Im dead chuffed with myself...

[davebee]

Tinight I managed to strip down and regrease my hubs all by myself. I know for a lot of people it is an easy thing, but I had just never done it before, especially given that my "good" bike uses Hope hubs with cartridge bearings.

I am especially happy that the hubs on the cheap bike are now running MUCH better than ever before, obviously not as good as the Hope's but then is anything as good as Hope?

Now all I have to do is the rear wheel, which I have already stripped down but is proving to be fiddly to get the old grease out of.

Maybe I should try a bit of wheelbuilding??

Is it easy, and if i get halfway and the get stuck cos i can't get it dished or something, will a bike shop be able to fix it or will they have to bin and start from scratch?


But I have managed to strip the front hub down and regrease it and put in new bearings, and for that I am very proud! ;-)

Dave

 

[Peter B]

"davebee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Maybe I should try a bit of wheelbuilding??
>
> Is it easy, and if i get halfway and the get stuck cos i can't get it dished or something, will a
> bike shop be able to fix it or will they have to bin and start from scratch?

It's not difficult and is mainly a case of patience, common sense and making small adjustments.
Keep another wheel alongside to use as a model for lacing. So long as you lace it correctly someone
else could finish the job without stripping it but may feel inclined to charge a standard fee
anyway. But that's being negative because you will finish it won't you ;-) Another intro to it is a
rim change where you tape a new rim to the old one (so long as the spokes are the correct length
and the hub worth keeping) and swap the spokes one at a time from the old rim to the new, no need
to remove from the hub.

Bear in mind you can buy a ready made wheel from a webstore for the sum of the parts cost so the
only motivation for doing it yourself is the satisfaction of the completed job and the sense of self-
reliance knowing you can re-true a wheel yourself.

Me, I get a sense of pride everytime I look at or use my DIY wheels, sad I know but it's the little
things in life......

http://www.dtswiss.com/index.asp for a spoke length calculator.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html for a complete "how-to" guide.
--
Regards, Pete

 

[Martin Family]

On 13/2/04 10:36 pm, in article [email protected],
"davebee" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Maybe I should try a bit of wheelbuilding??
>
> Is it easy, and if i get halfway and the get stuck cos i can't get it dished or something, will a
> bike shop be able to fix it or will they have to bin and start from scratch?

Wheel building is not difficult but it requires patience. I find it is a very good stress relieving
activity where I want something involved but not intellectually demanding to do for a few hours..

You will need:

1. A wheel building stand. I have used the minoura one (available from wiggle) with good results.

2. A good spoke key. (a spokey is great).

3. A wheel to use as a pattern is useful.

The trick is to do it slowly and methodically. When you put the spoke through the rim put the nipple
on a definite number of turns (ie 3), then when you have all the spokes in tighten them all up a
little at a time until they are all nigh on snug. This gets you to a point where you can stick the
wheel in the jig and start to tension it fully.

Keep things even and work across the wheel, ie one side, other side, one quarter, opposite quarter
(or thirds may be better on a 36 hole hub).

Check it frequently. on the jig. make little adjustments rememberign that you will need to slacken
as well as tension.

The hardest part is dish. I have not built a wheel with off centre dish. With centred wheels (ie
front wheel) you can reverse the wheel in teh jig to check centering. With off centre back wheels
you can't do this so easily.

have fun, take it slowly. You can always back off and try again.

The first set of wheels I built (MA40 in Ultegra) lasted about ten thousand miles before someone
ran into the back wheel. They were within 0.5mm of true. I am still riding their replacements
(Open4CD on 105).

..d

 

[Mseries]

davebee wrote:
> Maybe I should try a bit of wheelbuilding??
>
> Is it easy, and if i get halfway and the get stuck cos i can't get it dished or something, will a
> bike shop be able to fix it or will they have to bin and start from scratch?
>
>
> But I have managed to strip the front hub down and regrease it and put in new bearings, and for
> that I am very proud! ;-)

Thats the only bike maintenance task that I haven't yet tried myself. Its next on my list of
skills to master

 

[Peter B]

"Martin Family" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:BC53B745.D4BD%[email protected]...
> You will need:
>
> 1. A wheel building stand. I have used the minoura one (available from wiggle) with good results.

You don't *need* a wheel building stand, I manage without but would very much like one ;-)
--
Regards, Pete

 

[Chris Heys]

On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 22:36:40 GMT, davebee
<[email protected]> wrote:

obviously not as good as the Hope's but
>then is anything as good as Hope?
Personel experience says that while Hope bearings are very good, the manufactoring process of the
hub shells is very poor and leads to failure.

My 2 cents

Chris

 

[Martin Family]

On 14/2/04 2:27 pm, in article [email protected], "Peter B"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
> "Martin Family" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:BC53B745.D4BD%martin-
> [email protected]
>> You will need:
>>
>> 1. A wheel building stand. I have used the minoura one (available from wiggle) with good results.
>
> You don't *need* a wheel building stand, I manage without but would very much like one ;-)

You don't *need* a spoke key either, but is sure as hell helps to have nice kit.

A truing stand means you can sit comfortably at a table building the wheel rather than having to do
it on a bike.

You could build the wheel with a pair of pliers and a few scrap bits of wood or a bike frame but it
isn't so much fun.

As a stand is only about 30 quid it is a worthwhile investment.

..d

 

[Peter B]

"Martin Family" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:BC540F12.D50C%[email protected]...
> On 14/2/04 2:27 pm, in article [email protected], "Peter
B"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >
> > "Martin Family" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:BC53B745.D4BD%martin-
> > [email protected]
> >> You will need:
> >>
> >> 1. A wheel building stand. I have used the minoura one (available from wiggle) with good
> >> results.
> >
> > You don't *need* a wheel building stand, I manage without but would
very
> > much like one ;-)
>
> You don't *need* a spoke key either,

Now you're being silly.

> but is sure as hell helps to have nice kit.

Did I say otherwise?

My point remains that if someone wants to build wheels on a budget they don't need a stand, sure it
would be better to have one but is not a limiting factor. A decent spoke key is a neccessity to
avoid damaging nipples.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, give it a try.

--
Regards, Pete

 

[Andrew Sweetman]

Martin Family <[email protected]> wrote in ...
> The hardest part is dish. I have not built a wheel with off centre dish. With centred wheels (ie
> front wheel) you can reverse the wheel in teh jig
to
> check centering. With off centre back wheels you can't do this so easily.
>
Reversing the wheel works with dished rear wheels as well, as the rim is central between the
wheelnuts. It's the hub flanges that aren't centred, hence shorter block-side spokes. The only off-
centre wheels around are for some Orbits, which have off-centre rear dropouts to get the rim
centred between the hub flanges instead (for a stronger wheel, if harder to build)

 

[Martin Family]

On 15/2/04 9:22 pm, in article [email protected], "Andrew
Sweetman" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> Martin Family <[email protected]> wrote in ...
>> The hardest part is dish. I have not built a wheel with off centre dish. With centred wheels (ie
>> front wheel) you can reverse the wheel in teh jig
> to
>> check centering. With off centre back wheels you can't do this so easily.
>>
> Reversing the wheel works with dished rear wheels as well, as the rim is central between the
> wheelnuts. It's the hub flanges that aren't centred, hence shorter block-side spokes.

I was not explicitly clear.. I meant off centre wheels, typically undished rear wheels. Obviously if
the rim is centred between the wheel nuts then you can just reverse it to check the alignment.

> The only off-centre wheels around are for some Orbits, which have off-centre rear dropouts to get
> the rim centred between the hub flanges instead (for a stronger wheel, if harder to build)

There may be a few others IIRC.

..d

 

[Tom Jackson]

On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 11:30:13 +0000, Martin Family
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On 13/2/04 10:36 pm, in article [email protected], "davebee" <usenet-
>[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Maybe I should try a bit of wheelbuilding??
>>
>> Is it easy, and if i get halfway and the get stuck cos i can't get it dished or something, will a
>> bike shop be able to fix it or will they have to bin and start from scratch?
>
>
>Wheel building is not difficult but it requires patience. have fun, take it slowly. You can always
>back off and try again.

Having just built my first wheel this weekend, I can agree with that statement. It wasn't as
difficult as I as I was expecting it to be, and with patience, and small, methodical truing steps,
I've arrived at a very true and impressive wheel.

As other posters have noted, there's an immense sense of satisfaction in riding out on self-
built wheels.

tom.