Point83.com

ok, so i have never built a wheel before but i own a parks stand for truing and i have been truing my own wheels for over a year now. this week i bought a new 29er then the next day my gf was hit by a car on it...( she's ok for the most part) so now i am going to have to replace the front and i want to build one for it. i think i have the basic art of this down from reading the internet and a wheel building book.

i think i would be able to assemble the wheel if i had the spokes sized and so forth but i don't really know how to find these measurements. should i take the parts (hub and rim) to a shop and ask for them to measure the spokes or is there some kind of walkthrough class i can attend to learn this??

also has anyone ever built a "3leading 3trailing" 36 spoke wheel before?? i am going to try and build a 650b once i get the first wheel done, but i didn't know if i need some weird lenght or type of spoke.

any input?

Sheldon Brown's wheelbuilding tutorial is great.

I also borrowed a guide that BTAH photocopied from another wheelbuilding book when I built my wheels.

There are a bunch of spoke length calcs online. A shop can also figure out what size you need and will not charge you extra for looking this information up.

Most shops are glad to apply some spoke prep to your spokes too. Unless you want to mess with linseed oil, it is a good idea to have them do this.

Build a spoke driver out of a bent spoke (RC gave me one for free because I asked nicely).

Have someone who has built a bunch of wheels check your work before you load the wheel.

I really enjoyed building my wheels (48 spoke 4-cross). There was something extremely zen about the whole enterprise.

I prefer Jobst Brandt's instructions (in "The Bicycle Wheel") to Sheldon's, but I really think it comes down to how you visualize things. Both are worth checking out.

If you can true wheels then you can build them. The lacing is easy.

I don't like spoke prep either. I just use chain lube. I tried some of Chris's linseed oil on my last wheel build, but I still prefer chainlube. It's not really necessary to have something that gets sticky or dries out.

alex