Let's build a wheel with no tools!
Fahrräder, Tests, online, Rezensionen, Bewertungen
Arguably the most specialized area of bike repair is wheel building. You need to know about spoke types, spoke lengths, hubs, rims, rim sizes, lacing, truing, dishing, and a variety of measurements that would make your head spin. Not to mention the expensive specialty tools like truing stands, nipple drivers, spoke wrenches, and dishing gauges. It’s no wonder that some bike shops outsource their wheel repair to specialists. Just carrying the parts is a challenge. To me, wheel builders are like heart surgeons. So, I came up with a terrible challenge: Swap a rim with no specialty tools other than a spoke wrench. We’re not starting with a pile of parts though. I actually do have a bent wheel here which needs a new hoop. First we’ll remove the brake rotor to expose the side of the hub. I said I’d only use a spoke wrench, but I don’t think a torx driver counts as a wheel building tool. In an attempt to make my life slightly easier I’m tying all these spokes together with string. For an experienced mechanic this wouldn’t make things easier at all, but for me it takes the complexity out of lacing the wheel back up. Now I’m removing all of the spoke nipples, which would be way way easier with a nipple driver. I feel like my hand is going to fall off and I haven’t even started fastening the new rim. You can sorta use a screwdriver for this, but it doesn’t have the little point in the middle that keeps it centered. It’s harder than you would think. Now to lace the new hoop on. Even with the spokes tied together this is not easy. In fact, I almost wish I left the string off. This part of the process wouldn’t have been too bad, but I got a few of the nipples stuck inside the rim. To get them back out, some wheels are worse than other. A few times I considered just sawing the rim open and quitting mountain biking. I tried tweezers, magnets, you name it. The only thing that works is shaking the wheel for 20 minutes and hoping for a miracle. Now that I have all my hardware back, the wheel is at least put together. Now it needs to be trued so that all of the spokes have even tension. Since I’m doing this with no tools, I’ll use the front fork and some zip ties. If you’ve never trued a wheel before, it’s basically a matter of finding the biggest bow in the wheel, tightening the spoke on the opposite side of it lightly, and then repeating the process until the wheel is straight. Although it might look straight, we still need to align this rim with the hub laterally. This part is called dishing. Dishing is normally done with a gauge, or even a properly calibrated truing stand. Since I don’t have either, I’ll be using a trick I saw on a forum. Basically, I’m setting a reference point on one side of the wheel, flipping it over, and making sure the hub face is the same distance from the rim on both sides. It’s not. It’s off tremendously. Because it’s off by so much, I’m going to tighten every spoke on the right side, and loosen every spoke on the left side one half turn. 30 minutes later and a couple more passes around the wheel, and I’m as close as we’re gonna get with my homemade precision dishing gauge. One more tedious truing and we’re finally done. That took me over 3 hours and I regret it thoroughly. There’s a little jump in the rim too. It won’t be noticeable while riding, but I’ll know it’s there and it’ll bother me. There are scratches all over my brand new Easton Arc rim, and the nipples look like they’ve been through some kind of S&M clamping ritual. I don’t know what tool I missed the most. Obviously the truing stand would have helped, as a properly calibrated one can pretty much do the whole job. Not only that, but it provides a nice mount at eye level for working on the wheel. The other part that killed me was not having a nipple driver. If you’ve ever smashed your hand in a car door, then you know what it feels like to build a whole friggin wheel with just a spoke wrench. Let’s also consider that I was building a front wheel, which is easier than a rear since it’s pretty much centered over the hub. A rear wheel is offset even more to account for the cassette, so my terrible experience was actually the best case scenario. I could have used really nice tools, and the help of an experienced mechanic, but I thought this video would be useful those who wanted to save a few bucks. Actually, how many bucks are we saving? $35? Ugh… Even if your local shop charges twice this, I can’t recommend doing it yourself without the proper tools and knowledge. The risk of you screwing it up and costing yourself more money is just too great. I hope that at least, this was worth the entertainment. Thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll see you next time.
Bemerkungen
-
Love your vids keep it up
-
Is there any way you can make more trail videos
-
I'm a cycle mechanic and I must say binding the spokes together when swapping a rim over is genius!
-
Just ordered a Hope pro 4 Enduro wheelset to replace the cheap wheelset that came with my DB Mission 1.
-
Seth your the man, I love your channel! A wise master mechanic advised the use of a toothpick for a nipple driver and it works pretty well in my experience. Although I totally agree with you the lacing and trueing is a pain!
-
I built my own wheels last winter using the correct tools and a great book.
I didn't save any money, but gaining the knowledge was what I was seeking, so to that end, I feel it was worth it.
Full disclosure: my tools are all Park Tools, with a nice DT Swiss spoke wrench, including Park Tool truing stand, nipple driver and tension gauge...
Sure it's a lot of money, but I still have the tools and plan to build more as time and money permit. -
A tip for preventing nipples getting lost inside a deep rim: screw a spare spoke a turn or two into the nipple from the 'wrong' side. You now have a handle to insert the nipple and get it started on the new spoke. Then it's only a turn or two to remove the spare spoke.
-
Seth you should have just taped the new rim to the old one , lined up the valve holes and taken over the spokes one by one to the new rim.
-
2brave
-
0:27 What a dick move you don't wheelie in front of a guys who is obviously hurt
-
I built the back wheel of my bmx using just a flat head screwdriver and my frame lol
-
My "local" shop sucks they charge $140 to lace a rim. Especially when this is one of my only locals they are all true asses too. I swore that I would never return because they are no help and overpriced especially when you pay $140 and your rim isn't straight or tight.
-
THANK YOU FOR STOPPING ME FROM CONSIDERING THIS.
-
Hey Seth. I love this video. I work fulltime on high end bikes somewhere in the netherlands.
Just a tip so you can try this again the next time. Place the wheel in a vice so it lays flat. You can place your new rim on top of the old one. Maybe tie them together making sure that the valve holes are lined up.
Now start by taking one spoke nipple out and moving the spoke to the new rim. Reinstall the nipple in the new rim. Just work your way around the rim. Dont bother with the lacing. It will stay the same if you just move every spoke to the new rim.
Now you need to tension and treu the wheel. But you got that part pretty much figured out already. Just need to practise. Mastering this takes time. -
My local shop cost $99 just to true the rim, +$20 for disassembly of old and another $20 for assembly. cheaper to just upgrade the wheelset
-
I build my own wheels for my BMX and all I have is a spoke wrench, I true it on a frame I have with the brake calipers still on it
-
Amazing videos with a very adventurous taste! Thanks Seth you, i hope you can also make this your primary income!
-
You put your new rim beside the old wheel and swap over one spoke at a time
-
what ever you do don't break the transmission or you will have to ship it to China.
-
great video. Home made dishing stand really helped me out 🖒👌
4m 55sLänge
2046Bewertung