The beginnings of an interesting wheel build. Taken March 28, 2014 |
For about a year, I planned to lace modern rims to the original hubs for my Fuji. I had prepped the hubs long ago, so the only real hang up was the cost of new rims and spokes. I'd settled on my cheap stand-by: SunRingle rims, specifially the CR-18. SunRingle makes inexpensive, yet effective and aesthetically pleasing rims. They are stout and plain, just how I like most things.
The spokes are really the hardest thing to procure for a wheel build. They are expensive--you can't get away from that. You can skimp on a hub and rim, but even cheap spokes add up. Unless you own a bike shop and you're ordering straight from distributors, you're either paying too much or buying too many. To make matters worse, I wanted this wheel build to mean something, which means I wanted decent spokes and a slightly unique lacing configuration--double butted spokes and a four-cross pattern. Four cross means that each spoke crosses four other spokes. This demands a longer spoke, and my spoke length calculations were telling me I was going to be needing some of the longest spokes that I could get from work. In fact, there was one size that I could not get from work. This was the real hang up. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I should do. Then I stumbled upon a site I'd seen a long time ago, and all of that changed.
Wheel Fanatyk is a half blog, half online store dealing exclusively in the lore, science, and distribution of wheel building. It is a tremendous resource, if not for their product then for their knowledge. The owners of the site are gracious and kind enough to provide custom spoke lengths at a tremendously low price! And the spokes were actually decent! I was overjoyed, and certain there was a catch. But after the spokes promptly arrived, packaged and marked in an exceedingly professional manner, I realized I'd found a true gem of a resource.
For the record, I highly recommend buying spokes from this website for your wheel builds.
As previously mentioned, I wanted to go "all out" and so I bought spoke washers. These "obscure bike components", as they were once described to me, are intended to seat between the spoke head and the flange of the hub shell. My first non-solo wheel build, years ago in Indiana, used spoke washers. To me, they were the icing on the cake, the cherry on top of a wheel build to mark it as the product of true craftsmanship. Afterall, I hadn't seen spoke washers since I had used them.
The finished front wheel. Taken April 19, 2014 |
Once I had everything gathered, I set to work lacing the wheel. The catch, this time, was that I intended to do as much of the build completely by myself as I could--that means no instructions, no guides, no books. Just me, a hub, thirty-six spokes and a rim. Overall I did a pretty good job. I did have to consult my latest wheel book, "The Bicycle Wheel" by Jobst Brandt, only a few times. Revered as the wheel builder's bible, it's goal is to dispel the mythos surrounding the bicycle wheel with the hard steel of an engineer's overly analytical mind. It is worth a quick read by any serious bike mechanic. Depending on one's pre-existing skill and knowledge level, it may not shed much light but it will undoubtedly contain some useful nuggets of information.
The finished wheels. Ignore the poor photography. Taken April 19, 2014 |
In the end I got a pair of nice wheels. I've been riding them for about three months now with no issues. I haven't checked the tension on the wheels yet but I feel that when I do they will not be too far off. The final step in the whole process was mounting my brand new tires. Before this, I had been riding Continental Gatorskins for nearly 3 years--almost as long as I've been working on bikes! I love the Gatorskin and always recommend it as a quality 700c road tire, as most mechanics will. But I had decided to change it up this time, and get something a little more appropriate for my touring frame and commuter bike. I went with the Continental Touring Plus. Still having the extreme puncture resistance that is built into the Gatorskin, these tires sport a more all-terrain tread pattern, are wider, and have a reflective sidewall. I can say that I am exceedingly happy with my choice. I will probably never put a different tire on my Fuji.
The finished rear wheel. Taken April 19, 2014 |
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