[Repack]

When you finish lacing, make sure all the spokes are seated properly-I like to tap all the elbows with a rubber mallet. Tensioning spokes will pull out the elbow bend a bit. It doesn't seem like much, but if you don't stress the wheel enough while building it, you will lose a ton of tension on you first ride. When it comes time to tension, you want to go every fourth spoke, so you will end up going around the wheel four times. The slower you bring up the tension, the truer the wheel will stay as you are building it. The valve hole is a god ref. point. The idea behind this is that you don't want to tension one part of the wheel too soon. Not doing this will make rounding the wheel a pain. Also keep in mind that with any wheel, as you ride the flange holes will ovalize some. This means that your wheel will loose tension when it is new. I would recomend checking the true and tension after each ride for the first several rides. This will make a difference in how long the wheel lasts.

 

[SwisSlesS]

I hold the rim and press the hub up against the wall. This effectively does the same thing as hitting the spoke elbows with a rubber mallet. This is probably the step that most new wheel builders forget/don't know to do, but it is also one of the most important.

 

[Matt D]

just hold the wheel in your lap with your elbows on the sides, legs on bottom and hands on top. Pull slightly with your hands and push with your elbows.

You should do this a few times each wheel you build to get the wheel to settle as much as it can before riding. After a few rides retension.

Not hard.

 

[Rev.Chuck]

I use a DT punch to seat the spoke heads. I also go 1/4 turn on every spoke, then check true and round, adjust, then go again. This has worked well for me(100's of times) and is fairly quick. Built one today, just a tick over fourty minutes, not in a hurry. I have built all my personal wheels(24 counting spares) and the oldest pair is working on ten years, had to replace the alloy nipples after about eight years on them. My newest road wheels just turned 3100mls and have not needed trueing or retensioning yet. Harder to guage with customer wheels, but I see most of them often and they know if there was a problem I would want to know about it. Plus I tell them to bring fresh builds in for a checkup after a couple of rides to make sure there are no problems.