Wheel building is booming, though it’s rare to see evidence in the cycling press. I’d call it a work in progress, rather like craft brewing back in the day. Pioneers were scrappy and uncertain. When they first appeared, the big brewers knew it would be sporadic and limited (college towns, resorts). They actually got murdered over several decades and now craft brewing carries a large percentage of that market. This seems to be happening with wheel building. 

Today most small builders are in likely cities (Portland, SF, Seattle, Boulder, LA…) but their global rise (UK, AU, NZ, EU…) shows it’s not a local trend. Your area may be barren but many successful builders are elsewhere. Check these, among hundreds more:

• Magnetic Wheel Co. (Portland)
• Monument Wheel Works (Seattle)
• Diablo Wheel Works (Pacific Palisades, CA)
• Ergott Wheels (Islip, NY)
• Joe Young Wheels (Granbury, TX)
• Noble Wheels (London)
• Wheel Tec (Alkmaar, NL)
• Melody Wheels (O’Connor, AU)

Not personal recommendations (but all excellent). The more you look, the more you’ll find.

If you are contemplating getting underway I recommend exploring two questions.

Where Am I?
You may plan a strong web presence but your immediate scene is your most important asset. Local riding is a key element in your opportunity.

© Sugar Wheelworks (Portland)

Put aside personal preferences and experience because, as a wheel builder, you should welcome, understand, and whisper to all forms of wheels. Can’t do too much research and preparation to cultivate your local community.

Who Am I?
There are many types of builders. Wheel construction seems pretty straightforward but those who succeed do not share one approach. One science I hope, but not one style. Who are you? Understanding your style helps direct your effort and avoid confusion.

1. Hobbyest
Handy with tools, good with gear, likes self sufficiency, finds building fairly easy, builds own and wheels for friends and family. Not so keen to make a simple task complicated or dramatic.

2. Social
If you’re gregarious, wheel building can bring quite a range of human variety your way. Creating a business around the needs and exploits of riders is attractive to customers. You’ll want a welcoming workshop with plenty of ambiance and regular outreach.

© gravy wheels (Novato)

3. Nerd
Many an engineer type is drawn to building and customers, in turn, to them. Emphasizing tech with gauges and instruments, sharing spreadsheets and charts, teaching the “how” behind wheels can be a central theme if that is your drift. But it is not necessary to reek of tech. Performance minded customers need to trust but rarely require knowing all about the science.

© Cutlass Wheels (Baltimore)

4. Artistic
Wheels are beautiful and there is room for plenty of self expression for a builder. The bar is very high for visual compatibility with the bike, high finish of components, and unity of design. Aesthetics are an ever changing scene, rules flex, styles evolve, and builders help drive change. We’ve all noticed what fixies combine on machines so basic they simply showcase wheels.

© Roues d’Olive (Fully, Switzerland)

We are combinations of such types but discovering that inner builder is key to separating your offering from vague and mainstream options. Riders seek custom building for more than alleged benefits of value or performance. They want to deal with a real person, not just an “add to cart” button. There is no “better” style but the clearer yours, the greater authenticity you broadcast.

Authenticity attaches to wheels, gives them karmic power riders remember for years. Authenticity of our prized possessions adds meaning to our lives. That’s your ultimate product as a custom wheel builder.

Go for it and please share your experiences with others (and me :-)!

Let’s talk rotating weight. Rotating weight is a big issue for wheel builders. Why? We make choices that determine wheel weight, its total and location. Builders must understand this topic.

Rotating weight directly affects inertia, so the topic is really inertia. Inertia is the resistance of a mass to acceleration. Moment of inertia (MOI) characterizes this resistance and depends on rotating and non-rotating mass. Builders should be measuring wheel MOI.

I’ll show you how to measure moment of inertia (MOI), plus I’ll share a spreadsheet to shortcut the math supporting MOI measurement and its effect on riding. Plug in numbers and get usable wattage estimates. Read more →

I once called tensioned wire wheels “the most ingenious contrivance in all of human engineering.”

Extraordinary claims must be based on extraordinary evidence (Carl Sagan) and tensioned wheels have it in spades. Think, more than two billion nearly identical wheels see daily use on our planet. There is no widely used structure with such astounding strength to weight, and they conquered gravel on the moon!

courtesy of Petar Milošević, displayed at the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics

Read more →

On the eve of this very non-commercial weekend (Easter 2017) let’s reflect on a personal aspect of wheel building. Much time is spent on performance, component options, tension strategy, and rider relations but building wheels is more a lifestyle than economic choice.

For many, the atelier (workshop of an artisan) is home. Wheel building succeeds in no space at all (think, back seat of a support vehicle) but for most their atelier is a spiritual place. So much time spent deep in the maize of tension and trueness, work space is an integral part of the process.

Here you share aesthetics and design priorities with visitors. There is no one way to do it, each of us is different, but every thoughtful wheel building space meets needs we all share: simplicity, tools at hand, tranquility. While building is a straightforward engineering process, the work is largely cerebral. The atelier is both a stage and a tool.

I’ll never tire of other wheel builders’ spaces and can’t help but fantasize what work there might feel like. One such belongs to Olivier Lambert whose “Roues d’Olive” is deep in the Swiss Alps in the picturesque town of Fully.

Village below, riding above!

Just imagine the challenging and spectacular scenery he enjoys year around! And when it’s time to work, the atelier provides a serene, almost film set-like tranquility that must help calm one down after a lively dirt session!

Tidy, simple, quite nice.

Rim decals are clever, initials with topographic lines.

Lacing often involves ingenuity as there’s precious little available on which many builders agree. Olivier has a nice desktop cutout to support the rim. A camera tripod provides a steady, adjustable hub support. Good idea!

Upholstered and professional.

For some, an ideal atelier includes a dog bed or headphones to block out industrial noise. Lucky to live in a riding paradise. May customers find you (but not to the point there’s no time to ride)!

[all images courtesy of Olivier Lambert]

Enjoyed Mikulas Novotny’s breathtaking righty, folding bike a few weeks ago? Hopefully spring in Prague is turning from moody (snow and tree blossoms) to sun and picnics. Meanwhile, Mikulas sent over a few clever images by photographer Stepan Klima.

Urban swank speaks for itself, so here you are:

Splitting the lanes.

Read more →

Know about ear worms, tunes you can’t get out of your head? I am plagued by a bike worm. Bicycles can imbed themselves in my head and, short of owning them, I am helpless to escape. Sound familiar?

Can I escape this worm if I share? Welcome to the coolest bicycle I have seen lately. No wonder it’s stuck in my head.

In 2013 I first saw brief mention of Mikulas Novotney and his unique design. Not enough pictures, not enough background, I had questions (and compliments) but no answers! Asked one of Wheel Fanatyk’s customers in CZ to try and reach him. Sure enough, we exchanged info and after familiar delays, I eventually got answers to my questions.

Coincidently, I recently noticed that Mikulas has been included in a lavish book about frame builders, The Bicycle Artisans, published last year.

His bike is genius: a full sized wheel machine that folds in half and can be rolled around like luggage.

Righty front and back.

You saw it, now you don’t.

Rolls like luggage.

Here is how it folds.

While accomplishing this ambitious function, Mikulas also insists on structural simplicity that even without a folding element, is beautiful. Nothing enhances bicycle aesthetics like simplicity. This one should be in the permanent MOMA collection.

To achieve this master work, Mikulas needed to be free of preconceptions from the bicycle world. He succeeds in part because he is not from the bicycle industry. Despite a devotion to fixed gear urban riding, he is architecturally trained. Another reminder that, while bike veterans may know some things “best,” we are also trapped by the past. Cycling carries 150 years of sales and engineering baggage. Designs to meet our challenging future must be free to go where we haven’t been. Bikes speak for themselves and solo creatives like Mikulas deserve our attention.

To my mind, he is a precocious master. Here is a transcript of our exchange: enlightening for me and I hope motivation to creatives that are not certified bike designers to dream, sketch, and build.

WF: You are a designer, architect, engineer? What is your direction?
MN: I started my studies on Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague as a product designer. But soon, after finishing my bike project I decided for an internship in the architecture atelier. After one year experience, and summer job in RaumlaborBerlin studio I became a student of architecture. Architecture and bicycles are the matter of the heart for me.

WF: Are you a bike fanatic or a Duchamp [fine art] type of interest?
MN: I’m definitely a bike fanatic. I prefer riding. Building is nice, but I do it mostly for this reason.

Elegant at rest.

WF: Did you design the bike for a project, for fun, for friends?
MN: This is a result of a two semester project at the academy, focused on movement by self power in the city. I’ve chosen a bike, which you can put easily into the car trunk on your way to work/school, and after parking on suburb, you can continue on the bike. You can take it also to the tram, bus or train when weather changes, or the part of the city is too hilly. I wanted bike with optimal riding properties, which would looks simple at the same time. Important was also that you don’t have to carry the bike, but just lead side by side.

WF: How many prototypes? Did you ride it much? How is the ride?
MN: I didn’t have money or time to make tests before building the final prototype. I had to design precisely and think out everything… measure all the components which have been used (and some of them also modified) in stores with a caliper and prepare perfect technical drawings. When I persuaded a bike manufacturer that my design can work, he let me build it by myself in his workshop. I had a lathe, mill, and a guy who can weld what I prepared. It was nice experience.
Since I know that it works in terms of riding and folding I ride it less and less, because I’m more afraid about the only prototype.
Ride is good. You have to get used to fork on one side and top tube in angle to the direction of travel, even if you’re convinced that it’s psychological.

WF: What are its specifications (material, size, weight, cost…)?
MN: It’s made of Reynolds Cr-MO tubes, but heavier than it would be in production because a lot of parts are now assembled of several welded pieces. But it weighs about 25 pounds at the moment.

WF: Did you build only one? What are your goals for this idea?
MN: I’d really like to put it into production. I want a small series. Necessary to keep it simple, but well crafted and well equipped. It’s also possible to add gears integrated in BB and mudguards of course. At the moment I’m speaking with a company that seems able to produce it.

WF: Does this bike embody your design philosophy? How? I see beauty and multi-function. You?
MN: Thank you. I hope  this design meets its purpose in a smart way, and that is very important. But it should be still proved by usage.

WF: Any info about you, your path, the scene where you live, what is next?
MN: There  is my blog, where you can find some other projects and brief info.
I’m finishing my studies on Academy this year [2014]. I’m part of the fixedgear/singlespeed scene, but generally I don’t care about bicycle types.

All details serve a purpose, yet simplicity flows.

Put me on the list for the first. If it doesn’t happen, I’m going to make one (and escape from the worm). The breathtaking asymmetric front end is enough to want this ride!

Thanks, Mikulas, and good luck with this and other creations.

Change of the season. Down under, another warm Summer is on the way. For us in the North it’s been a grueling season of cyclocross, bright Fall colors, and unseasonably warm weather. At Wheel Fanatyk our move to Port Hadlock is complete and we soon won’t be living out of moving boxes!

Many wheel builders ride more and use the “off season” to change gears: building up stock, rearranging workshops, acquiring and repairing tools, finding more dirt oriented wheels to build and fix. Each of us becomes a better builder and gets closer to the “perfect” wheel. Perfect wheels start with skillful building and require special components. Skillful building is made of experience, execution, and great tools. By the way, how are yours?

Against this familiar rhythm, shipments of cool tools and devices are coming our way. But nothing so inspired as recent arrivals from Montana, where Jon continues to work wonders with a variety of woods. What a dazzling event unwrapping his latest shipment.

A bevy of laminated beauties.

Jon’s dishing tools have been scarce all year. These seven are just in time for holidays. One, made of myrtlewood, does not hide the laminations as white oak. Lamination is why these tools are so awesomely strong and stable. Each dish tool could be the handle of a daily use hammer for a carpenter’s entire career. Thin layers and industrial adhesives create strength and stability to survive years of use and exposure.

The layers are easier seen. Got to love that fiery purple heart wood.

The knobs are myrtle wood, and you can see their individuality. Jon uses overstock wood from other projects for small items like dish tools and shuffle boxes. He picks through scraps and boards for wood with integrity and character. Each tool shows its uniqueness and we all have the pleasure of using appropriate materials in an age of scarcity.

Ornamental and functional.

Today we received one myrtlewood and six oak tools. On the webstore, look for options. If they appear, we have stock. Searching overruns is serendipitous, so future dish tools may be made of other woods, but always beautiful and strong.

This wood variety really shows in the latest Shufflers. These nipple sorting boxes have been a big surprise. We have sold over 60 in the last six months! They began as pale bamboo. When that material ran out, we switched to dark, stranded bamboo. A very different look, like dark walnut. We are down to one and the new shipment is made of six different woods.

Shuffler City.

The original material, five arrived.

Mahogany, dark like stranded bamboo, has a faint gold cast. Received 8.

Alder, a warm regular grain. Received 3.

Ash, patterns depend how the tree was milled. Received 27.

Another view of ash’s pale, variable appearance.

Jon included 2 boxes of myrtle wood. These are nearly twice price because, for Shufflers, it’s more time consuming than the other woods. He searches for pieces with small scale character, shapes the wood more slowly, sanding takes longer. The boxes are more costly and rarer.

Myrtle’s detailed figuring belies a wood with a complex life cycle.

Too pretty to use. NO, emphatically!

The inventory will change and webstore options will reflect those. For those who admire all the colors and seek a box mostly for function (faster, easier wheel lacing), please indicate and we will surprise you (not including myrtle wood).

Hope you too are impressed by these products, arrived just in time for the upcoming season. We love when stock of such beauty is on our shelves and in customers workshops. Easy to believe wheel quality benefits from the use of artistic, inspired tools.

Upcoming posts include the start of an exploration of bearings, devices that affect our wheel building in sooo many ways. We also have to conclude the mysterious case of exploding spokes, share a few radical bicycle design ideas, see what P&K were doing at Eurobike, 2014, and discuss the state of bicycle mechanics (people not wrenches). Stay tuned and watch out for those damp corners!

How do unexpected combinations produce great outcomes? Food, music, architecture, bicycle design, all move forward on visions and ingredients that defy the norm.

Ken Stolpmann is an expat Kiwi, professionally trained boat maker, cycling enthusiast, from Charlevoix, Michigan. Stir this pot and what do we get?

Ken and his wood fixie at NAHBS with an admiring Tom Ritchey. © VeloNews, photo by Neal Rogers

A stunningly unique bike frame entirely of wood, reminiscent of Softride and early Zipp frames. The suspended seat is free to move up and own, shock absorbing and self dampening. Workmanship is exquisite but remember it is not built to a furniture grade. The bike had been ridden thousands of miles by this point. Speed, bumps, accelerations, all taken smoothly and stably.

Ken mentioned he was designing wood rims to match the frame’s character and would let me know when they were rolling. The bike name, “Owen,” refers to Owen Woolley with whom Ken apprenticed for wooden boat building in New Zealand. Woolley, of Panmure Auckland, is often referred to as NZ’s foremost boat builder.

A short time ago, I received a cheerful message from Ken and two awesome images.

Now the bike really gets its legs. Consummation of a concept.

Rim detail.

Thanks for the update, Ken!

Before we’re deeper into 2014, you deserve to read a short ode to cycling by Simon Willis (edited by Emma Duncan).

Tilting for Stability
Here is a  design by Denmark’s  Butchers + Bicycles that sure grabs me. There have been many leaning 3-wheelers but B + B’s timing and execution are spot on.

© Butchers + Bicycles

See the trick? A vehicle that leans shares the fabulous stability and thrill of bicycles. This machine can be equipped with electric assist. Read more →

We do bicycle work for many reasons. To enable the thrill and renewal of carefree riding, to honor the materials available, to share our skills, sometimes we can’t quite help ourselves.

A beautiful example of all those is a wood bike built by Chris Connor of Connor Wood Bicycles for a fundraiser organized by Robert Brudnell of Natural Way to celebrate the life of a friend. Please visit the site to learn the whole story and contact Robert if you’re inspired to participate.

For today, let’s bask in some lovely images of the process and bike. A big part of the magic of making things (from meals to bikes to films) is seeing a mental visualization become physical and shareable. What a rush. Second is watching materials move from a pure state in which they only represent possibilities to another where they are performing precise tasks. This transformation, despite our growing understanding of the principles, remains a fundamentally captivating magic.

The bike is designed to race the very demanding Leadville 100, a high speed, challenging variety of terrain. White ash was obtained from two donated trees. One victim of traffic, one of development. Black walnut died of a new-to-Colorado disease in residential Denver. Read more →