Wheelbuilding on a Sunday afternoon

[Steve-O]

NOTE - Warning blatant 700c content.

I've been planning a new wheelbuild for a Ti road bike I picked up over Christmas. After hassling Bianchi4me about rims and spokes over several phone calls I placed an order and began plotting for a spare 4 hours to build up the wheels. Fortune came this afternoon when the wife picked up a copy of the DaVinci Code and the kid visited a family friend. First I consulted the dog-eared guides I had used in the past.



Next I started prepping out my tools on the kitchen island (Mike T. you'll appreciate the glob of anti-sieze). I'm a pretty simple guy so I use a couple of old spokes to put the nipples in the rim. A stripped q-tip works to apply the anti-sieze to the threads. Finally a stanley screwdriver does the job to turn the nipples.



Not sure if anyone else does this but I typically mark my spoke holes to help guide the build. I have gotten to the point where I really don't need to do this anymore but it gives me a little added security against mistakes. They talk about this in the Barnett's manual.



Everything starts going together once I figure out the key spoke. The Corian countertop holds up pretty well to this kind of abuse (good thing Mrs. Steve-O is in the other room).



Now things are coming together. The front wheel is a Hugi 240 with Wheelsmith AE15 bladed spokes laced 2x.



The rear hub is a Hugi 240 with the AE15's 2x on the NDS and Wheelsmith DB14's 3x on the DS. My wife passes though about this point and sees the wheels prior to being tensioned and comments on how funky they look...



The finished product after getting trued and tensioned. Gotta love the Airborne Ti skewers. Not bad for $15...



Here's the rear where you can see the 2x / 3x pattern. This seems to make the tension a little more balanced...



The finished product ready for a spin!



Here's the specs:

Hubs: Hugi 240 28h front, 32h rear
Rims: Velocity Aerohead front, Fusion rear (no stickers for the stealth look)
spokes: Wheelsmith AE15's, DB14's
nipples: Sapim aluminum

Estimated weight on our crappy, non-digital kitchen scale. Front wheel no skewer 750 grams, Rear wheel no skewer 1000 grams.

Thanks for viewing....

[fonseca]

For your next build you can pick up some copper anti-seize, and "color code" your different spoke lengths before you build, one length silver and the other copper.

That's what I like to do anyway, it's an easy way to double check that I am lacing everything correctly, and I can grab a spoke without having to measure it should the need arise.

[thebronze]

I love the way black rim silver spokes black hubs look,
I got the same hookup with dt xr4 and hope bulbs.

[Ricko]

Originally Posted by Steve-O

NOTE - Warning blatant 700c content.

I've been planning a new wheelbuild for a Ti road bike I picked up over Christmas. After hassling Bianchi4me about rims and spokes over several phone calls I placed an order and began plotting for a spare 4 hours to build up the wheels. Fortune came this afternoon when the wife picked up a copy of the DaVinci Code and the kid visited a family friend. First I consulted the dog-eared guides I had used in the past.



Next I started prepping out my tools on the kitchen island (Mike T. you'll appreciate the glob of anti-sieze). I'm a pretty simple guy so I use a couple of old spokes to put the nipples in the rim. A stripped q-tip works to apply the anti-sieze to the threads. Finally a stanley screwdriver does the job to turn the nipples.



Not sure if anyone else does this but I typically mark my spoke holes to help guide the build. I have gotten to the point where I really don't need to do this anymore but it gives me a little added security against mistakes. They talk about this in the Barnett's manual.



Everything starts going together once I figure out the key spoke. The Corian countertop holds up pretty well to this kind of abuse (good thing Mrs. Steve-O is in the other room).



Now things are coming together. The front wheel is a Hugi 240 with Wheelsmith AE15 bladed spokes laced 2x.



The rear hub is a Hugi 240 with the AE15's 2x on the NDS and Wheelsmith DB14's 3x on the DS. My wife passes though about this point and sees the wheels prior to being tensioned and comments on how funky they look...



The finished product after getting trued and tensioned. Gotta love the Airborne Ti skewers. Not bad for $15...



Here's the rear where you can see the 2x / 3x pattern. This seems to make the tension a little more balanced...



The finished product ready for a spin!



Here's the specs:

Hubs: Hugi 240 28h front, 32h rear
Rims: Velocity Aerohead front, Fusion rear (no stickers for the stealth look)
spokes: Wheelsmith AE15's, DB14's
nipples: Sapim aluminum

Estimated weight on our crappy, non-digital kitchen scale. Front wheel no skewer 750 grams, Rear wheel no skewer 1000 grams.

Thanks for viewing....

You'v got me thinking that I should go ahead and build my MTB wheelset instead of having B4me do the honors I can't wait to see that new crotch rocket of yours, sounds sweet as he!!.

Me and Derek enjoyed our Sunday afternoon climbing some snow hills at Imagination Glen. It was a bit nippy out there but it was good to get out of the house into the fresh air

[®andyA]

... I just downloaded the Barnett Chapter on wheels & I PDF'd the Wheelbuilding page from Sheldon, but what is the doc in between those two in your pic?

I've been messing around with the idea of building my first set of wheels for my CX (Carpe Diem but I've had to put that off since I bought my house early last year. I'm currently running a set of custom wheels I bought from Wrenchscience - Mavic MA3's with Campy Centuar hubs & 14g (straight) DT spokes and am looking to go up a bit to Mavic T520's & Chorus hubs - to more handle my interest in off road riding with the Carpe. Your post really re-ignited my interest again.

Thanks,
Randy

[Steve-O]

The middle one is from our own Mike T. You can get it here. Good luck on the CX wheels. T520's should be plenty strong... I've used MA3's offroad with good luck too.

[®andyA]

Originally Posted by Steve-O

The middle one is from our own Mike T.

I shoulda known! I have his site bookmarked, I haven't gotten around to PDF'ing it, so I'll do that now. Thanks Steve.

Randy

[Mike T.]

Originally Posted by Steve-O

(Mike T. you'll appreciate the glob of anti-sieze).

Niiiiiiiiiice glob of anti-sieze! Suuuuu-weeeeet.

[TeamTwentyFour]

Use boiled linseed oil on spoke threads. It works as a great lube during assembly and will thicken up over time (like the exposed ketchup crust on the ketchup bottle), which will prevent spoke nipples from loosening. It will never harden up to the point where you can't easily turn the nipples for future truing/ tensioning.

Whatever you do, DON'T use Loctite or that Spoke Prep crap on your hi- dollar wheels!!! If thats the case, you may as well weld everything together, because you will never be able to turn the nipples for future service if you use that stuff.

---

Racing 'Round the Clock
www.teamtwentyfour.com

[Mike T.]

Use boiled linseed oil on spoke threads..............which will prevent spoke nipples from loosening.

B-b-b-b-b-but sufficient tension is enough to stop nipples from loosening!

[TeamTwentyFour]

Originally Posted by Mike T.

B-b-b-b-b-but sufficient tension is enough to stop nipples from loosening!

Usually, yes.....but not always.

---

Racing 'Round the Clock
www.teamtwentyfour.com

[Mike T.]

Usually, yes.....but not always.

That's not been my experience over 42 years of wheelbuilding. Maybe there's time yet for it to happen though.

[mtnpedaler.com]

Originally Posted by Mike T.

B-b-b-b-b-but sufficient tension is enough to stop nipples from loosening!

I guess you better stop using anti-sieze Mike.

[toad]

That linseed oil, do you boil it yourself? If so, do you do just enough for the wheelset your building, or can you store it after its boiled? Also, what about thickened linseed oil I have seen in Art stores, any experiences there? I believe that a well built wheelset may not need somethin to keep'em from loosening, but I'm talkin about wheelsets built by ME! I'm still building with my learner's permit. Also, if it can't hurt, why not? I agree that ws spokeprep sucks, though, and expensive! -t

[toad]

bump it up