Bicycle Wheel Repair info?

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scottm

scottm

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I mis-judged a curb this morning, one I've bunny-hopped for ten years without a problem. So now my two-week-old rear wheel needs attention. I loaned out my Bicycle Wheel Building book years ago, and I haven't done this in a very long time, and I want to get it technically right. I have disk brakes, so it doesn't need to be perfect, but I need to get the spokes tensioned correctly and take that wobble out a bit. I used to take my bike to Iceland a lot, and I got a lot of practice repairing my wheels after riding on jagged granite every day.

I'm looking for a basic guide to tensioning spokes, maybe a bit more if I decide to replace the rim; I'll re-lace without removing the spokes from the hub in that case. These are my winter wheels, heavy everything with brass nipples, nothing exotic. I just replaced my original wheels, only the front hub was salvageable, so I don't have another set built up, and I need to fix this tonight.

Thanks!
 
If the rim is bent, there's nothing you can do, except give it a good whack on the ground.

BTW, I just threw-away my old truing stand. It wasn't perfect, but nobody wanted it. I'm about to toss my Park professional repair stand if nobody speaks up.
 
I throw in the towel where wheels are concerned. I'd rather pay my bike shop to do that task.
 
Scott, if you flat spotted the rim you ought to replace it. The spoke tension will never be right and you'll get saddle sores.

I would open the old wheel up a few twists of each spoke at a time, not all at once, then just before you completely back off any nipple, tape a new rim to the old one. Then transfer spokes one at a time, using new nipples of course - the threads on good ones are really only meant to be tightened and once loosened they lose their "grip" on the spoke. You definitely need a nipple driver for this.

Assuming the new rim is identical in size to the old one, tighten up with a nipple driver, counting twists until you are almost there, leaving just a few twists to go before the threads are buried.

This is assuming the spokes were the right size and threads were just a little buried in the old nipples.

Now, as far as truing/rounding goes, there shouldn't be much left to do, and you should be able to do it on your bike if your frame is straight and your heart is pure (kidding about the last bit :D). Basically never get to a point where you have to loosen spokes to true a wheel. Also tension it by putting weight on it from all angles as you true it up.

Now, after a few miles you need to finish it off with a few more choice moves, and you're done until you hit that curb again...

I've built scores of race wheels (back in the day of Mavic SSC, CEL 280, GP4 and DT spokes) and rarely if ever have had to actually true up a wheel even after thousands of miles of racing.

Come over sometime and I'll show you how to tie and solder :D
 
Doc said:
I throw in the towel where wheels are concerned. I'd rather pay my bike shop to do that task.
Click to expand...

x2 on that. I did all repairs, maintenance to my bikes. Except wheel building/truing. What a pain in the arse.

I got the jobst brandt book and everything. Maybe one day I'll go back to attempting to build a wheel.

good luck.
 
Awesome, thanks Cary, that's exactly what I was looking for. It all looks very familiar, pretty much what I remember in the Jobst book.

Ozcal: yep, it's flat spotted. Full sus and disk brakes are amazingly forgiving of rim problems. The shop was amazed when they saw the wheels I wanted to rebuild a few weeks ago. The nipples were corroded badly (road salt), the rims were bent in several directions, rear axle was bent, and I was still riding it every day. I've been riding on snow and ice for a while, so I'm used to a little wobbling. Great idea to transfer spokes, I'll try it. Can't re-use almost new nipples? I'm a big fan of threadlocker, might that do the trick? Thanks for the refresher, that'll get me started.

Trevor: I wish I could buy it, I'm afraid shipping would kill the deal. I had one partly built, never got time to finish it, hopefully that won't happen with this wheel!

I agree with Beaufort, it is a pretty cool accomplishment when the wheel actually trues up and stays that way.
 
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Rat farts! Apparently bike shops don't stock rims anymore, there are too many different rims and they aren't compatible with each other. The deep rims require shorter spokes, depending on how deep. They'll have to check with the manufacturer and order rims with the appropriate depth, or I'll have to respoke, which means pulling the cluster and disk off. Either way, they'll have to order a rim. I should've just picked up a second wheel set, looks like I need one.
 
When you bunny hopped that curb did you get like 3 feet of air?
napoleon.webp
 
scottm said:
Rat farts! Apparently bike shops don't stock rims anymore, there are too many different rims and they aren't compatible with each other. The deep rims require shorter spokes, depending on how deep. They'll have to check with the manufacturer and order rims with the appropriate depth, or I'll have to respoke, which means pulling the cluster and disk off. Either way, they'll have to order a rim. I should've just picked up a second wheel set, looks like I need one.
Click to expand...

They don't cut and re-thread spokes anymore?

Edit: nevermind, I'm slow today. You don't WANT to re-spoke...
 
Trevor said:
They don't cut and re-thread spokes anymore?

Edit: nevermind, I'm slow today. You don't WANT to re-spoke...
Click to expand...

I will if I have to. I'm sure they need to know the depth of the rim, and the hub, and the offsets for the cluster and disk, etc. It's gotten a bit complicated. If they had that exact rim I'd be all set, but apparently every rim is different now.

I pulled apart the old rear hub to see if I can salvage it for another wheel set, I need new tools to get all of it apart. I'll indicate the axle, cones, and races, to see what's bent.
 
MR.SIGINT said:
When you bunny hopped that curb did you get like 3 feet of air?
Click to expand...

At 6am after a hard ride, I don't have that much left in me. But I should've been able to clear a curb, I've been doing this every day for years. Maybe too many years? :frown:
 
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