To build a wheel you must measure your hub and rim to determine spoke length. The better your measurements, the more accurate the spoke length prediction. Here’s a tool to make that easier.

Read more →

Here is a definitive anti-friction, anti-vibration treatment for spoke threads. Apply to clean threads like paint. Allow to dry, then build and ride, reaping benefits beyond the reach of other products.

Why FIX?

• Richer in PTFE (aka, Teflon) providing unmatched friction reduction especially important for thin spokes and high tension. Less friction = less windup = more accuracy = less effort = faster builds = better wheels.
• When dried, its rubbery texture is less crusty.
• Anti-vibration thread friction is very low but permanent even after adjustments.
• No ammonia—better for nose and environment. Water based.
• Easy to speed cure with a heat gun.
• Compatible with all lubes needed between nipple and rim and to resist nipple surface corrosion.

Available in 15, 30, and 60ml bottles with instructions. For OE quantities, please inquire. 15ml fixes about 75 wheels, 30ml~150 wheels, and 60ml~300. Each bottle comes with a handy York tip that, if clogged, can be easily cleared with a spoke. We use LPDE extra soft bottles for easy dispensing.

Each experienced builder prefers a particular spoke thread treatment. For many, FIX is the hands-down best and yields the most luxurious and effective building experience. Imagine nipple adjustment at high tension with a smooth, almost hydraulic feeling.

High performance and heavily used bicycle wheels need nipple thread treatments. Here are some popular thread solutions and considerations.

For many experienced users. pro’s outweigh the con’s for each of these methods, There is certainly no best way to address the challenges of corrosion resist, building friction, and vibration loosening. If you, like me, prefer FIX, then you are willing to master its application so it does not add excess time. It offers the pleasure of super low thread friction, compatibility with any lubrication before or during the build. Once you have been spoiled, it’s hard to go back to any other thread treatment.

The chart below shows the relationship between nipple friction and spoke tension. For the sake of discussion, only 3 curves are showed— a FIX coated thread, an oiled thread, and an oiled and Loctite treated thread. Granted, this chart is not literal but it’s meant to convey a relationship.

A wheel needs some (hopefully small) friction at zero tension to resist vibration induced loosening. However friction should be as low as possible in the rest of the tension range, especially the tensions encountered in building.

You can see how a FIX treated wheel would be a delight to build and easy to adjust even at finished tensions. I trust your choice for wheelbuilding thread treatment, but maybe it’s time you tried another idea!

Click here to download a users guide.

As a tensiometer maker, there is no such thing as “too precise.” In that quest, we’re constantly improving various elements of our design and process.

The past year has brought better calibration fixtures, instruments, and insight. So here is a new chart that applies to all dial tensiometers and digital models including Mitutoyo and IPIC.

The first Wheel Fanatyk design (known as “Original”) does not share this new chart; neither do similar models such as those by FSA and Avocet.

The Original Wheel Fanatyk tensiometer

FSA’s model

The tension visualizer utility by SpokeService.ca has been updated to show these new calibrations. Most importantly, we have better precision throughout the range of spokes and tensions. We’ve also added 1.65mm spokes, made popular by Sapim’s D-light.

Download a pdf copy of the chart here. Enjoy precision!

You’re building along when a nipple runs out of spoke thread. You feel an increase in friction as unthreaded spoke shaft encounters nipple threads. This can occur with a slightly too long spoke (or too small rim). What to do? Consider turning the nipple further into this stiff zone. Why?

1/  Nipples are softer metal (brass and aluminum) than spokes (steel) and their threads yield with minimal resistance. Also, spoke thread is rolled so peaks are above the spoke surface and valleys, below. When the nipple encounters the spoke shaft, only 1/2 of its thread must yield; far less interference than between two machined threads.

2/  Spoke threading, as with most thread forms, carries the entire tension load on 3 or 4 threads. The rest are available but not load bearing. Driving a nipple down a spoke a few turns past threading has inconsequential effect on load carrying capacity.

3/  Testing shows that nipples support spoke threads. When a few spoke threads are not engaged and when the spoke endures riding induced load cycles, fracture can occur in those empty threads. Full engagement increases spoke fatigue life for thread fracture. It would be an enlightened building strategy that forced all nipples to be turned further so no spoke threads were empty.

4/  A nipple driven further down a spoke develops friction that helps prevent vibration induced loosening, a good outcome for any hard-used wheel.

Beware of excess spoke protruding from the nipple inside the rim, it may interfere with the tire. Otherwise, please remember the possible benefits of tightening nipples past the spoke threads. Not all bad, in fact, there are some interesting benefits.

2cm wide, scaled for up to 320mm spokes

Now is a good time to introduce a new product, a better spoke ruler than any before. This ruler is by Pi Spokes, a very interesting project of which you will hear more in the future.

J-bend side

Features:

1/  At long last, a ruler marked in 0.5mm increments. These finer increments are easy to read (or ignore). Let’s face it, spokes are not all made exactly to whole millimeter lengths. Builders deserve to round up or down with complete accuracy. Spoke machines like our Morizumi can also cut precisely to 0.5mm so a finely graduated ruler is perfect.

Know your lengths!

2/  The spoke lies in a groove below the scale so the issue of visual parallax is minimized. Lengths can be more quickly established, even in poor light.

3/  One side is for J-bend elbows, the other for straight pull. The ruler is made of highest grade aluminum, scale is permanently laser etched over bright purple anodizing. Price is $20.

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!

Triumph of Collaboration
PBMA continues to gain members, supporters and influence. So great to see mechanics network like never before, debate important issues, and clearly begin to gain in stature and resources. Both the FB page and the organization are open for applications and eager to share the growing list of benefits.

Another great mechanic story hails from Rwanda where the National Cycling Center is taking shape.

From ashes to elite cycling in a decade.

Read more →

Back from NAHBS (3/9-11) and CABDA (2/1-2), time for a Wheel Fanatyk product update!

Tensiometer improvements
Carrying case upgrade: a luxurious black Nanuk 904 (MSRP $49) with custom foam inserts. One customer called it “like a Navy Seal lunchbox.”

Read more →

Wheel builders are not whiners by nature. The challenges of the craft are enough to turn arrogant builders, humble and most whiners into learners. Consequently, many nuisances of our work go undiscussed. Today I present two solutions to annoying personal peeves.

Oiling is a big part of bicycle mechanics and wheelbuilding. We drip, squirt, inject, mist, and drown bicycles with a variety of lubricants. I’m fed up with second rate delivery of these. It’s either aerosol can or disposable squeeze bottle. Neither meets my standard for precision, ergonomics, reuse, or aesthetics. A plastic bottle with a small hole will drip oil when you point and squeeze but this is the 21st century and we have a long tradition of clever oilers that seems bypassed in this era of consumer packaging.

Precise and durable.

Presenting the Wheel Fanatyk Oiler. This is an established but too rare design that’s perfect for bike mechanics. A 250ml (8.5oz) capacity means you can dispense liberally if needed. A broad base gives the can stability. Three ball-check valves and two staged cylinders allows enormous pressure. A brass tipped, rigid spout gives pin point precision. Its oil gathering sump carries a filter to keep the mechanism clear and the oiler stays primed for weeks.

Ergonomic and clever.

Transfer your favorite formulas to these bottles and lube like a sharp shooter. Label each oiler with a sharpie pen on masking tape. At just $4.90 each, you can afford as many as needed. Escape the insult of consumer quantity squeeze bottles with fall off spouts and throw away pumps. Use the Wheel Fanatyk Oiler and up your game from consumer clumsy to professional! Check here.

Second peeve of mine is the scarcity of adequate magnifying glasses to examine fastener threads (or look for splinters). Spoke threads, in particular, are valuable to study especially if you’re mixing brands, using re-threaded spokes, or cutting your own.

Compact and effective.

The Wheel Fanatyk inspector is an upscale version of a device that evolved in the fabric trade. A thread inspector is a lens mounted the exact distance over fabric so no focusing is needed. Threads can be counted to make sure knitting machines are correctly adjusted. For us, this is the perfect setup to study small, especially spoke, threads.

Lit by 3 brilliant LEDs

The inspector’s metal body has a screwed on bottom cover allowing access to watch batteries that power three brilliant LEDs. A 30mm diameter 20X lens gives a broad field of vision. You’ll be astonished and informed by what you see. Don’t struggle with miss threaded small screws and spokes when you can identify their problems and move swiftly to a solution. The inspector is shipped with a second set of batteries. Check here.

Battery case at left, LEDs around lens.

What do threads look like?

Check a few of these thread forms. To the naked eye, they look about the same. Time to stop taking them for granted or cross-eyed squinting. Our thread magnifier will set you free and guide you to insight that today’s professional needs.

Spoke thread from a brand name factory.

Spoke thread from another brand name factory.

Post production re-threading by clumsy distributor. ©melodywheels.com.au

Thread damage from a third factory brand. ©melodywheels.com.au

The Oiler and Inspector belong in any sophisticated bicycle workshop and we’re going to ship them with every Morizumi SCT machine starting next month. In addition, each SCT will also come with a stainless steel base pan. Ours is a heavy gauge (10oz), highly polished pan in 302 stainless, designed as a surgical tray. We cut three holes necessary for mounting under the SCT. With a base pan, the SCT can receive the ample oiling to keep it running smoothly. Excess gathers harmlessly in the pan, to be wiped clean periodically. Our heavy duty base pan is available for current Morizumi users at $30.00. Check here.

Pan with holes, reflecting nearby spokes.

A few images of the SCT with its pan and new accessories:

Pan in place.

Another pan shot.

Pan from the right side.

Proper (optional) use of the included steel wedges.

SCT and its 3 new accessories.

Can’t resist a detail shot. Such a nice machine.

One of the many reasons we changed indicators to Mitutoyo is their host of download options. A single cable will connect the digital tool to any laptop via USB. The system is complete and fast. Best, it’s compatible with the SpokeService tension utility.

Now go one step further and incorporate a foot pedal. The foot pedal system is three components connecting the tensiometer to a computer.

Input cable is not the same as that used in the single cable download option

Recommended by Mitutoyo for this application, the component kit sells as a set.

Best used (but not only) with the SpokeService.ca utility where, once started (and until you close the tab), the software resides and runs inside your browser; no web connection required. However, any spreadsheet program will work. The advantage of SpokeService:

1. Automatic (no hands) zeroing.
2. Real time conversion of readings to actual tensions.
3. Simultaneous building of a visual radar chart of tensions (download for your archives and customer).

This utility was created expressly to be used by any/all wheel builders. Thanks, Ryan!

© 2016 SpokeService.ca

With your cursor in the SpokeService utility active cell, place the tensiometer on a spoke. If the tool does not read zero, tap the foot pedal. Now release the tool, creating a deflection, and tap again. The program automatically sends the correct output number. This double tap routine becomes a reflex and tensions can be sensed and entered with great ease and speed. The cursor knows when to advance. If the tool does not need zeroing (often the case), just tap once. The software knows what is a number to be deducted and what is an actual deflection reading. Foolproof and fast. Watch a demo here.

Prefer not to use the SpokeService utility? Begin by placing your cursor in any spreadsheet active cell. Apply the tensiometer to a spoke, zero with the “Origin” button on the indicator, release the tool to see the reading. Tap the foot pedal once to enter the reading and the cursor advances.

Such ease of use and accuracy has only been available in industrial building systems often costing in excess of €10,000. Wheel Fanatyk is proud to be associated with a wheel building data collection breakthrough. Once you’re accustomed it will be hard to imagine building without.

To buy, check here.

Spline’s Advantages
• Lighter than square drive
• Cannot strip (spoke breaks first)
• Aerospace aluminum (2024-T6)
• Nearly impossible to scratch color
• A wrench fit every 60° rather than 90°
• Sleek, distinctive, better, available now

Why Not Square?
Fastener interfaces have evolved since the dawn of mechanics. Square was the first shape for fastener heads and matching wrenches. Square steel nuts were common on machinery of the late 19th through mid 20th century but today hex drive shapes have displaced them. One reason is that a hex pattern offers wrenching access every 60°, while square offers only at every 90°.

Square headed nuts were also known as cut nuts, made by drilling/punching a sheet of steel with holes in rows and columns. Then the sheet was cut in a shear creating strips each with a single row of holes. These holes were threaded and then a second shear cut across the strip making square nuts. The cutting process was often inaccurate and cut nuts were often not square nor the hole centered.

1949 agreements to standardize threads into ISO inch and metric spelled the end of square headed bolts/nuts (except for cycling!) since new and better machinery to make them would have been required. As machine design advances, nuts and bolts must fit in smaller spaces, meaning less room to swing wrenches through a useful angle. The more faces on a nut, the better.

Rainbow without weakness!

No more of these.

Why Spline Now?
For bicycle nipples, we have a work in process. Square drive has been unchallenged for 1-1/2 centuries. With steel and brass as dominant nipple materials, enough torque can be delivered to build and repair worst case wheels. However, aluminum is fast replacing brass on higher performance wheels, reducing rotating weight and offering a range of decorative colors. Square is wrong for aluminum which is softer than brass. At the very least, decorative anodizing is too easily scratched, even during careful builds.

Stripped and deformed aluminum nipples are common, driving a backlash back to brass. With a spline drive, an aluminum nipple can resist more twist force than ever needed. In fact, a spline nipple  fails only after its spoke snaps from the torque. You will never see a spline nipple torque failure. No wonder both Mavic and DT regularly use splined nipples of their own design.

Technically Speaking
To be precise, the drive standard on our nipples is compatible with Spline Drive of the 1990’s. An attempt was made to commercialize splined nipples by entrepreneurs in Southern California. Perhaps their approach was flawed, certainly the industry was not yet ready. They closed up but not before thousands of builders used them with many considering it superior.

Our standard is described in US Patent 5673976. Technically speaking, it’s not a spline but, instead a ribe drive. There is no wavy curve to the contour (like Torx). It resembles a freehub body with all driving surfaces meeting squarely. Enormous amounts of metal need to move in order for the drive to strip.

About Wrenches
Available now:

7 wrenches.

The detail, below, shows the wrench shape. Notice the convex curve on its bottom surface  to maximize rim clearance.

This wrench delivers more torque, engages every 60°, and won’t slip off the nipple by tipping away (fewer wrench drops). We offer one model in the familiar chromed wire loop, Park-type shape. Other styles will become available during the year. Though we are currently the World’s only source of 12mm aluminum spline nipples, this won’t last for long!

Now is a great time to dive in and enjoy this building option. Sleek, light, smart, and faster to build!

The Golden Nipple
At NAHBS 2016, we made a huge gold nipple from poplar. Below, it takes shape in Jon’s MT shop. By now it has been seen Worldwide thanks to journalists and other fans of the unexpected!