This is not a comprehensive how-to-guide on wheel-building. It is meant only as a general overview.
Wheel building is the process of lacing a hub to a rim using spokes, then applying tension and aligning everything so the result is round, without wobbles , and durable. Most first wheels come out usable, and with enough time, and effort completely true. A reasonably patient person can build a decent wheel in 2-8 hours. Your first build may take forever, but if you’re like us you’ll love the process. Experienced builders do it in under an hour or two.
THE COMPONENTS
A wheel has four ingredients: a HUB (the center), a RIM (the outer hoop), SPOKES (typically 28, 32, or 36), and NIPPLES (small threaded fasteners that connect spokes to rim and act as the tensioning adjustment). Spoke length is specific to the hub/rim/lacing combination and must be calculated. Unfortunately, getting this wrong is the most common beginner mistake. And that’s where our kits shine, because we take that out of the equation.
LACING PATTERNS
There are several common lacing patterns, but here we’ll focus on 3-cross.
Wheels built in a three-cross or cross-3 pattern are thusly named due to the fact that each spoke crosses three others on its way from hub to rim. This is the default for nearly all rear wheels and most front wheels. The crossings let the spokes transmit torque (pedaling, braking) by pulling roughly tangent to the hub flange rather than radially. This lacing pattern has quite a few advantages including strength, comfort, and longevity. For this reason all of our wheel kits use the three-cross lacing pattern. It’s not exotic but practical , strong, and time tested.
Other lacing patterns include 2-cross, 4-cross, and Radial. While these may have advantages such as aesthetics, aerodynamics and minuscule weight savings, they sometimes sacrifice strength and durability, or are a necessity depending on the type of hub (4-cross). Wheels build using the 3-cross pattern are generally considered to be the best recipe for creating a long lasting, strong wheel build.
THE BUILD SEQUENCE
This is not a comprehensive guide to putting together a bicycle wheel. While we’re pretty good at building wheels, we won’t pretend to the the authority on the subject, because there are already so many great resources that will help you. Why try to reinvent the wheel.
- LACING. Typically the spokes are inserted one at a time following whatever patterns Done correctly, the result is a loose, floppy wheel with all spokes attached but minimal tension. This takes most of the time on a first build because you’re constantly second-guessing which hole goes where. Sheldon Brown’s lacing guide is the canonical reference and walks through it hole by hole.
- INITIAL TENSIONING. You thread each nipple down the spoke with a screwdriver or nipple driver until the threads just disappear, giving every spoke roughly equal starting tension. The wheel now holds its shape but is nowhere near rideable.
- TRUING AND TENSIONING. This is the craft part. Using a truing stand (or the bike frame as a stand-in), you bring the wheel into four kinds of alignment, working all of them together rather than one at a time:
- RADIAL TRUE: roundness with no high or low spots as the rim spins
- LATERAL TRUE: flatness with no wobble side-to-side
- DISH: the rim is centered between the ends of the axle (critical for rear wheels because the cassette makes the hub asymetrical)
- EVEN TENSION: every spoke on a given side carrying similar load
Builders methodically and gradually raise tension across the whole wheel, going around in passes (often quarter-turns), correcting wobbles by tightening on one side and loosening on the other. A tension meter helps to assure tension is in right range. Non disc / rim-brake font wheels typically have equal spoke tension in the left and right side due to the flanges often being both symmetrical and the same size. Disc brake hubs are often asymmetrical in flange diameter and offset. This same asymmetry often applies to rear wheels where the drive side spoke tension is typically much greater and the non-drive side substantially lower. You can build without a meter by feel and pitch (plucking spokes to hear similar tones), and plenty of good builders do, but a meter can help decrease the learning curve and give a first time builder valuable insights.
- STRESS-RELIEVING.One method is to squeeeze pairs of parallel spokes hard with your hands, or press down on the wheel against the floor at various points around the rim. This unwinds any twist (windup) in the spokes from tightening and seats the spoke elbows into the hub flange. The wheel will go slightly out of true again. Then fix the imperfections, and repeat until stress-relieving stops changing anything. Skipping this step is why some wheels go out of true a week after the first ride.
WHAT MAKES A WHEEL GOOD
A well-built wheel isn’t just true, it has EVEN TENSION across all spokes on each side and is STRESS-RELIEVED. A perfectly true wheel with wildly uneven tension will detension itself within a few hundred miles. This is the part that separates a working wheel from a durable one, and it’s invisible to anyone looking at the finished product.
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
Minimum tools needed: spoke wrench sized to your nipples, a screwdriver or nipple driver, the frame/fork as a truing stand, oil for the spokes and nipples.
Ideal tools: dedicated truing stand, spoke holder, nipple driver, dishing tool, tension meter, and oil for the spokes and nipples.
A truing stand is perhaps the upgrade that matters most after the wrench itself.
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE
Free and paid sources worth knowing:
- Sheldon Brown’s wheel-building article: This is a foundational and maybe slightly dated guide, but still excellent.
- Roger Musson’s “Professional Guide to Wheel Building” is purchased as paid PDF from his website. It is widely considered the best single resource. It’s our favorite resource.
- Park Tool video series on YouTube can give you a visual on how it works.
- Jobst Brandt’s “The Bicycle Wheel”: This offers the basics and a technical deep-dive to help the reader understand why everything works the way it does. It’s out of print, but there’s many used copies available on online market places.
