[Closed] Wheel build should I or not ??

I’ve got a WTB Scraper on a Boost DT 350 front hub built with DT Comp spokes in black. Also have a rear 350 142 that I’ve not used that I could rebuild into another Scraper I have spare.

Let me know if they’re of interest?

Front one has seen very little use as I built a 29+ front wheel soon after trying the 650+.

Cheers,
Dave.

Good wheel building is about being studious in following a process - you can use your frame and forks perfectly well, it just takes a little longer, all you need to invest in is a decent spoke key and they're not expensive. The only technical bit is putting in your hub and rim dimensions into a spoke calculator to find what you need to buy. Lacing can be fiddly first time so best follow an online guide (e.g. Sheldon Brown). No doubt someone will be along to tall you to read Roger Musson's book and 12 hours of trigonometry to work out spoke lengths long-hand.

sillyoldman you have mail and may have made my Christmas !!

Every website I have been on mentions the Roger Musson book

If you have the time, try it. Lace the wheel following Sheldon Brown and have a go at truing in your frame. Worst case you slacken it off and take it to a shop to be tensioned. With a new straight rim its hard to get really wrong.

I would agree. If you get the spoke length right using an online tool, then if you take your time then it’s not too hard.

Top tip is to make sure you put the same amount of turns on each nipple as you build. I go for just to the point when the threads are covered and then slowly add tension, the same amount for every nipple. Tends to build a wheel with very little up and down or side to side wobbles.

I had talked myself out of it but reading the comments I am tempted to give it a go I have got some WTB Kom rims on CRC down to £72 so minus the spokes around £200

Learning to wheel build helps take wheels away from being a “thing” to the sum of parts. You will save loads of cash and be able to repair them easily. You will soon wonder why people spend such a fortune on fancy wheels.

There is loads of advice out there about spoke patterns etc but I just stick to good old three cross and j bend spokes. Never ever let me down. I always just copy any wheel I have in the garage when I start one - always start at the “key spoke” (one near the valve hole). Work round it methodically and you will be fine. Just take your time.

I'm not sure that I agree with beefy that you'll save money (unless you buy blank spokes in bulk and a thread-cutter) but it is a hugely satisfying thing to learn and you will never fear an out-of-true wheel again. Plus, if you're prepared to take the time, your hand-built wheels will last like no other - as others have pointed out, there's no magic to it and the more time and care you're prepared to put in, the stronger the wheel will be. I really enjoy spending a winter evening building a wheel...

Ironically, it's easier than straightening a bent wheel, because just getting the tension more or less equal, on a new wheel, will get you a pretty much straight wheel.

You also don't need any tools other than a spoke key- the bike makes a perfect truing stand, with a couple of cable ties.

But, having said that, i can't recommend this too highly:

https://www.bike24.com/p2242915.html

Reason being, it's adjustable for depth. So, every spoke you fit with this, will be threaded exactly the same distance onto the spoke. Once you get that depth adjusted right, you end up with something very close to a working wheel, without having ever pocked up a spoke key. It's a huge time saver but it also makes things much easier. And way more useful imo than a wheel building stand, for the DIYer.

Is it cheaper? Well not really, most of the time. Not much, at any rate. But it's actually nice to do, if you're a mechanical type, I find it really soothing. And it can be a useful skill anyway- on holiday and beat up a wheel, or need to sort something on short notice?

Occasionally you save money, but often you find you can get cheaper pre-built wheels. In this case where you can’t find anything and where you’re getting pretty discounted rims / hubs then you should go for it.

The Sheldon Brown wheel building guide is decent enough - I’ve now built 5 pairs of mtb wheels and re-spokes 1 road wheel using it and so far so good. Started with just a spokey and picked up a cheap wheel truing stand secondhand for about £25. You don’t really need anything else - although subsequently I bought a park tool spoke tension meter and a dish stick. These throngs aren’t needed but make the process faster to do.

I’d just grab a couple of drinks on an evening and sit down with the wheel guide and aim to lace at least 1 wheel. I’d build 3 cross and probably 32 spokes although 28 is broadly the same build just with 2 pairs of spokes less.

The main thing is correct lacing and then as even a tension as you can per side of each wheel whilst getting pretty vertically and horizontally true.

I’ve found getting the wheel ‘round’ (vertically true) is best to do first, then move onto horizontally true afterwards.

if you’re prepared to take the time, your hand-built wheels will last like no other

This is very true, the drawback being if you are only building for yourself you get out of practice because you rarely have to build a pair!

I really need to get myself a pair of nice rims and do a pair for my new-ish MTB.

Read Jobst Brandt's book or Roger Musson's.

Don't calculate spoke lengths by longhand. Do measure the rim diameter yourself.

Top tip is to make sure you put the same amount of turns on each nipple as you build.

As @beefy says, this is very good advice. More generally, be methodical. Always start at the same point (the valve hole) and complete a full rotation of the wheel for each procedure.

I like these nipple loading and driving tools. https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=117817 they help me get each nipple in the rim on to its spoke and screwed on a consistent number of times, without losing any in the rim.

Agree with @alexnharvey, I made a little tool out of a spoke.

Made it shaped like a capital letter T with a nipple on the end screwed on enough to expose a little bit of thread to attach a new nipple to.

I use a cocktail stick to stop losing a nipple in the rim, it's also worth getting a spoke tension meter, you can pick them up Ebay under £20. My first wheels tension was way off, still true though, but now I can build wheels better than the shops a used to use and get the spokes within 5% of each other on each side. But I take my sweet time about it, sometimes leaving it til the next day to finish off.
I also buy rims when they're in the sales not just when I need them, currently have 5 in the loft, bought at 60% off rrp.

This is very true, the drawback being if you are only building for yourself you get out of practice because you rarely have to build a pair!

This. As a result I'm always slow and methodical, but my wheels do seem to turn out pretty well. The last pair I built are now 2 years old and I've not had to true them since I first installed them on the bike.

Understanding how a wheel works at the level of assembly is quite useful. There's been a couple of occasions when my wheel knowledge has saved the ride,and in one case saved my friends Spanish mtb trip.

Where do you folks buy components from - at reasonable cost?

Do you just buy retail, or are there places where you can get rims, spokes, hubs etc for wheelbuilders?

I just rebuilt my front Hope Fatsno hub onto it's third rim. It's been 26 then 29 and now 27.5. I got the rim (i45 KOM Tough), tyre (120tpi Minion FBF) and spokes (Silver revs*) from Wiggle next day, £117.

* Always silver. It should be a rule really. And Roger Musson's book

Don't own a famous wheelbuilding shop in the campsies do you richardthird...

I wish! No, on the South Coast for now and just do my own wheels

Instead of a wheelset, can't you just buy separate wheels that satisfy your requirements?

Build them. It's pretty satisfying. I've got no bought wheels in the garage (that I use, one will be going on my turbo build)

I find my builds are generally a similar price to shop builds but I have the satisfaction of knowing I made them.

Oh and use brass nipples.

Spokes I have bought from spa cycles, rose and some guy who cuts for you but I've forgotten his name.

I prefer dtswiss and halo spokes to Sapim but Sapim are cheap

Where do you folks buy components from – at reasonable cost?

I just shop about for the bits where they're cheapest. These days mostly building a wheel is no cheaper if you can buy the spec pre built. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a wheelset if it was exactly what I want. it's because I'm a fussy git that often I don't.

eBay, spa cycles, spokes from Ryan, cycle basket, various German shops 🙁 are/were all good for wheelbuilding bargains.