Re: [CR]Conversations on wheel building...are there greatwheelbuilders and why are they better than others?

(Example: Bike Shops:R.E.W. Reynolds)

Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2003 21:08:55 -0400
From: "Joe Bender-Zanoni" <joebz@optonline.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Conversations on wheel building...are there greatwheelbuilders and why are they better than others?
To: Bainbridge <gotfleas@earthlink.net>, Tom Sanders <tsan7759142@comcast.net>, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
References: <BB274C16.23A5%gotfleas@earthlink.net>


As I have said before, great spokes with high strengths and high quality threading were available well before DT. The spokes just happened to be made with carbon steel.

Galvanized carbon steel steel spokes like Torrington are very good indeed. I have many wheels from the thirties with spokes in excellent condition. Not to say the galvanizing is all there.
>From a materials viewpoint, stainless spokes may not have been the wisest application. Now there are no high quality galvanized spokes available and that is a loss.

Another viewpoint would be that the bike boom spokes were a low point. Torrington and other old type spokes were gone. Robergel Trois Etoile and the chrome plated Union spokes stunk So DT looked good when it emerged.

Joe B-Z
Great Notch, NJ


----- Original Message -----
From: Bainbridge
To: Tom Sanders


<classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2003 5:32 PM Subject: Re: [CR]Conversations on wheel building...are there greatwheelbuilders and why are they better than others?


> Tom Sanders wrote: What I'd like to know is just what is it that gives
> famous wheel builders such as Joe Young or Spence Wolf such a cache among
> the classic biking community.
>
> I'm with your man Bill. It's not that hard to build a good, very durable
> wheel if you have the time and inclination. Doing it very quickly takes much
> more experience and some folks will always be slow. I never got faster than
> about 30 mins+, but I watched folks like Brian Maloney whip out a wheel in
> minutes.
>
> If you talk to Ric or John Hjertberg, founders of wheelsmith and taught by
> Spence, the core of their building philosophy is to choose the right
> rim/spoke gauge/count for the job, minimize dish and get the wheel as round
> and true as possible at the lowest possible spoke tension. Then start
> layering on tension while relieving stress due to spoke wind up. Very simple
> really.
>
> I think many of the early builders had such cache because the early spokes
> were so bad. Once DT came on the scene, spoke breakage went down
> dramatically at the shop level.
>
> Bryant Bainbridge
> Portland It's-pronounced-Orygun