Had a Mavic rim and DT Swiss hub lying around, bought some spokes + nips.
Built the wheel by using another as a pattern 32 spokes 3 cross, took 35 mins from start to finish. Used a pair of road forks and zip ties as a bodged truing stand.
For fear of getting slated, what’s all the fuss about, it was easy. Not ridden it in anger yet but its true, spoke tension feels about the same and its round. I can see why a rear wheel could be more tricky but I really was surprised how easy it all was.
So I must have done something wrong it all went too well.
Will it fold-up and the first sign of a bump or drop?

To some it’s easy, some never get it.

If your tension is high and even then you will be fine.

Welcome to the club.

Just take it for a spin, keep your spoke key on hand and recheck the tension regularly.

Soon enough you’ll learn to trust it 🙂

Pre stressed the spokes – basically squeezed them together and re trued ?? Getting a high tension everywhere seems to be the challenge.
Go and ride it and report.
I have built a few and just get a pro to retru my efforts – which seems to be the skill that takes the time to acquire..

Building the wheel is the easy bit, sorting dish, roundness and trueness is simple enough, but getting even spoke tension is the trick… that takes time, patience and practice

Thanks guys,
I dont know why but I really though it was going to be harder to do.
I know Im getting cocky now and it will all end in tears, My mate has a Stans rim (MMX)? with AM Classic hub and spokes and wants me to build it for him. Im tempted but dont want to kill him. Should I send him to a pro or go for it?
Maybee I did show-off a bit in the pub last night at how easy it all is.
I think I could have been dealt my come-up-ance.!

‘what’s all the fuss about, it was easy’
Come back in a month…..then you’ll know the truth.
Anyone can build a wheel that’s true in a wheel stand.

Takes me a couple of hours to do a set of road wheels but then again I run high tension and aim for very even tension on a wheel build.

Well done – more you do the better you get but as others have said the proof is how well the wheel stands up in the long run.

There’s nothing inherently difficult about the basic process, so your wheel probably won’t kill you.

35 mins sounds very quick for a first try from lacing to final tension though.

Valve hole in the right place?

As long as the tension is ok and it’s true then no problem. Mind there is dishing to worry about as well !

Rear hubs need a bit of spoke calculation from scratch though

I know Im getting cocky now and it will all end in tears, My mate has a Stans rim (MMX)? with AM Classic hub and spokes and wants me to build it for him

That’s about the toughest combination you could attempt – the lightest alu rims out there, which are pretty ‘twangy’ and not tolerant of high tensions. I got mine built by a friend who’s a fantastic builder and he said they were not very user friendly at all – not helped by using Revolutions, which ‘wind up’ very markedly.

I’ve built a number of wheels. They’ve all stayed in one piece too. I am an utter and complete ****-wit! With the mechanical aptitude of an angry gibbon on crystal meth. It can’t be that hard 😀

Pop the wheel in your bike and ride it around, no drops or curbs, just listen.
You will hear a few pings as the spokes settle. should stop after a few corners (side loads.) If/when it stops after a few pings then do a quick check in the jig for true, but it will be pretty much spot on.
If it doesn’t stop pinging then it’s need tensioning. repeat until ping free:-)

“I am an utter and complete ****-wit! With the mechanical aptitude of an angry gibbon on crystal meth.”

I can think of at least 2 places where you could find work as “Chief Gibbon of wheel building” with those qualifications:-)

Did my first build a few months back, lacing and getting true was easy, I couldn’t get even tension though, spent hours and hours until I decided it was close enough and put them on the bike. Not even had to true and they,ve been fine on 2 enduros. I was warned on here Olympics / revs / alloy nips wasn’t the best combo for a first go…

The biggest thing that will determine how well it lasts is how much effort you put into de-stressing it when you build it.

Once it’s initially round, take it out, put the wheel on the floor with the hub on something that it won’t damage, and work your way round the wheel pressing the rim towards the floor with both hands. Flip it over and repeat – you’ll hear the spokes pinging as they settle. Stick it back in the jig and re-true again.

Do that a couple of times and it’ll be pretty good. Four or five times and it should last ages with nice even spoke tension – I have a front wheel on my Clark Kent that I built in 1995 that hasn’t been trued since. Admittedly it doesn’t get much action nowadays, but…

Speshpaul – Member
Pop the wheel in your bike and ride it around, no drops or curbs, just listen.
You will hear a few pings as the spokes settle. should stop after a few corners (side loads.) If/when it stops after a few pings then do a quick check in the jig for true, but it will be pretty much spot on.
If it doesn’t stop pinging then it’s need tensioning. repeat until ping free:-)

You can do the above – but not really the best way to go about it. A good builder will relieve the “stress” as part of the build process. New wheels should not “ping” when you first ride them – no “pinging” is a sign of a stress relieved wheel. Few different ways to relieve the spoke “stress” as you build.
Here is a couple of ways:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zeyr-brECm4[/video]

You will hear a few pings as the spokes settle.

If you build a wheel well you don’t.

Nice one. Only built one wheel before but it’s lasted a couple of years with no problems. 🙂

I’m now in the middle of making a truing stand following the Wheelpro book, as I need to rebuild another wheel and thought the proper tools would make it easier.

My experience was the same as the OP when I built one for an mtb copying another wheel in a similar way. Tension was a bit low initially but stayed true on the 1st ride and has been fine ever since.

Vid is very misleading. What he is doing is relieving spoke wind up (torsion) not ‘tension’. It’s not a very effective method of stress relieving a wheel either as you don’t increase the tension on the spokes enough. The pinging noise is spokes which have torsion returning to a neutral state. You should release torsion when building the wheel by backing off the nipple a bit until it takes equal force to turn it in either direction – about 1/8 to 1/4 turn but depends on the spokes and the tension.

A few things you should do to help ensure long life of a wheel.

– form the j-bend. Press down on the spoke elbow as it exits the hub flange so that the spoke sits flat against the flange.
– put a dowel where the spokes cross and twist the spokes to form a permanent bend at the cross.

These two things mean the spoke is formed in the right shape for the wheel – the spoke runs in a straight line from the flange to the cross then to the nipple and will not be springing in and out of shape over time and thus fatiguing.

– the final thing is proper stress relieving. This is done by squeezing opposing pairs of spokes to momentarily increase the tension on the spokes significantly. This needs to be done quite hard – pretty much as hard as you can squeeze them – wear gloves. This process relieves the internal stresses in the spokes (at the elbow, where the thread has been rolled) and will greatly improve the life of the wheel.

If you do all of these things and it’s round, true and at a high and even tension your wheels will be about as good as anyone can build them.

Well, it has stayed true so far.
Just been out on an Hr ride around the woods.
I suppose looking back I was taking it a bit easy, couldnt help it really. Tried to push it but Im a bit of a scaredy-cat.
Just put it in my bodged wheelstand and its looking good. Im even more tempted to build my mates wheel now.
You lot please stop me, im getting really cocky now and past experience should be telling me to hold back.
I really dont want to be explaining to his wife why he is in traction.!

Just took a look at the wheel I copied and noticed it actually has an incorrect spoke positioned. Never noticed it when I copied it but it has a spoke with the head on the outside whhere it should be on the inside.
Its a Superstar build but has worked fine for a year or so.

So…Im even better than a so-called PRO.

I really need knocking down a peg or two.

ZANGOLIN.
Valve hole in the right place, surely it doesnt matter? Is there a right place??

If you have spokes crossing at the valve hole it can be very difficult to get a pump head in there.

Valve hole in the right place, surely it doesnt matter? Is there a right place

usually aligned with hub logo. Not sure if its in The Rules though.

Welcome to the club. I built my first (a front) from dead wheel spares maybe 15yrs ago, following the guide on http://www.sheldonbrown.com. I bought a cheap stand and Jobst Brandt’s book purely as a geek, its not a building manual. Still not as quick as you though (like lots of tinkering I find it very therapeutic, and usually have a beer to hand…). Sadly its rarely cost effective to build wheels from scratch, but Ive done rim swap/replacements a few times (replaced 717s with burly 325s for an alps trip, rebuilt the 717s on my return).

+1 Sam’s stress relieving technique.

Ah, I see what you mean about the valve hole bit. I got it right but more luck than judgement to be honest,

Cant wait to do another now.

and yes very therapeutic.
Great sence of acheavement too.

you cannot gloat until you have ridden for a few years without truing …i just had to retrue one after 18 months but the others I have built have all been fine