[brungeman]

I blew up the stock deore hub on my 575 a couple weeks back, and after riding some freeride stuff on my 575, I decided that I would take the cheap road on XC wheels for it and save money for a dedicated FR/DH rig. So instead of building the Chris King wheelset I had planned, I just got an XT hub (same flange, and spoke length as deore) and tore the old wheel down, and got to lacing!

3 cross 32 hole. not hard at all! a little intimidating at first (its been a while)

I trued it up, pre-stressed it, touched it up and had the owner of the shop look at it. he gave me a smile (pretty rare) a handshake and a pat on the back! I felt damn good! I celebrated with a Redhook IPA!

I am going to ride the piss out of it this weekend!

 

[Echo]

Building wheels is a major zen thing, nice job

 

[MMcG]

Nice! let us know how it goes when you commence with riding the piss out of it!

 

[splat]

I think learning to build your own wheels is one of the best things I ever learned when it comes to bike work. Now when I look at machine built wheels I relize how bad they are.

 

[BigMike]

awesome, have fun riding the piss out of it!

 

[brungeman]

Building wheels is a major zen thing, nice job

right on! there is this moment when all other thoughts and sounds must be tuned out when you are looking at the hub, and making sure you grab the correct spoke so you have parallell spokes at the valvestem! it is a sense of accomplishment I have not felt in a long time. I am ready to get back into the shop and build some more!

Nice! let us know how it goes when you commence with riding the piss out of it!

awesome, have fun riding the piss out of it!

That I will my friends... that I will!

I think learning to build your own wheels is one of the best things I ever learned when it comes to bike work. Now when I look at machine built wheels I relize how bad they are.

Yep, I will not lie, it is easy to pick up the catalog and order a set of prebuilt's but there is just something almost organic about building a wheel. It is something I really like! especially knowing how I will be using it! the type of terrain we have pounds equipment, and the guys I ride with make you hustle! the wheels will be put to the test for sure!

I still have the first wheel I ever built over 10 years ago. It is as straight as the day I built it, and was on 3 different bikes, and was beat to hell. I believe the quality of the parts (XTR hub, and Mavic SUP hoop) had a lot to do with the durability of it. I retired it anyway, just before switching to disk brakes.

 

[Konabumm]

I have always wanted to learn how to make my own wheels

 

[urbaindk]

Good job Brungeman!

I built my first wheel this winter. Singletrack rim on a Ringle ABBAH hub. Before I started, I had read a bunch about how to do it on RM. I downloaded some instructions from Sheldon Brown's website and went for it. I used another wheel as a guide to make sure I had the lacing right.

Based on what I read on here I expected that my first wheel would have desintegrated by now because it was my first build and I lacked experience. However, every time I put it up on the truing stand it's still true. That's after about 7 months of riding. That is far better than the machine-built wheel it replaced (same hub and rim type). I can't really explain the enormous amount of pleasure that has given me!

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Good on ya!

 

[brungeman]

I have always wanted to learn how to make my own wheels

have a clear head, the right parts (spokes that are the correct lenght) and you can do it! (it also helps to have someone to call upon if you have any questions)

DO IT YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THE FEELING OF BUILDING WHEELS! it may all sound hokey, and I know that when I worked in the shop fulltime I may have despised the whole act. but now it is for fun, and can be super relaxing!

 

[brungeman]

Good job Brungeman!

I built my first wheel this winter. Singletrack rim on a Ringle ABBAH hub. Before I started, I had read a bunch about how to do it on RM. I downloaded some instructions from Sheldon Brown's website and went for it. I used another wheel as a guide to make sure I had the lacing right.

Based on what I read on here I expected that my first wheel would have desintegrated by now because it was my first build and I lacked experience. However, every time I put it up on the truing stand it's still true. That's after about 7 months of riding. That is far better than the machine-built wheel it replaced (same hub and rim type). I can't really explain the enormous amount of pleasure that has given me!

that is freaking great! I don't know that I would have been that brave to just read and lace a wheel up off of instructions! I had one of the owners of the shop stand next to me and build a wheel as I built mine, and he talked me through it.

Yeah when you first prestress that thing and hear all the popping and tinging of the spokes seating themselves it is a little un-nerving, but if you true it up with enought tension (but not too much) they will last far longer than any machine made wheel!

You dont have to explain.... I can relate... it is an inner smile or something!

 

[urbaindk]

that is freaking great! I don't know that I would have been that brave to just read and lace a wheel up off of instructions!

I had been truing / tensioning wheels for a while so that part was pretty easy. I just had never built one from the start.

This was my instruction guide:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

It seems pretty thorough to me. I think I only F'ed up once and had to restart from the beginning. The offset spoke holes on the single track rim got me a little confused at first. Also I wasn't able to get the lettering on the hub to line up directly under the valve hole. Not a performance issue really, more of the climax to the whole zen thing. I reckon that will always bug me a little.

Oh well there's always next time! I want to build up some decent wheels for my wife's xc ride soon.

 

[brungeman]

I had been truing / tensioning wheels for a while so that part was pretty easy. I just had never built one from the start.

This was my instruction guide:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

It seems pretty thorough to me. I think I only F'ed up once and had to restart from the beginning. The offset spoke holes on the single track rim got me a little confused at first. Also I wasn't able to get the lettering on the hub to line up directly under the valve hole. Not a performance issue really, more of the climax to the whole zen thing. I reckon that will always bug me a little.

Oh well there's always next time! I want to build up some decent wheels for my wife's xc ride soon.

those are good directions, but my mentor showed me an easy way that is super fast... with almost no way you can screw it up! the only bit of concentration is needed when you flip the wheel to start lacing the other side!

I wasn't too picky about placement of the label, but that is some serious zen!