BICY-wheelbuilding

BICYCLES

wheel building

Treat yourself and your wheelset with thorough check and immaculate adjustment. You’ll be introduced to a proprietary homemade data sheet that presents a comprehensive status of your wheel, before and after the service.

When each turn is perfect

One can’t imagine how durable and reliable a bicycle wheel can be if crafted properly. How many riders actually think about their wheels and what is making them reliable right now, right on this trail?

Facts:

The rim itself is as good as it gets.
Weigth and strength are almost standard qualities nowadays.
The hub is a maintenance mistress.
Demanding or not, it’s straight forward.
Spokes and Nipples = Rods and Nuts?
To a certain extent, it’s a valid equation.

So where’s the magic?

It’s in hands and mind when lacing! It’s the same magic that beautiful hands of my wife deliver from a simple yarn when she knits.

The secret recipe:
A uniform tightness of spokes, up to the exact force, in proper steps of a tedious but rewarding process.

In my experience, this is the key of any wheel that deserves to be labelled -RELIABLE.

You start with this quality when building a wheel (from the scratch or when replacing rim or hub)
You stay by this quality by means of regular maintenance (check or retighten or rebuild)

If you follow this mindset, then you don’t have those thoughts on the trail, as stated in the beginning of this post. But not out of ignorance. Rather the confidence.

We can also discuss about your wheels in terms of….

what kind of spokes ?
what nipples ?
how many spokes ?
how many crosses ?
what spoke length (DT Swiss has a nice online tool) ?
rim wobble ?
rim dishing ?
stress relief ?
hub bearings ?
freehub /ratchet ?
how to adjust cup and cone bearings (Shimano) ?
should I install Shimano hub right from the box (never!) ?
should I ride my new Shimano bike without initial hub service (never!) ?
is cup and cone superior to the cartridge bearings (it isn’t!) ?
do we like Shimano hubs (yes, we do!) ?
…