So, I built a wheel.
I took the easy way out, ordering a duplicate of the rim that I bent up. It wasn't a complete taco, just too much to expect to bring back in, so I reused the spokes. There's really not much to document but I'll write excessively anyway. I used the
Sheldon Brown writeup for reference and just took my time.
Here we have my hub with 32 spokes sticking out randomly. As an (embarrassing) aside, I initially ordered a
36 spoke wheel from Speedgoat. I am typically not so mentally challenged.
I happened to run into JohnnieA one morning after noticing my gaffe and it turned out he needed a 36 spoke 29er rim at that exact moment, so it worked out. I found the right rim at Competitive Cyclist.
Oh, right. Back to the wheel. Here we have a bunch of spokes sticking out all over.
Sheldon Brown (rip) helped me transform that into this:
I took care to orient the spokes so that they aligned with the existing grooves worn into the hubs. After some research, I used a dab of gear oil on the threads and spoke eyelets. I gather that spoke prep is intended for wheels built with very low tension. Time will tell if I'm right or not.
So, that's the easy part. The goal is, of course, to have a wheel that's true, round, properly dished, and evenly tensioned. I can't say there was a whole lot to it. First step was to set all the spoke nipples to the same depth, basically even with the end of the threads. At that point the spokes have a little tension but not much.
Next, I slowly brought the tension up evenly, spinning the spoke nipples a full turn each, checking by hand (things are very rough at this point), adding a turn, etc. I think I came up 2 or 3 turns, with an extra turn on the brake side because I knew that's the higher tension side of the wheel.
After that, I started with truing. I used a $50 Spin Doctor Truing Stand from Performance. I sure wouldn't want to make a living with the tool but it was adequate. I don't have a dishing tool, which added a few steps.
First, I set the indicators loose and flipped the wheel back and forth in the stand. That was to let me know what direction I needed to be moving the rim to get the correct dish. Throughout the following steps, I was flipping the wheel back and forth to monitor dish.
Not much to it: spin the wheel and find the spot most out. If that spot falls between two spokes, tighten the spoke to the opposite hub flange 1/2 turn and loosen the spoke to the nearside hub flange 1/2 spoke. If the spot falls right on the spoke, you loosen that spoke 1/2 turn and tighten the two adjacent spokes 1/4 turn. As it gets closer to true, you use 1/4 turn.
Roundness is similar. This is where the Spin Doctor tool sucks as it's very difficult to adjust the (friction) indicator to measure 1mm or less. Anyway, find the high spot. If it falls right on a spoke, tighten that spoke 1/2 turn and both adjacent spokes 1/4 turn. If between spokes, tighten both nearest 1/2 turn.
Once I got pretty close, I started checking tension and bringing it up with 1/4 turns on every spoke . On the park tool, I was at 22 on the brake side, 15 on the opposite side on the wheel before disassembly. There are no units, you convert with a chart based on the diameter and type of spoke you have. In my case, 22 converted to 120kg.
So you're trying to get all things (true, round, dish, tension) to converge. As the first 3 came into focus, I took some time to check every spoke. Where two adjacent spokes were too different, I tightened one, and loosened the other, then made sure I hadn't screwed everything up. In the end, I called it "good" at about about 20/13 on the park tool, a little shy of the original rim, but pretty even all around. It's within 1mm on all fronts. I try not to be too obsessive.
That, and the tires are not nearly that precise.
It survived a first ride and is still round/true.
