building wheels

[lumo]

hi guys, i tried to build a wheel (for a friend)
by myself (atually putting spokes in)

i tried it following a tutorial which i found in the net.
i ended up with a ****ed up wheel and bought a finished back wheel

now... once again its time to build one more wheel,
and as the guys here rip off all your money for building a wheel...
i hope you can give me GREAT tips for a noob like me ;)

i got: Shimano XT hub (worth about 50 euro - from trash! :D)
still need to buy: rims and spokes

the only thing that makes me think... i can get a whole wheel including hub (although a cheap one) for 20 euro

what would you recommend me?
sell the xt hub and buy a finished one?
buy spokes and a rim and let it do a pro?
buy spokes and rim and do it yourself?

[trikeman]

It takes a bit of practice to build a decent wheel. The only way to get it is to build them. After one or two it gets easier. You need to plan on spending an hour or two per wheel when you first start out, but at least you can watch a football game while you do it.

[lumo]

what do i need to center it horizontal and vertically correct?
as the last time i did it "freestyle"
i tightened the spokes too heavy to get the vertical fit, horizontal wasnt possible in the end (the shop refused to fix it :( )

[trikeman]

There are two steps to wheel building. The first is lacing it, as described here:

http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

The second step is truing it, as described here

http://bicycletutor.com/wheel-truing/

It is very intimidating at first, but do a few and you will learn it quickly.

[savarin]

Make a truing stand.
Mine is just a set of front forks welded to a flat plate to hold it steady.
Plus a set of fork legs welded to the other end of the plate for a rear wheel width.
I just clamp a pointer to the leg touching the rim and true to that.
After youve done one or two it becomes easy and no need for the lbs expense.

[Trailblazzzzzer]

I bought 4 wheels from my (not so local)LBS
I plan to pull the spokes out and relace them to my axle while checking my "go by" wheel for exact correctness.
The wheels are much cheaper bought from LBS or internet than buyin the hub and spokes. Shoot 84 spokes will set you back more than two built wheels brand spankin new.
The trick is to take your time,
have plenty of light (for us old foggies),
and stop and take a break everytime you say the "F" word.
Oh, and dont try to start wheel building after your 3rd beer....
Davo

[Sparky]

i found an excellent video on youtube on lacing rims.

the actual demostration helped alot more than trying to read sheldon brown's stuff. not that he didnt give good instructions, but watching someone do it i think is a better teacher.

for the most part, i think a hub is a hub. unless its got a disc mount or internal gears or something special to it, i would try to sell it for that 50 euro, then buy a new wheel.

or buy a wheel and put that hub in it, if you want to keep it. i offer this idea cause a new wheel will likely be cheaper than spokes and a rim. as brad put it- "the magic of mass production".

and yes- keep an unmolested wheel around for reference :)

[ggriffin924]

I like the video also, but the directions were what I used, the video though a bit easier to follow. Thanks. I have a couple of more wheels to lace for my SF project.

-Griffin- :cool:

[lumo]

thanks for mentioning the movie on youtube,
will have a look on this one, as i am a visual person and cant do too much with the graphics and text ;)