Actually the low end wheels that JB produces in such large quantities here in South Florida are all hand made. Nipples and spokes have no grease or prep substance on them. A worker starts shoving spokes into the hub and in 15 seconds he's done. A minute or two later and one side of the wheel is laced. The process is repeated for the other side. In less than five minutes the wheel is fully laced and in turn in tossed into a huge pile of similar wheels. When the wheel is tossed I mean it is literally thrown ten feet as it bounces around in the pile. Later that day another set of workers goes at the wheel with an electric screwdriver. I guess they reference the remaining threads left at the spoke or something and perhaps there is a bit of touch up work to "true the wheel". An insider told me that each house has about ten total minutes labor in each wheel. The only part I have personally witnessed is the lacing. These people have very fast fingers but I doubt any of them have read Gerd Shoener or Jobst Brandt's books.
Garth Libre in Miami Fl. USA
On Apr 9, 2009, at 10:34 AM, Jerome & Elizabeth Moos wrote:
>
> Kind of amazing that someone could build 6 wheels an hour. I guess
> one could get pretty fast at spoking them, but the tensioning is what
> takes time. I've read a few places that In The Day inexpensive wheels
> were tensioned "by machine", but I've never seen a description or
> photos of the machines used. Is JB using some sort of tensioning
> machine? If these guys are spoking and tensioning 6 wheels an hour by
> hand and sustaining that all day, its amazing they can even get them
> true enough to not drag on the brake pads. I'll bet some of these
> guys get good enough that they could probably build some really
> excellent wheels if they were ever given the time and decent pay for
> doing so.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Big Spring, Texas, USA
>
>
> --- On Thu, 4/9/09, Bianca Pratorius <biankita@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> From: Bianca Pratorius <biankita@comcast.net>
>> Subject: [CR] If you're requesting measurements for Suntour Superbe
>> track hubs
>> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>> Date: Thursday, April 9, 2009, 5:00 AM
>> In my experience in using Damon Rinard's spokecalc
>> program, if you don't see the exact hub you have listed
>> in his database all one needs to do is to take a minute or
>> so with a caliper. For rear track hubs only two measurements
>> are very important. Measure across the axle from the center
>> of one flange to the center of the other. Next divide this
>> measurement by two and input the number you get into the box
>> for the center to right flange and then enter the same
>> number into center to left flange (For track hubs with 120mm
>> dropout width the spoke lengths you get for drive side and
>> non drive side are never going to be more than a mm
>> difference anyway).
>>
>> Next measure the distance from the spoke hole one side of
>> the right flange to the opposite hole on the same flange ...
>> enter this result in Spokecalc. Now do the same for the
>> other non drive side and enter that result. For most hubs
>> these measurements will be identical (exception hi-lo Campy
>> hubs and the like).
>>
>> Repeat all this for the front hub ...
>>
>> Getting measurements for hubs is a lot simpler than getting
>> measurements for rims (like ERD), I've measured one or
>> two rims that are not in the Rinard database and both times
>> I got the correct size spoke for the wheel build-up. Make
>> sure you input how many spoke holes each rim has. Make sure
>> you read your results from the number of crosses you intend
>> to build (ie. two cross, three or four).
>>
>> For most wheelsets you can order just one box of spokes
>> even though the front and two rear sizes will come out a mm
>> or two different. I believe if you choose the average size
>> you get for each of three values you will still be able to
>> build up very acceptable looking wheels. For most classic
>> wheels I have cut up to rebuild the two rear spokes from
>> left and right measure the same anyway. It's probably a
>> different story for modern wheels with really wide locknut
>> to locknut measurements and 10 or 11 freehub cogs. Some of
>> those modern wheels don't take normal spokes or
>> wheelbuilding techniques anyway.
>>
>> Wheelbuilding is increasingly a lost art for bike
>> mechanics in my area. Many shops just take your hubs and
>> rims and send them out for the rebuild. Few mechanics feel
>> confident with the newer race wheels anyway. And the cheap
>> replacement wheels that shops sell are made by near slave
>> labor in sweat shops. In my neighborhood there are many
>> illegals building up wheels for JB importers. Each day JB
>> drops off hundreds of rims and hubs to one of many build
>> houses and picks up the last day's completed wheels.
>> These are distributed to all bicycle shops in the the SE
>> area of the country. If you wonder how a bike shop can
>> afford to sell a completed wheel with new hub, rim and
>> spokes for thirty bucks, this is the reason. The local
>> builders get $1.25 for each wheel they complete. If you
>> work real hard you can make $7 an hour building for the
>> largest bike parts distributor in the country. The better
>> wheelsets are made by talented and experienced wrenches that
>> JB employs but for those wheels made with quality parts you
>> have to pay standard per spoke, per nipple and per wheel
>> prices.
>>
>> The whole affair is so objectionable ... I would much
>> rather just learn to build my own 32 hole wheels with
>> standard stainless db spokes and cross three. It may take
>> and hour or two per wheel but it's one more empowering
>> thing I can do and it's a source of pride for me that I
>> can now build up a better wheel than I can get from all but
>> the most careful of pro builders.
>>
>> Garth Libre in Miami Florida USA