Spokes.....

[weevil]

Apologies if this is old news, but for anyone interested in learning the art wheelbuilding, I can recommend "The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt.

It reads a bit like an engineering thesis in parts (maybe it was), but it's very insightful. Being an engineering geek, I love the detail, but it may be a bit much for someone who simply wants to build wheels. Of course, one could read just the wheelbuilding instructions and ignore the background stuff.

I read the the whole thing before even touching my wheels. I totally dismantled and rebuilt both wheels on my MTB, with the book open beside me to re-check every step of the way and was delighted with the end results.

 

[John the Monkey]

I'd sound a note of caution here - the important thing about a wheel building book is that the author writes in a way you can get you head around while you're exercising a new, fairly complex skill.

I have Brandt's book, and while it's comprehensive, I (personally) wouldn't commend it to a newcomer.

Gerd Schraner's book is really, really good, but probably better for someone who's got a few builds under their belt.

Sheldon Brown's guidance is good for beginnners, but didn't "click" for me.

Roger Musson's book was just the ticket though - good diagrams, and a clear step by step process to follow for standard 3x wheels.

Try and get a look at them before you shell out money - some will work for you and some won't, ime.

 

[weevil]

I have Brandt's book, and while it's comprehensive, I (personally) wouldn't commend it to a newcomer.

Gerd Schraner's book is really, really good, but probably better for someone who's got a few builds under their belt.

Sheldon Brown's guidance is good for beginnners, but didn't "click" for me.

Roger Musson's book was just the ticket though - good diagrams, and a clear step by step process to follow for standard 3x wheels.

Try and get a look at them before you shell out money - some will work for you and some won't, ime.

Sound advice.

I've never seen the other books, nor read that section of Sheldon's site, but that's probably because Brandt's book worked for me. I was new to wheelbuilding, but had plenty of engineering experience.

I should have remembered that different people/personalities have different learning styles. In retrospect, I can see how Brandt's book might have limited appeal; primarily to the small percentage of the population who are wired like me (a slightly anal engineering geek).

Thanks for the extra recommendations. If you have time, could you elaborate a little more on how they differ?

 

[bad boy]

To be honest im just interested in keeping my wheels straight would I need to read the book to grasp this concept of tightening and loosening spokes ?.

Ive got the Haynes bike book and read Sir Sheldons pages on the subject which helped me although like I say I dont want to build wheels just keep them running true

 

[PpPete]

I'm certainly more confident (and I hope more skilled) at trueing wheels since I learned to build them.

I've not read Brandt's book, and whilst Sheldon's site is my first port of call for any other issue I didn't find his wheel building instructions easy to follow.

Roger Musson's book is first class though. Not so much geeky engineering stuff, but pretty comprehensive for all that and very clear illustrations. Plans for home-made jig in there too.

IMO there is little no excuse for building a poor wheel with an Open Pro rim. Nothing wrong with Deore hubs either. If you are not happy with original build quality, take it apart and re-lace it.

 

[John the Monkey]

Thanks for the extra recommendations. If you have time, could you elaborate a little more on how they differ?

It's been a good while since I looked at Schraner's book, so this is based on my recollection of it.

With that caveat in mind, I remember his books as having the depth of Brandt's, but that depth comes far more from his experiences as a wheel builder, rather than the sort of "hard" engineering knowledge and theory that Brandt's book has. There's loads of interesting stuff in it, but it does (in places) diverge from the way others do things (his lacing method, for example). It also contradicts some of the things said about the orientation of trailing & leading spokes (again, based on his experience). It's a really good read, but I think you get most out of it once you've built a couple of wheels - it's a book that lets you look critically at the way you do things. If you've built a wheel, or a couple or more, definitely get hold of it (from a friend, or from the library - it's really good.

Sheldon's guidance is good, but I found it very hard to "picture" his instructions, personally - that's a problem with a first build (imo) as you need to have what you're doing clear in your head at each stage of the process.

Brandt's book I found very dry (personally) although I did like his section on wheel failures, which is really useful. The building instructions didn't click for me personally.

Roger Musson's book presents wheel building as a process with a series of discrete steps. Every step is clearly explained, and well diagrammed (if that's a word) - it's easy to understand and picture as you go along. His plans for home built truing jig and dishing guage (I made one out of card and a steel rule, as he suggests) are easy to follow and work well. If I could only have one wheel building book, it'd be this one, although as I say, that's because his instructions and method suit me personally. His site has the best spoke calculation tool as well (imo).

This site was a big help also;
http://miketechinfo.com/new-tech-wheels-tires.htm

As was this thread on the CTC forum;
http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19189&sid=08d8a2c2808393ab32661b08e525c2f9&start=15

 

[bad boy]

Thanks for the advice, I shall take a look at some of those books when I get a chance.

 

[normgow]

A very useful booklet is "Building Bicycle Wheels" by Robert Wright. I don't know if it is still available as I bought mine nearly thirty years ago but its 46 pages tell me all I need to know about the building and truing of wheels.
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