Building A New Wheel Is A Nightmare

[Stefan Mikes]

For a guy that uses (almost) free bike parts, 500 bucks for a wheel seems like a lot of money. Though, I assume one gets what one pays for.

I am aware I have paid for the quality (good wheels are never cheap!) I was actually shattered to see how maimed the original wheel was when I got it back from the LBS. My own heavy weight, overcharging the rear rack and riding in rough terrain was too much for the delicate rear wheel over 3 years!

The wheel-builder made many interesting remarks:
'You need to understand the wheel is a living organism made of the hub, spokes, and the rim working in unison. For instance, it is not only the e-bike heavy weight but also a terrific torque you are getting from the mid-drive motor. Your rear wheel has got plasticized as the outcome of all forces acting on it'.

'I will only give you some hints. For instance, I could greatly recommend a DT Swiss 350 rear hub. You should think of a 32 spoke wheel. Examine the inner diameter of the rim and try finding a similar rim. Do your own homework. Study how the wheels are built. Make your own choices. When in doubt, ask me but I will not design the wheel for you! Just bring the parts and I'll build the wheel for you".

He was clearly shifting the responsibilities on me but I will never regret the time spent on my e-bike wheel studies I also won't forget the nice man had relieved me of the "spoke studies" and did that part for me, same as selecting the right freehub body!

 

[Chargeride]

I build all my own wheels, I even turned a 32 hole rim into a 36, some of them are even almost round, but its very true, its a complicated interaction of spoke diameter, lacing method, rim rigidity and spoke hole spacing.

You can build a wheel that seems fine, but it's actually completely stressing every component on each turn

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I build all my own wheels

Can you dish and true them?

 

[Chargeride]

within my generous parameters.

 

[Chargeride]

 

[BikerG]

Dishing and truing are actually not that difficult, you just need patience and some coffee. And with a quality truing stand you don’t even need a dishing tool, just keep flipping the wheel. Or even a DIY dishing tool is easy to make.

 

[TPEHAK]

You don't need dishing and all those fancy tools. Just flip the bike up side down, put the assembled wheel on and use a couple of zip-ties with a ruler, a tensioner and a cheap tention meter to align the rim and to set the spokes tension. Your bike frame and fork already have all the features you need to assemble the wheels

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[BikerG]

You don't need dishing and all those fancy tools. Just flip the bike up side down, put the assembled wheel on and use a couple of zip-ties with a ruler, a tensioner and a cheap tention meter to align the rim and to set the spokes tension. Your bike frame and fork already have all the features you need to assemble the wheels

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Agree, that’s one way to do it.

 

[Marquezdl]

I built several sets of wheels in the 90’s and early 2000’s. I used DT wheels, spokes, and nipples (brass only) and this was my bible.
I used Phil wood hubs exclusively. One wheelset was singlespeed, one was a flip-flop fixed/free, and one was an 8 speed freewheel setup. All are still working fine, and the first one, the singlespeed hub has over 10k miles with nary a problem.

 

[BikerG]

I built several sets of wheels in the 90’s and early 2000’s. I used DT wheels, spokes, and nipples (brass only) and this was my bible.
I used Phil wood hubs exclusively. One wheelset was singlespeed, one was a flip-flop fixed/free, and one was an 8 speed freewheel setup. All are still working fine, and the first one, the singlespeed hub has over 10k miles with nary a problem.




View attachment 169557

I still have that same book! I used to lace my front wheels radially because they were easy, used shorter spokes, & saved a few grams. Lol. Of course, this was before disc brakes became widely used…