels for? Are these professional
> riders? Have these riders ridden lots of wheels buit by other experience
> d builders, or are they comparing your wheels to stuff built by machine,
> or some kid at BBC building his 20th wheelset? It seems to me that
> it would be very hard to show that there is a significant difference betwee
> n a wheelset built by you and any wheelset built with carfeully chosen part
> s by a
> guy who simply knows how to build wheels, such as a guy like me who has bu
> ilt only several hundred sets.
>
> My earliest wheel builds were pretty sloppy, and it took me forever to dial
> them in and even then I doubt the tenison was particularly even or at the
> correct level and they weren't perfectly true. My more recent wheelsets
> are more precise, with good even tension and excellent final shape. The
> practical difference was that the earlier ones might have needed to be tru
> ed a bit more often, but even that comparison could reflect the use of diff
> erent parts. So, in my experience, there was little practical difference
> between my early so-so builds and my later very good, perhaps excellent bu
> ilds. I'm left thinking that there is a point of diminishing returns, an
> d I'm quite skeptical about the supposed benfits of anyone's superlative wh
> eelbuilds.
>
> Personally, exclusively using DT spokes, Wheelsmith spoke prep, and a well-
> chosen rim has done more to improve my satisifaction with my end product th
> an getting mired in the details of aboslute of relative tension measurement
> . But that's just me, and I'd like to know the objective basis for yo
> ur confidence in your builds.
>
> Tom Dalton
> Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA=0A=0A=0A