<JohnThompson@new.rr.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > I think the bottom line is that there is more than
> one way of building a
> > perfectly good bicycle wheel.
>
>
> Whilst this is obviously true, I wonder if Brandt
> and Lickton et al would
>
> be too ideologically entrenched to admit the
> obvious. Wheelbuilding as it's
>
> frequently espoused seems like one part science and
> about four or five part
> s
> dogma.
> Kurt Sperry
> Bellingham WA
Well Kurt, I am inclined to disagree with you on this one.
I, in no way, shape, or form consider myself to be an expert wheel builder. But having spent five years of my life building thousands of wheels at the old Wheelsmith here in Palo Alto, I can definitely tell you that MANY factors go into building a "quality, reliable, and long lasting wheel."
Calculating the correct spoke length is paramount. Many fools go by charts on the Internet or worse yet, that old pathetic "Bike-A-Log" system. That said, the Wheelsmith calculator is hands down the most reliable spoke length determination tool available.
Any Bozo can go to his/her LBS, buy the Park truing stand, the nipple driver, the step-by-step "how to" books, the dishing tool and what-have-you and "build a wheel."
However is does take someone with experience to build quality race wheels, track wheels, utility wheels, etc. The most important steps of a wheel build would be "sizing" both the rim and hub correctly for proper spoke calculations; prepping the spoke threads; lacing the wheel in correct and professional fashion--(i.e. no crossed spokes over the valve hole, rim decal readable from right hand side of bike, inscriptions on center of hub visible directly through valve stem hole;) SETTING the spokes (carefully use thumbs to push hard at point where spokes exit hub so that there is no "bowing." I cannot tell you how many shops I visit here in the Bay Area and notice that this procedure was overlooked.)
Bringing the spokes to high, EVEN tensions throughout, and using some sort of tension-meter to gage the tension of the spokes, (Wheelsmith's is the only one I will touch) is the most important part of the build. The high, EVEN tensioning of the spokes is what gives a wheel a "life-span" unlike all others.
The "seam" of the rim must be extremely smooth. The wheel must be trued to extremely close tolerances both laterally and radially, and of course dished. THEN, the spokes must be "SETTLED" by using two hands to grip two sets of spokes side by side and flexing them back and forth. Lastly the wheel is given the final true and inspection.
I know wheel building has probably been discussed to death on this list and with that there are probably hundreds of posts in the archives regarding this topic. Again, I am in no way an expert, but I do believe that a little "more" goes into building a quality wheel.
Ted E. Baer
Palo Alto, CA