Velocake

In the previous thread I talked about stripping the paint off of my front wheel. That process was only time consuming because I disassembled the entire wheel, see Wheel Building Tut, in order to use the spray on aircraft paint stripper.  The process was pretty straight forward once the rim is bare; spray on paint stripper, wait, spray on more stripper if needed, wait, scrap with something plastic like a credit card (we don’t need those these days anyways), if needed scrap the rim with the edge of a razor (blade not phone), wash with soap and water to remove any residue. If you have a rim that was painted well, you might have to take some sand paper to it to remove the rest of the paint. Don’t use sand paper that is too rough, try something like 220 or higher grit to start.

Once I had the wheel laced up and back on the bike I wondered if I could polish that bare aluminium. When I had the wheel apart I sanded the rim with 1000, 1500, 2000 grit sand paper. This gave me a decent finish on the rim, which I was satisfied with until earlier today.  The process of polishing is very simple. I used Never Dull purchased form my local auto parts store. You take a small piece of the wadding that has all of the polishing magic already in it and you scrub your little heart out until the metal is really shiny or your arm gives out, which ever comes first. Once you are happy with the finish take a dry soft rag and give the thing a good wipe down and take a good look for any spots that aren’t up to par. Be prepared to spend at least two hours rubbing on the wheel if not more. You can use this to polish all kinds of bike parts, stems, seatpost, hubs, etc. Have fun with it and do a little at a time, watch TV, drink beer, but no huffing the Never Dull!!!

enjoy

This is the first time I have purchased a new bike since I was a teenager. I usually look for those deals, used but not trashed, good price, make it my own, take it apart, paint it, and so on. Not this time, I looked at most of what was out there for the amount of money I was willing to spend and the Schwinn Madison kept coming up on my very interested list. So here it is…

I like this bike! A couple of things need to be upgraded right off the bat; the pedals and clips, the handle bars, the tires, and maybe the seat(jury still out riding). Other than that the thing rides great, is relatively not heavy, has sealed bearings, and was affordable.

I did have an issue with the amount of propaganda stickers this bike was covered with. I removed all of the ones that were not clear coated over. This created a problem on the front rim. When I pulled the sticker I also removed a big chunk of paint and was left with that sticky dirt attracting residue. I thought these wheels were powder coated, but there is no way. I was actually planning to do something with the yellow on the wheels and this just pushed me along. I decided to strip the front and I will probably have the rear powder coated another color.

And after stripping…

The paint nearly fell of with a little spray on aircraft paint remover, available at your local auto parts store. The rear wheel is next and I will document the process including the powder coating if possible. One more shot… enjoy

After riding around for a week on my new bike I settled into the stem position that I am most comfortable with. What this leaves is a protruding steerer tube from the fork sticking up over an inch. I know that it is a pretty basic procedure to chop the thing off, but I didn’t find too much info while doing a quick google search, so here it is for those of you that would like to see it. 

First thing, be positive you cut the tube in the right spot, too short and there are no do-overs! The tube should be about 3mm below the top of the stem, measure and recheck several times, cut once. 

Threadless headsets are pretty simple, a little intimidating if you have never had one apart. Start by loosening and pulling the cap on the top. Don’t loosen the stem yet, mark the top of the stem as it sits in the final position. Once you have it marked loosen and pull the stem and any remaining spacers.

Drive the star nut in the center of the tube down past the cutline, take care to keep it flat. I couldn’t tell you the technical spec on its position, but I put it about 3/8 below the cutline. 

I used a hose clamp as a guide, not really necessary but I thought I would give it a try. Get out your saw an start hacking away on that fork tube, remember, screw this up and you may need a new fork!

Finish up by removing  all of the shavings and remounting the stem. First place any spacers and the stem on the tube. Next, put the cap on the top and tighten it til you just feel contact. I give it about another quarter turn after that, then I tighten up the stem and check for bearing play. I didn’t pull the fork when I cut mine, you may want to pull your so it is a little easier to manage. That’s all folks…

Josh

I came across this website www.ollierkkila.com while cruising the nets. He has a bunch of good photos and weird bike stuff. A student of art and design, he has some definite out of the box tendencies. Check it out.

So you want to convert your old roadie, or maybe you want to upgrade that hub to something a little less sucky, either way I hope this write up will help you understand how to lace and true a wheel. DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional bike mechanic, I do not have any formal training in wheel building, and I am not qualified to touch anyone else’s wheels. I have, however, laced and trued all of my own wheels ever since I was a wee lad destroying those Araya BMX wheels. Also, this article is incomplete — I would like all of you interested in attempting this to visit Sheldon Browns Wheel Building Page and read it a couple of times. There is more info there than you will know what to do with. Lets get started!

I started out intending to convert a geared rear wheel but ran into some trouble when several of the spoke nipple seats were missing — bummer. If you are converting a rear wheel then you will need to first figure out how to get the gear cassette off. There are several styles and possibly some special tools will be needed. I do have my el cheapo bike tool set that was direct shipped from the far east for about $40, it has many useful tools; crank arm puller, chain whip, a few cassette tools, and all of the basics. Unfortunately it did not come with the tool to loosen the rear cassette that I have. Next best thing and completely acceptable due to the fact that the cassette doesn’t have to be reused, a well placed screwdriver assisted by a hammer did the trick.

If you’re lacing a fixed gear wheel then you will have to pull the lock ring and cog for teardown. This can be accomplished with a spanner wrench for the lock ring, I have used the screwdriver tech with this as well. Don’t forget the lock ring is reverse threaded, so righty loosey. You will need a chain whip to take the rear cog off, had one in the tool kit. Everyone that rides a fixed needs to have some essential tools, and a chain whip is one of them.

Once you have the gear/ gears off I suggest you study the lacing pattern real well, maybe even take a picture or sketch out the pattern. The next step is to start loosening the spoke nipples a little at a time working your way around the wheel. Get in the habit of using the valve stem hole as a starting point for reference. Finish completely disassembling the wheel until you have a pile of spokes, nipples, and a hub. If you ever wanted to paint your rim, now is the time.

Assembly:

Now the fun part. There are all kinds of lacing patterns and each one has merits but that is the subject for another post. The wheel I am building is a cross three pattern. To understand this you must know that a wheel has trailing and leading spokes. When looking at the wheel the trailing spokes are the ones that angle backwards compared to the direction the wheel is spinning from the right side — sheldon’s site has a great explanation of this — The spokes are grouped into sets of four ex. 32, 36, and a cross three pattern is where you have a leading spoke that crosses three trailing spokes.

Use the diagrams on Sheldon’s site, they are hard to beat. You start with the KEY spoke, which is the one right next to the valve hole. You start with the trailing spokes on both sides inserting the spokes from the outside of the flange, so the ends of the spokes are on the outside edge of the flange. Once you have the trailing spokes in place it should look something like this, you have to hold the hub with a twisting motion to keep the spokes lined up. TIP: To get the spoke nipple in place with deep V rims use a loose spoke through the hole spin the nipple on it and pull it down and unscrew.

Now it is time for the leading spokes. This time you will be lacing the spokes from the inside. Thread a spoke through any hole and cross it in the opposing direction from the trailing spokes. You will cross three spokes and you should line up with a open spot in the rim. Now there is some variation with leading spokes. Some wheels have the leading spokes going behind the second crossed spoke while others have the leading spokes going behind the third crossed spoke. My wheel has the leading spokes passing behind the third crossed spoke. You will have to hold the hub while you get the first couple of leading spokes in place. Once all of the spokes are in place it should look something like this.

Truing and tensioning. This is the part that scares people the most. If you have any old wheels laying around I would practice on those first so you can get a feel for how the adjustment procedure works. Start by setting all of the spoke nipples about even, maybe one thread showing on the spoke. Then I start at the valve hole and using my screw driver I work my way around giving all of the spokes a full turn. If none of the spokes feel any tension then I do it again until I feel a little tension on the spokes. Mia demonstrates…

Now you have to start paying attention. You are trying to control vertical truing, lateral truing, dishing, and tension all at the same time. What I like to do is to work out most of the hop in the wheel and then start bouncing back and forth between lateral, vertical, and dishing until the tension gets close to what it needs to be. Work on which ever adjustment is needed most but in small steps. Don’t go crazy on any one thing without checking the others. But wait, you don’t have a truing stand… well neither do I. I use the taped pencil, or the hold your finger on the frame method. It actually works well once you develop your own free technique.

Also, pay attention to that chainline. This is your chance to shim that hub and cog into good alignment and then center the wheel with some dishing. As for tensioning, this is a very subjective thing for someone in my shoes, no way to actually measure it. So I resort to more lo-fi ways. I pluck the spokes, I squeeze the spokes, and I pay attention when I am tightening them. It helps if you have a good wheel close by for comparison.

I hope this helps. If nothing else, at least you’ll realize what goes into setting up a wheel so next time your in your local bike shop you wont grumble when they tell you how much it is to fix your wheel.

Josh

My youngest little helper… She always wants to be right there with tools in hand turnin’ stuff and scratching paint just like her dad… Here she is helping me tighten up the spokes on the newly laced rear wheel. Good Stuff…

May is bike to work month, and this week, the 11th to the 15th, is bike to work week, and the 15th is the official bike to work day. Get all your co-workers to dig out those crusty, full suspension wally world bikes and ride with you to work on Friday, it’ll be fun — or maybe just funny… It seems that the bike gods are against me for bike to work month. I have been battling several bike failures on several bikes, very frustrating while lecturing my co-workers about biking to work. enjoy

santa monica fixed from Nate Villanueva on Vimeo.

Bootleg Sessions v.3 — Full Trailer from Ride/Relax Productions on Vimeo.

This video is just insane! Even if you don’t ride for tricks, you have to appreciate what these guys are doing on fixed gears.