Im rebuilding a gravel bike rear wheel onto a new hub (swapping from 148mm width to 142mm width hubs), using the same DT Swiss DT350 rear hubs (apart from width obviously) planning to copy the lacing pattern, reuse the spokes (in same position as current build), nipples and carbon rim.
Whats the acceptable ways to measure the tension in the current wheel spokes and replicate that in the rebuild? I was thinking of recording the spoke pitches when tapped - and rebuilding to the same pitch - as thats cheap and easy to do. Has anyone tried this method - any advice?
Otherwise its buy a spoke tension tester, but the branded ones seem expensive (I'll only need it for one re-build). Is it worth considering a cheaper one? If so any recommendations. I guess just need it to measure the before and after tensions, so not necessarily be accurate/calibrated (just repeatable).
Cheers.
Have you checked ‘that the spoke lengths will be ok? And… Is it the same hub and just a new rim or the same rim and different hub?
If it’s just hub width changing have you investigated whether DT Swiss do adapters from 148 to 142?
If it’s just hub width changing have you investigated whether DT Swiss do adapters from 148 to 142?
They don't.
If the hub dimensions are the same other than width then current spokes will probably by just fine (confirmed with a quick play in their spoke calc). Beware though there are lots of different 350 versions that are not all the same.
I’ve done the maths and swapping from a 61mm wide flange width to 55mm changes the spoke length by 0.2mm so I’m ok to reuse them.
I asked Madison (uk importer) about getting a 142mm suitable hub body and they said I could only buy an entire hub assembly, I’ve sourced a new hub assy now, just need to work out best way to get it up to the same spoke tension.
Assuming the tension in the current wheel is "right", you'll get close enough by checking with a firm squeeze. I always try and build to 120kgf but wheels are fairly tolerant of variance so long as it's not silly extreme one way or the other. Lots of folk happily ride around in wheels they built by feel.