Lacing and truing a wheel tutorial with Mikeeebikey

[mikeeebikey]

I am getting a coaster hub replacement started right now, stay tuned!

You will need to do a little prep work, remove the tire and rim strip. Spray the spoke nipples with some penetrating oil. Gather a proper sized spoke wrench, flat head screw driver, mixed drink, and some good tunes for mood.

Unbuilding a wheel:
Step 1) Starting at the valve stem hole loosen each nipple 1 turn, repeat until all spoke nipples turn freely.

Step 1.5) Make a nice neat pile to work from. I suggest cleaning and polishing used spokes.

Step 2) Building a wheel. Starting on the drive side, insert 1 spoke thru the hub flange to the outside. Place the nipple at the nearest hole to the valve stem, with the correct offset. Only tighten nipples 2 - 3 turns. I like drive side spokes to eject the chain when pedaling should it come off.

Step 3) Skip 1 hole in the hub, install a spoke and skip4 holes on the rim, install a nipple. Repeat until number of crosses is reached.

Install a spoke thru the flange the oppisite way, cross the other spokes. Do not forget to lace it over the last cross. It will only go 2 rim holes from the last spoke. This step is only to stabilize the assembly.

Step 4) After installing a spoke every other hub hole, and every 4th rim hole, we are ready to start lacing.
If you haven't, install a spoke the opposite way.

Here is what the drive side looks like all laced.

Step 5) Starting the second side. Ok I have heard every vodoo method for finding the starting point, my way works...
Locate the valve stem hole, you want a big opening for tire filling, propose a spoke position

Obviously where I am holding the spoke is the wrong posistion. Notice, I dropped the spokes at the same angle, and direction thru the hub.

Step 6) Lacing side 2,
Drop in the rest of the spokes, of course the oppisite way thru the hub, lacing them at the cross.

Step 7) Trueing.
Working around the wheel tighten each spoke a little, keep repeating until a slight spoke tension is achieved.

At this point I am already working on roundness and true. All by hand, no wrench, yet.

I am going to skip the happy trueing picture.. After hand tightening, work your way around the wheel, 1/2 turns of the nipples, tightening at the high spots evenly, one sided to true. Do not reef tight!
Once you are satisfied the spokes are sufficiently tight,you will need to stretch the spokes, like this;

And this;

Now true it again!
Words of caution, it is real easy to over tighten spokes in cheap, rusty, or super light weight rims.
I charge $30.00 to build and true 1 wheel, should you just want an expert to do it!

 

[NicksGarage]

Here's a tip I was given, when you get all the nipples on, go around the wheel and tighten each a little just to the point where no threads are showing. This will get it pretty even.

Here's a tutorial site I use as it's the only one I found that does it the right way by putting all the spokes in on one side first. Same way you did it. It's a little harder than the usual tutorials but is the same pattern as factory built wheels.

http://www.atomiczombie.com/Tutorial - 3 Cross Wheel Lacing - Page 1.aspx

I just put a Nexus 7 in my 24" Ghostrider wheel without a truing stand. Took it to the LBS to get trued and they said it was so close that I should have finished it. It's only the third wheel I've built.

 

[RustySprockets]

Thanks for preparing this clinic, Mikeee. It wasn't 24 hours ago that I gave pretty much the same advice, but didn't have photos you do. I like your ghetto-style truing stand, too--old fork & and a couple of zip-ties. Hey! It does the job and isn't any less accurate.

Question: Do CB hubs use the same length spokes on the drive and non-drive sides? My experience is mostly with cassettes, which require an offset when properly dished.

 

[mikeeebikey]

Yes coasters don't have enough dish to require different length spokes.
Here are my spoke length discoveries!
Never trust the threads for trueing! DT AND WheelSmith make great products, but, they can make mistakes. And most of us will be using sub level spokes, grey metal. They can be 5-6mm different lengths....
In the past I have used a flat head, drove all the spokes in
evenly to discover, it was bad cockeyed!

 

[mikeeebikey]

Another thing we realy need to cover is wheel dish.
The rim needs to be centered on the hub assembly. If you plan to run a fat washer, spacer, anti rotation device on the inside of the dropout, that must be accounted for.
Anyone have a dish tool?
Mine is 2 machinist squares and steel rulers, posting it would only add confusion!

 

[NicksGarage]

Never trust the threads for trueing! DT AND SWISS make great products, but, they can make mistakes. And most of us will be using sub level spokes, grey metal. They can be 5-6mm different lengths....
In the past I have used a flat head, drove all the spokes in
evenly to discover, it was bad cockeyed!

I guess I've been lucky. When I buy spokes, they are all matched. Even when I used spokes from one wheel to do another.

 

[mikeeebikey]

Was thinking, need to make a list of direct replacement hubs,, that is which will replace what without buying spokes.
Should I add it here???

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Wish I had seen this before I built up my wheel, might have made it easier! Still, it worked and I am happy, will save this for reference next time though! Thanks Mike!

Luke.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Was thinking, need to make a list of direct replacement hubs,, that is which will replace what without buying spokes.
Should I add it here???

Sounds like a new subject to me. I say start a new one and add a link here. Thanks for the good information, great job!

 

[SILVERKINGPC]

xlnt tutorial

....wheelbuiding is not for everyone...took me
years to get good, and now I can do it in my sleep
just because of the volume of repairs and new builds..

 

[mornview]

Thanks for the tutorial! I've read a number of tutorials but all of them seem to cover something the other ones missed.

A couple questions, though, from a novice looking to do this project for the first time in a couple weeks.

1. Is there a standard spoke length for 26" coaster brake wheels? I'd like to avoid going through my LBS for ordering spokes if possible, if only to avoid another lecture on why coaster brakes are so inferior. However, I'm really not sure how to go about finding out what size spokes/spoke nipples I need.
2. What would you recommend for rims? I'm not a weight-elitist, so I don't care if it's steel, aluminum, etc. I just want a good 36 hole, 26 x 1 3/8 (ISO 590) rim, but again, I'm not really sure where to look.

Thanks!

 

[mikeeebikey]

Guys and gals,
I have been doing alot of high end road wheels. The roadies are picky, and they pay-! So I get a bit extreme, true with a dial indicator!
What I want to bring up is, seating spokes; once you think they are seated, do it again! With good ground sidewall rims, I get them to where they don't untrue when the rim is stressed.
Road wheels are tight compared to a 36 spoke mtb wheel, so I use a spoke tension meter.