Building your own wheelset: Custom Wheel Building Part.2
Could you decide what to order and did everything arrive safely? Not yet? Check part.1 then! If you did, we should probably get to work to fit your bike with a sweet new pair of shoes. Today we’re gonna look into the “building” part of custom wheel building. As I said before, I am really far from an expert and everything you will read here is based only on my experience and my experience only. How I do things maybe isn’t the same as your local wheelbuilder, but I consider my technique simple enough so that everyone can give it a try. There are a few more things you’ll need to prepare after your final choice for hubs and rims is done. You’re gonna need to calculate the right spoke length you’ll have to order. A few measurements are required for this. Enter all your values into a spoke calculator such as the DT Swiss calculator and … voila! Here is a full rundown of all the measurements you’ll need to know.
- Your rim’s effective rim diameter (ERD). Basically the distance between two opposite nipples inside the rim. Don’t bother measuring this one since the ERD is almost always mentioned by the rim manufacturer. If you still can’t find it, you can send them an email or look into the many freely available cycling databases around the internet. You could even ask on our Discord server, someone might be able to give you an answer.
- Your hub’s pitch circle left and right. This is the distance between 2 opposite holes on one flange. An easy way to measure this is by having a precision caliper at home. Since even track hubs can have asymmetric flanges, it’s important to measure both. You’ll have to order different left and right spokes.
- The distance between the left/right flange from the center of your hub. Since 90% of track hubs are symmetrical you can just measure the distance between your 2 flanges and divide it by two. Only if they are symmetrical! If they’re not you can have the correct value by doing a little bit of math. First, you need to know the distance between the flange and the bearing cone or locknut of your hub. In simpler words: where your hub touches your frame/fork. Let’s call this gap: G. So it’s gonna be (length of your hub / 2) - G = center to flange distance!
When you have all these measurements, you’ll just need your desired nipple length, cross pattern (more on that later), and of course the number of holes for your front and rear hub/rim. There are three standards for nipple length: 12 if you're a weight weenie, 14 for normal people like you and me, and 16 for when you screw up your spoke calculation and they are a little too short. There are two nipple materials: brass and aluminum. Brass can handle way more load and stress than an aluminum nipple and they are also less prone to corrosion. Aluminum is obviously lighter but required more precision. For a fixed gear wheelset, the choice is pretty obvious: just go with brass.
For the pattern of your wheel, you can either go cross or radial and if you decide to do cross, I would recommend going 3 cross, since it’s one of the most common and durable. The more intersections between spokes, the stronger your wheel will be but also the longer your spokes will have to be. So more weight in the end
Now you know what spoke length you need! Great! The last step is to choose what type of spokes you want. There are different models but it usually comes down if you want regular 2mm spokes, bladed spokes, or round ones that get thinner in the middle part for extremely minor weight saving. The round ones usually slim down to 1.8mm or even 1.5mm in some cases. I personally always use regular 2mm spokes since I’m not on the hunt for every gram I could save and spokes can get pretty expensive if you need sixty of them.
Let’s start to lace up that wheel! I’m gonna explain the process very briefly and easily but if you want deeper explanations, Seldon Brown has a really good tutorial on this.
- Group 1 starts on the first rim hole on the right of the valve hole. Spokes go in the hub from the outside. To have your hub logo facing your valve hole you need to insert your first spoke (key spoke) into the further right hole from your logo in the flange facing you. Place your key spoke and screw a nipple in just to keep it in place. Insert your second spoke by skipping one hole on the hub and three on the rim. Your first group would look like this: 1-0-1-0-1-0…. for the hub and 1-0-0-0-1-0-0-0-1-0-0-0-1… for the rim. When you’re done, flip your wheel around so the other flange is facing you.
- Group 2 starts on the second spoke hole on the right (now left since you turned your wheel around) from the valve hole. Again, spokes go in the hub from the outside. Insert your spoke in the hole facing your key spoke on the other side. Since holes on the two flanges never directly face each other, use the one “below”. Insert the next spoke by leaving one free hole on the hub and three on the rim. Your second group would look like this: 2-0-2-0-2-0…. for the hub and 2-1-0-0-2-1-0-0-2-1-0-0-2… for the rim. When you’re done, flip your wheel around again.
- Group 3: Insert your spoke from the inside into any available hole. Then make sure your spoke makes an intersection with 3 others (usually, the hub is in the middle of the first intersection but it counts as one crossing!) On the rim you’ll only have two holes available, use the one that follows the pattern, one spoke right-left-right-left... and so on. Your third group would look like this: 1-3-1-3-1-3…. for the hub and 1-2-3-0-1-2-3-0-1-2… for the rim. When you’re done, flip your wheel around one last time.
-Group 4: Same as Group 3 and you’ll only have one hole left for each spoke so this one is easy. Your fourth group would look like this: 2-4-2-4-2-4…. for the hub and 4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1… for the rim.
I made some technical drawings to hopefully make things a little bit easier to understand. But those instructions are way more clear if you actually build a wheel at the same time. Now that your wheel is assembled you’re gonna need to true it. For this, you’ll need a spoke key, a flat screwdriver, and a truing stand. I have a Minora one that is pretty affordable and does the job perfectly well. There are three settings you’ll need to take into consideration. Vertical truing, lateral truing, and spoke tension.
- For vertical truing, place your wheel on the truing stand and use the caliper under the rim. If it touches, you’ll need to tighten spokes in that area. Always tighten spokes by ¼ of a turn at a time and tighten the spoke before and after the affected area. Turn your wheel again and repeat until nothing is touching. Then you can raise your caliper a little bit and do it again until you're satisfied with how straight and true your wheel runs.
- For lateral truing, use the caliper on the sides of the rim. To be sure that your wheel dish (how good your wheel is centered on your hub) is not offset, it’s usually better to do one side, flip your wheel on the stand and continue to use the same caliper for the other side. Let’s say we use the right caliper here. If it’s rubbing then tighten (always ¼ of a turn at a time) the spokes coming from the left flange a little bit. This will pull the rim to the left and away from the rubbing caliper. Once your rim does not rub anymore, flip your wheel and repeat the process. You can slowly move your caliper closer after flipping your wheel every time a side is done.
-For spoke tension, there are definitely specialized tools but I just do what feels right to me. Press 2 spokes in your hand, they should only bend from 1mm to 3mm and feel tight enough.
Here is how I do it: I always start by screwing in all my nipples just enough so there is no visible thread on the spoke, then I try to get 90% of the vertical truing done. After you’re done with that you can go into the long process of lateral truing. When I feel I’ve done good enough, I usually look at vertical truing one last time and stop it there. If you're done but your spokes feel too loose, tighten them all by ¼ of a turn and repeat until you have a good amount of tension. To conclude, it all depends on your level of satisfaction and how much time you’re willing to take to build the absolute perfect wheel.
I have one last trick I use to release the spoke tension and put everything in place: Fold a towel, lay it on the floor, take your wheel and face one side of your hub on the towel (mostly here to protect your floor). apply pressure on your rim with both arms and you should hear some small metal noises. Do this again on the other side and you’re good to go. I usually check the tension again after 2-3 weeks of use, just to be sure and because of material elasticity and all that kind of science stuff.
This article is pretty long but hopefully, you’ll get a small idea of what wheelbuilding is all about. The more you do it the easier it gets. Try starting with some basic aluminum rims and work your way up to something more “precise”. If it’s getting on your nerves, take a break, go outside and breathe some fresh air, because you’re definitely gonna need patience for your first time. If you still need help, you can contact me on our Discord server and I’ll try to help you the best I can!
Side note: All the technical drawings are made by me. If you want to use them for non-commercial purposes, feel free to do so while mentioning the blog as the source. Thank you!
