It’s the beginning of The Big Dark here in the PNW. Every year someone turns off the lights until about March. Some days we practically need flashlights to get around!

Down under, it’s reversed and in Colorado all bets are off. The CX season is in full swing, gravel riding is balling. What adventures do you have planned?

Seasonal motivation
For a dose of wheelbuilding motivation, check these two shorts:

I’m envious of this setup
Nine Special 250 truing stands from P&K Lie are the backbone of an impressive wheel building program at the ENVE factory in Ogden.

Cody Albretsen (Wheelbuild Supervisor) says, “Building a quality wheel on the P&K stand is awesome…the confidence we have putting a wheel in a box to a customer has grown. The second guessing is over with. The dials on the stands make it easy to read and know where you are at with the wheel…we really enjoy building on them.”

Planetary community
Remember, all wheel builders are part of a planetary community, playing a huge role in human mobility. We often have more in common than the industries and places where we work. With that in mind, you’ll find following clip immensly soothing. Watch how wheels are built for a 20 mule team wagon. Tires are 1” thick X 8” wide (2.5cm X 20cm), steel bands that encircle 5’ (1.5m) front or 7’ (2.1m) rear wheels, 800 and 1,000lb (364, 465kg) respectively!

Sweet treat
Lastly, as this image looks like dessert, let’s end on that note!

Tout est dans les détails, by Tregoride (Trebeurden, France).

Many of you in the North American cycle trade are planning to attend one or more of the CABDA shows—San Diego, Chicago, New York, and Denver—across the calendar in 2020.

I’ll be presenting at the PBMA Technical Clinics that precede each show: San Diego (Jan 14), Chicago (Feb 11, 12, 13), and New York (Mar 10). Denver’s tech sessions are not yet final.

Here is a rare chance to experience the latest tools and gadgets you see, hear, and read about. Learn how they work and try them out. It may affect your own equipment plans and certainly empowers anyone aiming to be a tech resource wherever they are. I’ll be showing much more than Wheel Fanatyk devices—it’ll be as broad and impartial as I can get.

There are big trends in wheel building, part of massive change occuring in our sport and industry. Give yourself a step ahead and register for these clinics. Face to face and hands-on cannot be shared in a blog! See many of you there!

Visited a clever wheelbuilder last month (10/19) and, guess what—I learned all sorts of new stuff. Ryan Kereliuk treated me to terrific vegan food in Victoria and shared some of the mischief he’s been up to. So many cool wheels and innovations from one shy guy. Check his pics for a glimpse.

You know Ryan from his wonderful wheel tension utility that seamlessly mates with our digital tensiometer.Meanwhile, he’s reinventing truing for the 21st century, but that’s for another time.

Look at the mighty stand he is using.

Rigid and room for storage.

I’ve recommended a wood bench by IKEA before but 15 years later, we can do better. Steel cases are vastly stiffer and provide secure storage. The IKEA is 30lbs (14kg)—USD$60. The steel stand is 60lbs (27kg)—USD$256. You deserve the stiffness of the steel base. They are built to support small mills weighing 200-300lbs (90-136kg). The overbuild is super for stable spoke cutting.

Tops are optional, Ryan chose wood (see below). Each is about 33″ (83cm) high (as the IKEA bench), room for a top and good for leverage and comfort.

Ryan’s (Canada) and a Grizzly (USA)—virtually identical stands.

Watch how he fabricates a special wood top. Below is his scrap bucket and underneath is where it empties between recycling runs.

Notice a sponge (yellow) in place of a drip pan.

Does your spoke cutter deserve a rock solid base? I’m getting one, how about you?

Thanks, Ryan!

The last part of this series covered these wheel building optional topics:
– Rim washers
– Pre-stressing
– Tying
– Aging

Let’s close out with three options that are as much paperwork as mechanical and one important point that is mostly strategic.

This week’s list:
9.   Stickers
10. Presentation
11. Tension, trueness mapping
12.  Criteria for adopting new techniques Read more →

Nothing beats riding in newly arrived Fall weather. In the north hemisphere, those start now! Zipping through scenery colored with seasonal change, feeling the lingering warmth of Summer, such a magical experience—an invigorating and restorative tonic that reaches the core of our human experience. Frankly, despite my attempt, it’s well beyond words.

© New Yorker—cover 9/23/19, by JJ Sempe

Much of cycling is this way and doesn’t get better with analysis. Still, I find it irresistible to consider all the variables from physics to aesthetics, after the ride. Maybe I’m just trying to keep the endorphins coming!

On my list of leisure pursuits are podcasts and essays by well informed bicycle experts who do their best to demystify as well as entertain. We benefit from a fine selection of such voices these days. Near the top of anyone’s list… Read more →

In part 1 of this series, we discussed a number of wheel building techniques that may be dispensable for some:
– Time spent matching components.
– Lacing fixtures.
– Punching spoke heads into hubs.
– Spoke windup control.

Let’s cover four more.

5. Rim washers
Lacing a wheel with washers is tedious. Slowing down lacing is a cost someone must pay. Every time you drop a washer in the rim (inevitable!) and lose minutes retrieving it, one can’t help but wonder, why washers? Granted, in circumstances of inadequate design, where washers make a better wheel, use them. Please, however, always advocate for features to be incorporated into the 68 standard components of a wheel rather than adding 32 more!

Black washers are faster.

Advice: try to avoid washers.

Grrr, it’s burly man vs wheel!

6. Pre-stressing
More time is spent unnecessarily pre-stressing wheels than perhaps any other building activity. Wheels need two forms of pre-stressing: a) setting the spoke line early in truing and, b) stress relieving spokes when they are at full tension. Doing these and nothing else should be fast. Set spoke line by levering spokes at low tension with a steel rod. One time sets the line. No need for massive hydraulic presses, bending rims on the floor. rolling wheels while leaning on the axle, or flexing the rim against your stomach with elbows and grip. These can cause wheel (and body) damage that takes time to repair.Properly pre-stressing steel in spokes is accomplished by raising and then lowering their tension once the wheel is fully tight. Metallurgically, such relieved spokes are more fatigue resistant. It takes under 30 seconds to grab parallel sets and give them a firm squeeze. You can ignore most everything else suggested for pre-stressing. You’ll be faster and your wheels optimal without.

Advice: most “pre-stressing” consumes time without benefit. Minimize yours.

7. Tying
Historically, rims were weaker and more flexible (or very heavy). Tying spoke crossings with wire and solder added stability—wood rim wheels especially benefitted. Today, its contribution is no longer needed except for restoration or aesthetics. Make sure you tie and solder like a jeweler, the finished tie should glow like liquid silver, not like hasty electronics soldering. Follow this method, do it rarely and for the right reasons.

Advice: Tying is for restoration and decoration, not 21st century strength.

8. Aging
All materials are elastic and change over time under the influence of gravity, temperature, and chemistry. It makes intuitive sense to let a new wheel, freshly invested with high tension, rest before seeing use. That intuition, however, is misguided. A wheel must be optimal and stable without aging—and it can be done. The needs of racing have been high incentive to make aging unnecessary. Your final pre-stressing steps will be the last time a wheel experiences elastic (permanent) deformation. Only trauma and fatigue can bother it. Except for rim cement, do not expect aging to improve your wheels. Such superstition is too expensive, even for psychological reasons!

Advice: Aging is unnecessary, you and riders should not be paying for it.

Four more wheel building techniques remain to conclude this discussion of questionable practices. Stay tuned!

From the wooded mountains of northern Slovenia come some of cycling’s most impressive tools. Unior (from Slovenian for “universal tools”) has been crafting hand tools in Zreče since 1919. They sponsor many professional teams, including (for 2019) Ineos (the legendary Sky of TdF fame), Aevolo, Segafredo, Movistar, DeVinci, Commencal, and Deceunink/Quick-Step; plus illustrious US mechanics Vince Gee and Win Allen.

Their dishing tool is completely unique—a bent steel tube with two large polymer disks and central indicator.There is no single Best Dishing Tool, regardless of budget. Everyone has a favorite and most of us own several. Unior is certainly World’s Strongest, a deeply chromed and thick wall tube is burley enough to be a DH handlebar. The black disks touch a wheel rim’s side and easily reach past mounted tires.Once handled, it’s hard to beat the all-around durability, versatility, and simplicity. It weighs almost 2lbs (850g), the rim disks cannot fall off the tube, and you can use it with confidence to keep paparazzi at bay.

There are no templates for success with a craft like wheel building, each of us creates a personal system unique to our situation. Since we never finish honing the craft, it pays to study other builders who are willing to share.

Rich Lesnik, master builder at Rivendell.

Read more →

This is the time of year when epic rides and races happen but not all the action is out of doors! Two weeks ago (June 24-25, 2019) we enjoyed a great wheel building session out here on the Olympic Peninsula.

I led a Wheel Building 2 class at the Boat Building School, thanks to their gracious hospitality. Our session lasted two full days and each student enjoyed the use of a P&K Lie truing stand. The school was on break and we had perfect sunny weather.Students came from as far away as Arizona and Victoria, BC. We covered topics as varied as tension data output, truing in full 3D, spoke thread compounds, tying and soldering, field repair, and a host of questions like the use of washers, measuring hubs, using a spoke machine, and shop policies.

Boat model in the classroom.

Two days is not nearly enough for the subject but nearly too much time indoors! More classes are not yet scheduled but I hope to announce soon.

Hands on and up close!

Across the street.

Once again, I learned as much as attendees. Face to face and hands on is the best teacher and I hope those of you with experience find opportunities to teach (and learn) in spite of great weather!

Wire spokes for bicycles come in three main types—straight gauge, single-butted, and double-butted.

Straight gauge (DT Champion)

Single-butted (Sapim Strong)

Double-butted (DT Competition)

Of these three, single-butted have been sleepers, hanging around in the fringes, not much used or discussed. However, their role is growing and they will inevitably become the workhorses of the wheel world. Why? Read more →