What does it take to build like a master? How does a master juggle so many variables to make truing into a smooth process? 

Unfortunately, most masters can’t illuminate their methods because truing is a wordless series of hunches based on huge experience. Many thousands of adjustments and outcomes must be witnessed before a builder has a crack at mastery. 

Wheel building has been learned this way for more than a century much as foreign languages are often learned through immersion. Repetition works but it’s not the fastest way and your expertise is limited by what comes your way. Repetition, as a teacher, can also lead to bad habits and boredom.

Is there a better way to learn besides sheer repetition? Yes, by first looking closely at the two dominant building methods. 

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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:

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Start a blog! The number out there is well past the point of discouragement. Like a micro-organism in the ocean, just do your thing!

Justin VanAlstyne is adding to his wheel building skills, acquired a P&K truing stand, and shares it with us in one of his first posts. You don’t need to be a 30yr veteran to be a keen observer, capture amazing images, and produce a good read.

Please check it out. Like Spring flowers that now grace so many hills (north hemisphere 2017!) the blue P&K is a masterpiece of high craft, blossoming with care to detail and passion for wheel building.

Thanks, Justin!

We all need a little inspiration, someone like us or as we hope to be, radiating confidence and expertise. Artistic eye-candy absent overstatement so epidemic these days. Watch these three clips that epitomize the simplicity and beauty wheel building craft embodies. Wonderful camera work. Check the P&K stands!

Lightwolf (Germany)

STRADA (UK)

Vittoria (IT)

A shipment of P&K Lie stands is on the way. Anticipating the arrival produces a childlike excitement in me that I’m sure is familiar to many of you. Some items have a beauty and uniqueness that never fails to dazzle.

Wish I could have seen the crowd at the P&K booth at Eurobike 2014. There was no hope of my attending but I can imagine the stunned expressions of amazement, appreciation, and lust. A frame as beautiful as exquisite wheels is no surprise. Bike design benefits from a balance of quality. Truing stands to match (and exceed) the beauty of fine wheels are rare.

P&K stands have owned the “Most Beautiful and Effective” title for years now but it still comes as a visual shock to those seeing them for the first time. This year they jazzed up their display at Eurobike. When Kerstin was in the fashion trade, Peter built futuristic furniture for her studio. Wow, right off a film set.

Snazzy furniture at the P&K workshop.

Against these arresting pieces was a colorful array of stands. When our shipment arrives, we will have blue, red, green, and black!

On display at Eurobike.

The best news for many is the return of P&K’s famous spoke wrench. We’ve been without for a full year. The new production includes five colors (green, black, blue, silver and red). Welcome back, trusty 3.25mm model.

Headed our way.

I have recently corresponded with Mike Tierney, a wheel builder and writer from Ontario. He epitomizes one of cycling’s healthiest habits: avoiding high tech glitz. This runs deep in our industry and sport. Bicycles at very modest cost can deliver such joy and function. And wheel builders are among the most rightfully proud as it requires next to no tooling investment to make great wheels. From Mike’s mouth:

I’ve always been the champion of motivating people to build wheels by using the least amount of equipment (less initial investment = more potential Newby wheelbuilders). So I practise what I preach!  Heck it wasn’t until about 3 years ago that I owned a wheel stand!  I used frame and fork for 48 years! 

Mike’s practical view powers cycling across the globe, nearly irrespective of economic conditions. While we dearly hope that never changes, there are good excuses to own fine tools. Wheel building tends to short itself in this department.

In the US, most $2000 wheel sets are built on $200 stands. Nothing wrong,  but for many working hard on their skills and careers, a stand like P&K is justifiable. Perfectly executed as the highest level cycling components, genuinely effective for speeding and improving building, and fabulously good looking.

Builders can’t stay away.

Eurobike 2014 saw Vittoria debut a high end wheel line . Check this artistic video of their service center. Vittoria values both beauty and function.

Let’s finish with a shout out for one of USA Cycling’s oldest and best programs, the annual Bill Woodul Race Mechanics Clinic. The 2014 session was a big success, graduating 64 mechanics. Next years (usually late November/early December) fills up fast, so stay tuned.

I was proud to bring a P&K Special250 stand. Here it provides background to one of the Clinic sessions.

Students learning from the best.

I hope some of you have the opportunity to attend a Clinic or try a P&K stand. Or both!

Four green P&K Lie Stands arrived this past month. They flew out to pre-orders and I missed taking pictures. Tell me if you don’t agree, there is something magical about deep, emerald green contrasting against polished brass. Green is an option for the Special250 model (along with black).

Quite a few bicycles sport phenomenal detail, beauty, design cleverness, and superb function. It takes but one truing stand to support hundreds of bikes, so small surprise theirs is a less populated scene. Today, there is no rival to P&K. It starts with love at first sight but sheer performance powers the passionate following these rare beauties are building worldwide.

The full stand in green. A marvel of simplicity.

Hub clamps, width adjustment to 175mm, compatible with all axle styles.

More clamp detail. Each shipment seems better finished. Here, brass brags like no metal besides gold.

Fly by instrument with simultaneous, hyper-accurate (0.025mm), instantly useful feedback.

Beyond dramatic visuals, here are some unsolicited testimonials from builders who have experienced P&K:

We love our new stand. It’s absolutely gorgeous and works amazingly. We’ve been truing wheels more accurately than our manufactures!! It’s been a great tool. [Texas]

Hi Ric, the stand arrived safely, great to see it in person, a thing of beauty no doubt! [California]

Ric, I received the truing stand today and wow what a piece of art. [Oregon]

The stand arrived this afternoon. It is much better than the pictures. The “Clocks” are much bigger than I thought. We are going to have “Much Fun”! [Texas]

We use one of these stands here in the UK – it is highly accurate and significantly reduces eye strain over the work day. It also is a great conversation piece at trade shows or in the workshop. [United Kingdom]

The moment I saw one of these in Germany, I had to have it and having worked with it for several years now I can confirm that everything Ric says is true. The only drawback will be for those that want to go slow and savor their wheel building. It speeds thing up so much that I was caught off guard initially. But hey, that’s not so bad is it? [Oregon]

I received one of the P&kLIE stands from Ric’s first order. I have built around 40 wheels on the stand and agree it is the perfect truing machine. I have used a Preciray stand for the last 12 years and liked it but always wished it could be refined and modernized. P&KLie did it! I found the process to be very intuitive and quick to learn. The non linear dials and adjustable holders are much easier to use that the add on dial indicators on other machines. The P&KLie spoke tools are also the best yet! [Texas]

Received the stand and have already built 2 wheels. This is the best truing stand available, hands down. It is extremely accurate, easy to use, well engineered and visually stunning as well. Worth every penny if you build or even just tweak your own wheels. [Virginia]

Thanks for the update. So far your truing stand has exceeded all my expectations on my older wheels. I’m looking forward to building a new set this fall which should greatly reduce my build time. [Michigan]

Superior quality saves time and increases accuracy. After a few builds wheel you will not want to use another jig ever again! 1000+ pairs built with P&K Lie truing stand, zero complaints from customers and lots of return custom. [UK]

Even more beautiful in reality than the pictures. I’ve mounted the stand on a base and trued a wheel already today. Really a joy to use! Thank you for making life a little easier and wheel truing a lot more fun. [France]

I am very happy (and proud!) to own and being able to use the P&K Lie Truing stand. It is simply a jewel of engineering and finish and a joy to look at. As a former aircraft engineer responsible for total revision of airplanes I do appreciate it for 100%. Congratulations to P.Lie for the well done job! [Belgium]

If you build wheels on absolute formula 1 level, then you need tools and measurement equipment which are produced on the highest level. Here I don’t know any other manufacturer except P&K Lie who can reach this high demand. [Germany] 

And to pile on the love, here is an incomplete list of commercial builders using P&K:

I’ll remember Spring 2014 because we received our first all-green and all-black P&K Lie stands. We missed NAHBS this year but the optical feast of these stands is keeping our aesthetic batteries charged!

I grabbed one black model before shipping and took a few glamour shots. As with frames at NAHBS, these stands are built first for function and second, to visually wow users. Fabulous function combined with artistic elegance go a long way to inspire wheel building. Soon, riders  believing  wheels built on P&K stands are better will request we keep a public list of P&K equipped shops. Of course it’s still about the builder, not the stand.

A lovely balance of gold, black, and silver elements. Carbon sheet not included.

Adjustment to 175mm hub width. Phenomenal rigidity.

Axle retaining clamps are instant to open and close, incredibly strong.

On the base, between the solid bar uprights, check “Lie” picked out in red.

Got love iridescent brass over translucent carbon. The “holder” is a silver block at the end of the clock support. Keeps stand stable if not screwed down.

Here, both indicator bearings are retracted. The horizontal, black arm on which the lower clock hangs swings to the left if your wheel wears a tire.

No detail too small for Peter and Kerstin, so here we go close in.

Thanks to a play on words, at least in English, the pursuit of truth in cycling (via truing stands) assumes an almost philosophical importance. Celebration of beauty is, likewise a hallmark of great cultures. The two come together in a black P&K Lie stand. Like an historic timepiece, this level of device is as close to immortality as cycling junk gets.

By the way, Peter and Kerstin’s last name, “Lie,” is Swedish and pronounced “Lee.” Interesting that, in English, it means opposite of truth.

Build great wheels and go have great rides!

Fall in the bike world is more than brilliant tree colors and cooler air to breath. For those on the commercial side, it’s show time. Prime among the Fall expo’s are Eurobike in Germany, Interbike in Las Vegas, and Asia Bike in Nanjing, China.

This year (2013) Peter and Kerstin’s spectacular truing stands were on display at Eurobike and Asia Bike.

Elegance at Eurobike.

Their China distributor, Aita Cycle, hosted an ethereal display at Asia Bike.

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The World’s Best Truing Stand? Of course, there’s no such thing. But were a title bestowed, the P&K Lie would surely be voted “Best.” I earlier discussed some of its zillion virtues.

As if the Classic stand wasn’t good enough, with crazy 0.05mm accuracy in custom made and originally designed indicator clocks, Peter and Kerstin are proud to offer the Special250. This stand has twice the accuracy.

Double the accuracy.

Why would you want double the accuracy? You’re not going to suddenly start building wheels twice as straight. Won’t such precision become frustrating to an efficient builder who seeks faster build times?

After even a short use, the rationale becomes clear: when the resolution is greater on a non-linear gauge, it is just like seeing more clearly. When an LCD screen has twice the resolution, detail is greater but you also strain less when watching small movement. Same is true with the Special250.

Using this delightful enhancement is like putting on watchmaker magnifiers for working with very tiny parts. Magnified, they are easier to handle, easier to manipulate.

The Classic stand is still available but our shipments will include as many Special250’s as we can afford to bring. Price, as always, reflects the latest exchange rates. Any further slide in the dollar brings an automatic increase in the selling price.

P&K production is small so our inventory varies. Check the store.

Build faster, better, with more confidence, and with the unabashed jealousy of all other builders who labor with byzantine stands.

We’ve all got favorite devices. For some, it’s vintage bicycles or race cars. For others, it’s first edition books or pasta makers. For me, it’s truing stands. I wish I had a larger collection but every one of my eleven stands is truly special.

I’ll introduce them in future blogs but today’s news is my new favorite. I saw it first at Eurobike in 2006, from a couple in Germany. Not before or since have I seen a stand so perfectly and thoughtfully created: up there with the finest espresso makers, for example, combining metalwork mastery, love of the process, and ingenious function. A device as captivating to behold as to use.

P&K Lie = Elegant Simplicity

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