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.
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 →
Much talk of rim washers these days. When to use them? Which are best? While seasoned builders have questions beyond this post, for the rest of us, here are some considerations about washers to keep in mind.
Washers are often invoked to prevent galvanic corrosion between nipples and carbon fiber. The materials of nipples (brass and aluminum) wants to exchange electrons with carbon fiber. Direct contact makes it easy for corrosion to occur.
Simply for the purpose of discouraging corrosion, are washers sometimes overkill? Some points on this topic: Read more →
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.
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?
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.
October wheel building class in Port Townsend,
2 days + 6 rims and hubs + 192 spokes + 1 jolly teacher + 6 determined students (with an age range of over 60 years) = six excellent wheels and six future master builders!
Thanks to all who contributed to another successful Port Townsend Cycle School program!
