Roughly how fast can a decent wheel builder build a wheel?
wheel building speed
- Thread starter Notorious_BIL
- Start date
I'd like to think I was decent. Takes me about an hour to an hour and a half.
Word...
thx 
with brand new hub/ rim/ spokes / nipples, under 45 minutes. with used rim, a little longer, because it takes longer to fine tune the spokes to get the wheel prefectly straight
When I worked in a shop and did it often and had good tools 30 minutes. I don't build too often now, 4 or 5 wheels a year it seems, and it takes about 45 minutes. Tools which help are a self centering truing stand and nipple driver. Nipple drivers speed up the lacing process a lot, and good stands like the park shop stands allow you to tension up and center the rim from the start so you spend less time centering with a dishing tool at the end.
13 minutes??unless your buddy is a machine, thats pretty much literally impossible.
ya......................... 13 minutes...................... it usually takes that long just to prep the the spokes.............................. building wheels shouldn't be a race, and I would never roll any wheelset built in 13 minutes.
Start to finish, (and I use the DT wall chart to get spoke length and I use Spokeprep) it takes about an hour to an hour and a half.
If every thing is laid out and it is a front wheel I can make a rideable wheel in fifteen minutes, this is not one I would put my name on or sell.
If every thing is laid out and it is a front wheel I can make a rideable wheel in fifteen minutes, this is not one I would put my name on or sell.
...I believe it.
Word...
I'd believe it too. If you're using a drill with a nipple-driver bit in it, and you put all your spokes into the hub before lacing to the rim, it's within the realm of possibility. Plus if he works at Mavic he probably does it 8 hrs a day 5 days a week.
I would DEFINITELY de-stress that wheel and re-tension before riding it though. As with any other factory-built wheel....
I've heard of him. Can't remember his name. My former service manager is friends with him. That guy is a freak.
I know that you need to do that on machine built wheels, but I thought that step was usually taken care of with hand built wheels...?
I never consider a wheel finished until it has been ridden and retrued/tensioned.
well, yeah (usually). But not on one that was handbuilt in 13 minutes!!
I have never had to retrue a wheel that I've built. If you tap the spoke heads with a punch, stress relieve the spokes, and give the wheel a good lateral cranking all around the rim on both sides before the final tensioning, it'll be perfect.
but it takes me longer than 13 minutes...
that's matt bracken, he's the president over at IF. he worked quite a few years as mavic's tech support. the guy knows what he is doing and i've ridden on quite a few wheels he's built and yes a frickin wheel building machine. it takes 13 minutes if he has the spokes preped and EVERYTHING laid out ready to go.
About 1/2 hour to build a good one.. Thats with the spoke legnth already determined. Ive never had to touch any of my wheels after the build..
I could see 13minutes.. But it really depends on the wheel. My boss built a no cross wheel in only a few minutes, kind if different though. He went around with the nipple driver then tightend all the spokes equally. The wheel was perfectly in dish, high/low was perfect to.. a fluke i must say.
I could see 13minutes.. But it really depends on the wheel. My boss built a no cross wheel in only a few minutes, kind if different though. He went around with the nipple driver then tightend all the spokes equally. The wheel was perfectly in dish, high/low was perfect to.. a fluke i must say.
You are all a bunch of mutants. I think it takes me at LEAST an hour and a half to actually get it perfect.
Well, and I'm a hack, too...but I figured the only way to learn to build a wheel was to simply try it and see. Got pretty good at it after my 3d or 4th, but it's been a while, now, and I think the skill is pretty perishable.
MD
Well, and I'm a hack, too...but I figured the only way to learn to build a wheel was to simply try it and see. Got pretty good at it after my 3d or 4th, but it's been a while, now, and I think the skill is pretty perishable.
MD
Since when is it a race?
Speed does not equal quality. I sure wouldn't want my mechanic bragging to his friends that he can hack together a wheel in a faster time than his buddy. I'd rather have him say that he spent a lot of time getting the wheel built to perfect tension/true/dish.
It takes me about an hour to build a wheel, and I prep the spokes a couple of hours before hand.
Speed does not equal quality. I sure wouldn't want my mechanic bragging to his friends that he can hack together a wheel in a faster time than his buddy. I'd rather have him say that he spent a lot of time getting the wheel built to perfect tension/true/dish.
It takes me about an hour to build a wheel, and I prep the spokes a couple of hours before hand.