Re: [CR] wheel-building machinery

(Example: Production Builders:Peugeot:PX-10LE)

Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:04:51 -0700
From: <mrrabbit@mrrabbit.net>
To: <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
References: <37935.7384.qm@web82207.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To: <37935.7384.qm@web82207.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Cc: Harvey Sachs <hmsachs@verizon.net>, hsachs@alumni.rice.edu, Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Re: [CR] wheel-building machinery


=8-)

I have a day job my friend...

=8-)

...could you spare some Cup-O-Noddles?

Robert Shackelford San Jose, CA USA

Quoting Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>:
>
> So Robert, what is a shop willing to pay for a hand-built wheel with basic
> components? Spending an hour to an hour and a half on these, I can't imagine
> you are getting rich at it. I've been building all my own wheels for over 10
> years - I think the last wheelset I had built by someone else was a set Bob
> Lickton built for me in 1998. I've never seriously considerd do this for a
> living, as I figured there really wasn't much money in it. Plus I figure
> that building for myself, if a wheel has a problem, I just redo it and don't
> have to deal with an unhappy customer. Truth is, I find wheelbuilding to be
> kind of therapeutic, almost like a ritual.
>
> Like so many things connected with cycling, I admire those who actually have
> the will to build wheels for a living, as I have learned enough about
> bicycles to know that there are many, many easier ways to make a living.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Big Spring, Texas, USA
>
>
>
>
> --- On Fri, 4/10/09, mrrabbit@mrrabbit.net <mrrabbit@mrrabbit.net> wrote:
>
> > From: mrrabbit@mrrabbit.net <mrrabbit@mrrabbit.net>
> > Subject: Re: [CR] wheel-building machinery
> > To: hsachs@alumni.rice.edu, "Harvey Sachs" <hmsachs@verizon.net>
> > Cc: jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net, "Classic Rendezvous"
> <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> > Date: Friday, April 10, 2009, 8:40 PM
> > Dirty little secret of the wholesale distribution basic and
> > replacement wheel
> > business...many distributors for the various regions of the
> > US including my own
> >
> > do this...
> >
> > Lots of distributors will call a 20 minute wheel built by
> > an employee at home
> > a "hand-built" wheel.
> >
> > Typically the employee does 'em on spare time for
> > roughly 8 bucks apiece - so
> > they are encouraged to do at least 3 an hour. Some can do
> > 4.
> >
> > And of course they are passed off as a "better"
> > substitute for the same
> > machine-
> > built wheel that was done in 10 minutes - 5 by hand and 5
> > by machine.
> >
> > They'll often use two spoke wrenches at once - no lube
> > on the seats - and
> > literally start off with 2-3 complete turns right off the
> > back before spending
> > the final 5-10 minutes fine truing - and rarely get
> > anywhere near +/- .002
> > inches or decent tension.
> >
> > ...slick advertising really...
> >
> > I.e., like the machine-built wheels - they still need some
> > finishing work.
> >
> >
> > My wheel business is basically:
> >
> > The same machine built basic and replacement wheel but hand
> > assembled, lubed,
> > trued and tensioned, stress relieved, adjusted and spun,
> > for a total build time
> >
> > of at least an hour - often 1.5 hours for rear wheels.
> >
> > Some shops and customers do want to know that the wheel
> > coming off the shop
> > hook is "truly" a "hand-built" wheel
> > "quality"-wise even though it may be a
> > cheap basic and replacement wheel.
> >
> > For a shop that is really busy during the Summer - my
> > wheels help 'em get low-
> > end work out fast but right - so the higher-end and
> > higher-revenue generating
> > stuff such as overhauls and custom bikes don't get held
> > up. I don't sell much
> > during the winter - nor do I expect to.
> >
> > Of course like most builders, I do high end wheels as well.
> >
> > http://www.mrrabbit.net/wheelsbyfleming.php
> >
> > =8-)
> >
> > Robert Shackelford
> > San Jose, CA USA
> >
> > p.s., If the link above is not appropriate Dale, let me
> > know.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Quoting Harvey Sachs <hmsachs@verizon.net>:
> >
> > > Jim Papadopoulos, my wife, and I visited the Schwinn
> > works in Chicago in
> > > the Fall of 1974. At that time, assembly of
> > run-of-the-mill steel-rim
> > > wheels was a two part process. Humans spoked the
> > wheels. They were then
> > > put on a machine that mechanically tensioned the
> > spokes. It was
> > > certainly "good enough". This had been
> > going on for a long time, so I'm
> > > pretty sure it was not even computer-controlled.
> > >
> > > I believe that Jim eventually patented a concept that
> > would do the final
> > > tensioning in a single pass around the wheel.
> > >
> > > Harvey Sachs
> > > mcLean va usa
> > > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> > > Jerry 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.
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Classicrendezvous mailing list
> > > Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> > >
> > http://www.bikelist.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous
> > >
> > >
> > > --
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> >
> >
> >
> >
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