Wheel lacing.

i sort of agree. lacing wheels is easy after you do a few, but in my opinion it's a lot easier installing a kit then lacing and truing a wheel.

it looks like a pretty daunting task at first. i remember the first wheels i built i was a little nervous, but i did it.

i think a lot of what scares people off is not knowing the correct spoke length to use with different hubs, and reading spoke calculators seems like school math again, but it mostly takes patience to get it all right.

and that's one thing that's in short supply in this modern world.

ditto, on both!

I for one have never laced my own rims but would love to challenge it. Can you guys give some insight as to what I need to look for when attempting such a venture as I may do this in the near future. I thought you just got spokes,hub, and rim and put them together. Is there really a science to spokes and rims? I mean I know lacing can be a little tedious but...spoke length? calculator? MATH? again? wtf? I am totally lost at this point. Would someone elaborate for the rest of us wheel noobs please, or at least point me in the right direction as my library does not carry anything relevant on this issue.

Thanks in advance.

While I'll agree completely about the desirability of being able to lace yer own rims... learning how to has been on my "to do" list for way too long lol, made worse by the fact my last build has unusual & oversized hubs. For now I'm content entrusting that to the local bike techs, it's not costly and they're skilled and friendly. What with the weight & speed of that ride... I'd rather not "experiment" with that 'un heh - actually the guy that built my wheelset is even somewhat proud of them and the bike they're on which is flattering to say the least as he's usually occupied building far more costly & fancy wheels I'll muck about with my other build & it's standard rims at some point tho.

ernie said:

...I also see people talking about master links. If you have a chain tool you should never need a master link.

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The master link debate is another story however, I sincerely believe that it's not just a matter of personal preference - but also very much build dependent. On my 21 speed motorized mountain bike w/the standard sprocket adapter there's not a master link to be found as between the derailleur and the tensioner it's really a simple matter to deal with rear wheel removal etc.

Yet my 3 speed vintage cruiser w/shiftkit would be just about impossible to deal with without master links, I'd need to disassemble the jackshaft to easily remove the primary and secondary chains. While I can get a chain breaker on them, it's a freakin' nightmare w/little to no clearance - far far more trouble than it's worth. Even the tertiary (crank to wheel) I find far simpler to have a master link on, even though I can easily use a chain breaker on it - I find it much easier & more convenient to pop off the master link to facilitate removing the rear wheel. I've already got a flat screwdriver & spare link in the kit... I see no need to carry a breaking tool for that one chain.

I see no valid reason to not use a master link if it helps with maintenance, while some have bemoaned the "reliability" of master links, I suspect that any failures people have had stemmed from incorrect installation. I've had way too many master links on all sorts of machines in far more trying applications than a bicycle and never a single failure to suspect the master link itself was the culprit. Honestly, if someone were the type to put the clip on backwards and/or use a malformed, damaged master link - they'd be no better off using a chain breaker as there's just as many ways to use a breaker incorrectly lol

*shrug* As with so many things, it's a combination of knowledge, maintenance, application & preference.

I fully agree with your master link view, BA. However, I've had 2 half links come apart while riding. The small retainer pin came out on both of them and the chain pin was on its way out and started hitting my rear fender. When I heard this thud, I pulled over to check it out and found the pin barely holding one half of the chain. Reading this reminded me that I need to remove that blasted half link and install a master link. I have never had one of them fail.

put the clip on in the right direction.

foureasy said:

put the clip on in the right direction.

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Was that aimed at me or the master link statement in general?

I've never seen a clip on a half link, if it was, they have cotter pins.

dag_29307 said:

I for one have never laced my own rims but would love to challenge it. Can you guys give some insight as to what I need to look for when attempting such a venture as I may do this in the near future. I thought you just got spokes,hub, and rim and put them together. Is there really a science to spokes and rims? I mean I know lacing can be a little tedious but...spoke length? calculator? MATH? again? wtf? I am totally lost at this point. Would someone elaborate for the rest of us wheel noobs please, or at least point me in the right direction as my library does not carry anything relevant on this issue.

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

This link is a very good place to start when it comes to building your first set of wheels. Building Bicycle Wheels by Sheldon Brown There are also quite a few videos on You Tube showing the process. Getting the right length spoke for any given combination of hub & rim, is important and requires math or a calculator. The math is basic Trig. and has to do with determining the length of the sides of a triangle and the angle of the sides. The spoke length is calculated by inputting some basic measurements of the hub and rim into one of the many available calculators and, they do the math for you. When building multi speed rear wheels or disc brake wheels, you will be using different length spokes on the left and right side of the wheel. The Sheldon Brown link above does a far better job of explaining all of this than I can here.

ocscully

Ah, simple trigonometry. That's good. I hates hard trigonometry which is the only kind I ever saw from a distance. It didn't look any better up close either, so I passed right on by that door. I met algebra and we got along OK. Guess I won't be lacing any wheels soon.
SB

master link of course

silverbear said:

Ah, simple trigonometry. That's good. I hates hard trigonometry which is the only kind I ever saw from a distance. It didn't look any better up close either, so I passed right on by that door. I met algebra and we got along OK. Guess I won't be lacing any wheels soon.
SB

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The various spoke calculators that are available on line do all the math for you. You only need to input the external rim dia. the flange dia. of the hub, the distance that each flange is from the center of the hub, & the # of spokes & the #of cross. The software makes all of the calculations.

ocscully

Anybody have any links to the online spoke length calculators? I need to build up a rim using a shimano nexus hub I have. I have the SG-7R41 nexus hub, and I was going to order, what looks like a decent rim from Niagra Cycle works.

Thanks!!!

Lacing your own wheels isn't that hard... I was able to do it on my first try!
The trick I use, is to keep all the spokes very loose until the wheel is fully laced, & then screw a old fork onto the side of the work bench to use for a truing stand.
Put the wheel in it & tighten all the spokes to where you can see exactly 5 threads of each spoke, (but they are all still loose!!!) Then go around the wheel & tighten every spoke exactly one turn, & keep going around it until they start getting tight. This will get the wheel very close to perfect.
Then you can start looking at how the wheel wobbles from side to side & tighten in 1/2 turns the spokes on the opposite side of the wobble to pull the wheel straight!

venice has some good advice. another thing for first time builders, is look at an old wheel with the same spoke pattern and copy it.

bairdco said:

another thing for first time builders, is look at an old wheel with the same spoke pattern and copy it.

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That's very important!! It really helps!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess this means I won't have to go to trigonometry night school in order to lace a wheel. I'm going to try it next winter on a set of 1938 Elgin wheels... that way I can keep the cool hubs and very nice old rims, but use thicker spokes. Something new to learn.
SB

ernie said:

I have been searching the forum with regards to wheels and hubs and see many references to having a bicycle shop re-spoke your wheels. Not to take business from the shop but if you can mount an engine and have a spoke wrench you can lace your own wheels.

If you have a bike with rim breaks (U, V, or cantilever) and ride off road (even w/o a motor) you should be able to true your own rim.

I also see people talking about master links. If you have a chain tool you should never need a master link.

Just my $.05 rant while I wait the bike shop to get my new hub in.

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one of these sidebar shops has a heavy duty wheel in different sizes for only 75 bucks.....unless you want to rebuild your actual hub because it's a valuable heavy duty model, a ready made specificly for this application will save you tons of agg,$$$,time....actually several guys offer wheels in their PARTS area.....

if all your doing is upgrading the spokes to a thicker size, you just need to measure how long the original spoke is. most places measure spoke length starting under the "L" bend to the end. might wanna check from where you're ordering to be sure how they do it.

also, if you are adding thicker spokes, you'll probably have to drill your hubs and rims to fit. that's common practice, and won't affect the strength, as long as there's enough metal on the hub to begin with.

just make sure you get the right size drill bits