wheels

In this vid Mike shows how to use a dishing wheel to make sure your bicycle wheel is properly dished.

A typical dishing tool is simply a gauge that allows you to set the distance from the rim to the hub axel, and then compare those distances on the drive-side and non-drive side of the wheel.  Or in the case of a front wheel, just one side to the other. 

So set the distance on the drive side and flip the wheel over.  If you have a gap where the dishing tool center does not touch the hub you need to pull the rim away from that side of the wheel, by tightening the spokes on the opposite side and loosening the spokes on the current side. 

Quick Tip: Always start with only a quarter turn and beginning from the valve hole on the rim as a reference point.  

In this tutorial we show you how to lace the drive side spokes of a rear bicycle wheel. It's important to remember that on the rear wheel the drive side spokes are slightly shorter than the non-drive side, due to the dish of the wheel. You should also prep your spokes with linseed oil or spoke prep before lacing.

At this point we have assembled everything need to start lacing the spokes onto the rear wheel.  Our drive-side and non-drive side have been prepped in two different colors to help us note that they are different lengths.

The first step is to lace through the drive side of the hub, doing "outies" every other hole.  "Outies" means pushing the spokes through the hub towards the outer edge of the hub flange. 

Mike finishes up lacing the 32 spoke rear wheel by lacing the non-drive side spokes. Note the parallel spokes that connect on each side of the valve hole. By now you might need to use a spoke wrench, screwdriver or nipple driver to help get the nipples on the spokes.

At this point, there is spoke in every other hole in the rim. All the exposed holes should be facing the non-drive side of the rim. When lacing the non-drive side, start with the "Innies" or spokes laced toward the inside of the hub. These spokes will be laced into the larger gap created by the laced spokes.The gap acts as self fulfilling prophecy, only allowing spokes that are inserted into the correct holes to make it into the large gap.  Placing the spokes in the large gap allows you to actually move the spoke and guide it to the correct hole on the rim.

A vital step in bicycle wheel building is prepping the spokes with some kind of spoke prep.

There are two reasons to prep spokes:

1. Provides lubrication while you are lacing and truing the wheel
2. It becomes like a thread-lock after it the wheel is laced.

You can use prep that is manufactured specifically for wheel building or Linseed Oil. They both work well.

In this wheel building tutorial we build a 32 spoke rear 700C rear road wheel.

In this first video we will determine the spokes length we need to build the wheel. First select your hub and rim. We selected a 32 hole Mavic Open Pro and a Specialzed S-Works 32 hole hub. The most common method of determining spoke length in the age of the internets is to head to an online spoke calculator. In this tutorial we will be using United Bicycle Institute's (UBI) spoke calculator. (Wouldn't want to be a Divided Bicycle Institute!)

In order to deterimine the spoke length the factors you need to know are:  

For the 32 hole rear wheel you will need 18 spokes of a certain size for the drive side and 18 spokes of a certain size for the non-drive side.  To get these spokes you can either purchase spoke blanks, or cut them and thread them yourself with the Hozan Spoke Threading Machine.  In this video we'll demonstrate how to do that using 310mm spoke blanks.  

Putting the finishing touches on the wheel.
First:Now the spokes are beginning to tighten up nicely and the kinks in the wheel are becoming gradually smaller. Continue to incrementally tighten the spokes. Once things start to get really close use only quarter turns on each spoke. If you don't have a spoke tension meter then pluck the spokes like a guitar string and listen to the tone of the spokes. They should be relatively similar.

....without a truing stand.
We wanted everybody to be able to build a wheel without buying an expensive truing stand, so just use the front fork. This video shows the process of truing.

Lacing the last 18 spokes to complete the lacing of this 36 spoke wheel!
First:Take the next set of spokes and drop them through the remaining holes from the outside of the flange.
Second:Twist the hub, so that the spokes run diagonally from the hub to the rim.
Third: Grab a spoke any spoke, and run the the spokes the opposite direction and cross them, OVER, OVER, UNDER, SKIP a HOLE, and thread into the rim. Remember not to over-tighten the spokes.

1. Find the extra hole for the valve stem. This will act as a guide and help you keep track of where you are along the rim. It is also important to look through the holes on the rim because they are usually drilled at very slight angles, alternating from left to right to accommodate spokes coming from each side of the hub. With the first spoke you thread make sure that hole is slightly angled toward the correct side of the hub.

2.  Drop spokes into the hub, first through the outside of the flange toward other side of the hub, every other hole. Place the first spoke through the hole and screw on the nipple, just 2-3 turns, keep if relatively loose in the beginning. Once all the nipples are on the rim then you start tightening them gradually.