Wheel Truing and Wheelbuilding

just got a park truing stand and am busy learning/bodging to true.
i want to learn the art of it all.

my front wheel was built by monty of condor cycles; its only slightly out of true now after 8 years. an amazing build and at at least 10 k through it and most on rigid forks.

any clues, advice on classes, online stuff (obvious first stop was sheldon brown)

Get a Spoke Tension meter – useful to check how even a wheel is and also spreading the load when taking out a kink.

Wheelpro has helped me build a few wheels. £9 well spent.

Practice,practice and more practice.It may be a lot of things but it’s certainly no art.
And don’t bother with a spoke tension gauge,waste of money.

Wheelpro bok is really good. However, I do think a spoke tension meter is useful. I find they’re no use for measuring actual tension but good for making sure spokes on the same side are all the same. My ears are not good enough for plucking a note.

A skill, yes. An art, no (art being a beautiful form that has no function). Getting taught off someone who already knows is a big help however. I was taught off a very good local wheel builder. I have built my own jig out of MDF and alu plate which works very well. It was built out of slightly modified plans from the wheelpro book. Personally I have never used a tension meter, but then I’m not building for racers. The first wheel I built is still round and true after 5 years of abuse on the front of my full sus.

edit: God the grammar in this is awful. I appologise!

Wheelpro +1 and also for the tone deaf like me a spoke tension meter 😀

I never use my tension meter, and never ping spokes either – best thing I can suggest is to deliberately try to overtighten a wheel or two, so you get a feel for how it feels to tighten the nipples to shear.

I’ve build a few scores of wheels for myself and other people. Only standard patterns and nothing exotic but I’ve had good results. Its not hard just be methodical.

1. Take your time. At first only adjust a little at a time. MY first wheel took me probibly 2 hours or fannying, checking, fannying and about 3 cups of tea.
2. Work from a known place. Eg start and finish on the valve hole.
3. When working out slight buckles mark the start and end points. I use two rubber band quickly looped round, some times a third to represents the mid point.
4. Oil your nipples when assembling. Something light light 3 in 1 just makes life easier.
5. Over tighten en by 0.5-1 ish turns and slacken off. Along with the light oil during assembly this reduces any wind up and massively reduces and pinging when you first start riding the wheels and the subsequent need for “a quick retune when ridden once”.
6. Trying to keep spoke tension is ideal, but there is always some variation, I used a known good wheel to get an idea of the tension. Aim to keep any change in tension smooth as you go round the wheel. When repairing a buckle try and spread out the uneven tension as much as possible. If a buckle is centred around spoke, try and spread the tension change out gradually over 5 spoke rather than 3 for example.

Yes – you can get away with a couple of china markers and some blu-tac, but don’t scrimp on the spoke key. Something like this.

Also, don’t whatever you do try to build a wheel when pissed. I used to make a point of opening a bottle of wine, or having a selection of ales to hand as I twiddled away. I invariably ended up rat-arsed and having to deal with shoddy builds the next morning.

You heard it here first.

Cheers everyone, I do think its an art. If you have ever stretched a canvas and primed it in the traditional way it’s not just a functional thing.

Are there any classes sessions that run?

4. Oil your nipples when assembling. Something light light 3 in 1 just makes life easier.

*oils nipples*

I borrowed a jig for the first one, but since then I’ve just used some forks.
Might see if I can get some forks & lash up a jig.
Oiling nipples is good advice. A nipple driver is a good addition also.

Anyone know what spoke keys the Pro’s use ?

Be patient, don’t make big adjustments, be prepared to keep a mental map of how far round the wheel you’ve got when tensioning and what you’ve done with at least half a dozen spokes when balancing up, learn the feel of overtightening and backing off (IMO probably the most important thing – and it’s a bit of a living thing that varies with every variable going), grease the threads, use a good spoke key (eg Spokey), attend to high/flat spots sooner and lateral motion later, press-fit the elbows on any outer spokes that need it (ie any front outers and any on the NDS rear, assuming you have a normal dished cassette wheel) halfway through tensioning, have fun thinking about lacing patterns, and don’t believe the hype.