Hello All!
First off, thank you all for both your public and private responses - whether postive, negative or neutral - I read 'em all. Really I do...I may not be the best listener in the world do to my hearing loss and creeping senility - but I do love to read what people have to say.
One respondee either directly or indirectly got to the heart of why I am the way I am in regards to wheel building.
I started out with a Minoura truing stand at $19.99 back in 1983 - an el cheapo
combo wrench - and dental floss.
And I am proud to say - and damn glad - that I started out with little or nothing in terms of tooling. Because really, as a newbie who wants to learn how to build your own bicycle wheels - that is literally all you need. More importantly you end up understanding how it works - and why. Anything more acts as crutches that slow down the learning process.
Due to the above, the following might come as a shocker to you - but is quite understandable from my experience:
1. Tensioning tools while nice to have for checking consistency from wheel to wheel - are crutches. They get in the way of learning by "feel", "sound" and "nipple response" when you are approaching or have met the minimum tension required for a wheel.
2. Dishing tools either standalone or integrated also act as a crutch - mostly
in that they slow you down during the truing and tensioning process. It also hides from you the easiest to visualize representation of what it is you are trying to accomplish when dishing - that which you see when you flip the wheel in your truing stand.
...so simple...so close to the nose...but a surprise to most when I point it out.
3. Nipple glues (i.e., dried paint in the old days) are too often a tool used not to build a better wheel - but instead to obsfuscate a builder's inferiority
complex over proper tensionsing. Tensioning a wheel properly assuming non- defective parts make "glues" unneccessary.
My point is basically - by starting out with the minimal tools - I forced myself to actually learn "how" to build a bicycle wheel. Where the science is concerned, seriously - a high school course in physics is all you'll ever need.
Having done the above, I have also learned that the best way to encourage others interested in building wheels IS TO NOT BURY THEM IN ANAL DETAILS. That
can actually be discouraging. I kid you not...it scares people away.
Instead I take a few minutes to demonstrate lacing - most pick it up quickly. Then I'll tell 'em, grab a stand - ignore the other tools - play around with hops and drop and bends using a spoke wrench. Experiment all you want. Have fun.
Then I'll invite them to bring their first few wheels by so I can tell them how
they are doing.
Most decide eventually that it's not their cup of tea. Occasionally one keeps going at it - asking for finer points from me along the way - and by a year or so - no one is touching their wheels anymore.
The greatest thing about learning to build bicycles and wheels is that you achieve independence - mechanically and financially. You'll always depend on others for tools though - you can't have 'em all no matter how hard you try or how much you spend.
I've built 2000+ wheels since 1984. Still build 'em as we speak. I rarely use
a tensionmeter - and rarely use a dial indicator. I keep my dishing tool use to a minimum.
To provide a quality wheel - (decent tension and +/- .002 in. tolerance) while at the same time avoiding robbing my customers, I aim to complete asymetric wheels in aprox. 1.5 hours and symetrical wheels in 1.0 hours time.
Sometimes on the asymetrical wheels I'm closer to 1.45 hours.
My rates?
Standard and Typical Aero
24.00 27.00
Deep Section Aero
27.00 30.00
Wheels That Require Additonal Construction (Mavic 819 Disc)
30.00 33.00
Now some people are thinking? Wow! Dude! You are too cheap...
I say hold that thought...here's why...
Too many times here in the SF Bay Area, I've visited shops while travelling or cycling - only to watch a wheel builder use spoke prep, use a dial from start to finish, use a tensionmeter from start to finish - and then hang the wheel up
as done or finished among others tagged or stated as such.
I'll examine the wheel and discover more often than not - the wheel is undertensioned - i.e., the spokes are going to prematurely fail.
Their labor rates for two hours of work? 50.00, 55.00, 60.00, and even 65.00 in one instance.
Most shops don't intend it - but the result is the same - the customer who buys
that wheel is getting ripped off by the shop.
So I am going to piss off some people here even more by saying the following:
"If you insist on charging 60.00 labor per wheel for two hours of work and use spoke prep, a dial throughout, a tensionmeter throughout, and a dishing tool throughout, then you had darn well better have a tag on the wheel certifying in
writing that your tensionmeter is regulary qualified at a machine shop and that
you are not using spoke prep in any way to hide poor tensioning skills."
I am guite honestly sick and tired of rebuilding brand new wheels in which spoke prep was used to hide poor tensioning resulting in spoke breakage in only
a matter of months. DT Swiss are great - my favorite - but even they fail as result also.
Now I'm sure someone here will take all of the above personally and want to spew vitriol all over the CR list...
DON'T
Here's why...
My name is Robert Shackeleford My address is 3202 Everdale Drive, San Jose, CA USA My phone number is 408-238-4886
The betting pool is: $100.00 cold hard inflationary Federal Reserve Notes
The time limit is: 2 hours Tools allowed: Stand and wrench only. Tools disallowed:
Dial, tensionmeter, and standalone or integrated dishing tool.
Specs to meet: +/- .002 in. and minimal tension required.
Wheel: Double Wall 135mm MTB 26 x 1.50 32 Hole Alloy Wheel
Test of minimal tension: Bring your own chart and tensionmeter. I trust ya!
Test of overtensioning:
Inflating tire and tube and examination for s-wave and return to trueness after
deflating.
The first to finish withing the specs wins...
Feel free to request an additional 1/2 for yourself, or a reduction to 1.5 hours for myself. I like a challenge.
Robert Shackelford San Jose, CA USA
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