Hi all,

Well, after 48 hours of reflecting on things and speaking with other mods across the site, I've made the decision to leave the sub in "Restricted" mode until further notice.

What does that mean?

Users can see the sub, subscribe, vote and comment on existing posts, but only approved users are allowed to post.

Can I be approved to post [my thing]?

No, for now. Please don't message us asking. We will let you know if/when we open things back up.

That was sudden!

So was Reddit springing this on us. Kind of put everyone up between a rock and a hard place.

When will the sub become unrestricted?

Maybe never? I don't know. As mentioned in the blackout announcement post, Reddit is doing some stupid stuff and it's becoming increasingly difficult to love the new iterations of this site. I am an internet old-head and the increasing shittification/retirement of the internet I grew up with is difficult to deal with gracefully. I'm waiting to see how Reddit responds, but I'm not hopeful that they'll be willing to walk back the worst parts of their changes.

Well, what if someone else starts their own competing wheel building sub?

I'm not trying to compete with anyone, and can barely field moderators who have enough free time and energy to volunteer contributions, so feel free, idgaf.

I'm mad!

Me too. Sorry.

Why?

Well, back in 2009/2010, Reddit's lack of capability was part of its charm. As the site has grown, its userbase has changed, regulations have shifted, and throughout all that Reddit has maintained an undercurrent of incompetence, typically slightly missing the mark with every commercial move. Its CEO is the same person who literally edited user's comments. Those things used to fly, but now that Reddit sold to Conde Nast (years ago, I know), and is angling to IPO, people are paying attention. With Reddit laying off a huge swath of highly respected staff and then announcing these very hostile changes to the way power users interact with the site, it has fundamentally changed.

This isn't the site and community we fell in love with. We the users make and moderate the content, and Reddit makes the money off us. They should, in fact, work for us; because we are the reason they exist in the first place.

Through the last decade of the internet, Reddit has been a relatively stable mainstay, but to those of us that are old and online enough to remember the late 1990s/2000s internet this is a sickeningly familiar feeling - a space which makes a change that rocks the community, breaks trust, and is irreversible.

The Reddit executives don't care about you. They see you as an inconvenience on which they can make money and retire early.

That's why.

Can we move to a new space?

Interesting question. I'm overworked, tired and not sure what that would look like, but open to ideas and help to make such a thing happen.

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I'll be around answering questions and participating in discussion as my day job and life permits.

Going to try for my first wheelbuild and I'm having a real hard time with understanding what hubs I'm looking for. Will be building on the Crust 650B rims with a 10speed miscroshift cassette for a medium gravel touring/all arounder build hopefully on a Crust Nor'easter frame. I'm looking for reliable and rebuildable hubs that don't have to be talismans. Any good resources for hub reviews/use cases for different ones. Been trying to compile a list based on builds I like but most people don't list every damn part. Thanks in advance.

I'm going to build my first set of wheels soon, I'll be using DT Swiss Pro Lock brass nipples and DT Swiss Competition spokes.
These nipples come with some "dual compound" applied on the threads. I'm wondering if I still need to prep the spokes with some light oil. Wouldn't the oil interact with the compound on the threads in a bad way?
Thanks

Hi, you may remember a post i made last year about a confusing issue i was having with my new wheelset. I've since gotten the wheels built up but I still dont know what happened!

After setting them aside for nearly a year, i finally pulled them down and decided i was going to take the troublesome one apart. But before i did that, i wanted to give it another go as it was. Somehow, it worked this time. I'm not sure what the issue was at all. Last year I was under the impression that i was out of threads but this year i had enough threads left to tighten them up. I did squash one of the nipples as i got a little carried away with the tightness, but i'm just going to pretend that didnt happen.

This was such a mentally draining project that it basically turned me off of wheelbuilding for a year, as i thought i just didnt understand something about measuring and wasted a bunch of money. But seems like i got it right afterall. weird huh?

By the way, i've completely forgotten what i need for cassette spacers, if anything. It's a Shimano 105 HB-7000 10/11-speed rear hub and i'm putting on a SRAM 11-speed cassette. Does that need a spacer?

Hi I was hoping that someone might be able to help me out with the following. I received a 60mm high carbon rim that has been used with rim brakes, it has 20 spoke holes

I wanted to re use it in my current bike as a rear wheel (with disc brakes and SRAM XDR body).

Is it possible to use a hub with a higher spoke count together with this rim? Or what would be the risk if I do this?

How would I best go about this?, in creating the most optimal solution? It seems difficult to find rear xdr hubs with 20 spoke holes.

Could I for instance use a 32 hole hub and skip 6 holes every side?

I'd appreciate any thoughts about this or any experience in such a situation.

I recently busted a spoke on my Bontrager Line Comp 30 front wheel. I am hoping to replace it.

I know the spokes are 286mm J bend, but I am unsure on the nipple. I am often seeing nipples in 12mm-16mm sizing. Anyone know what size nipple to get? Will they all work or is it size specific ?

I have a Speed Weaponry Rear Zipp wheel that I am rebuilding. The hub failed. The original hub used straight pull spokes and is not available. I have a replacement hub that uses J-bend spokes. The wheel has 1X spoke layout on the NDS and radial on the DS.

I plan on alternating the spoke head direction on the NDS but should I do the same on the DS or have all the spoke heads facing out?

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Thanks

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Rich

I have a set of Dura ace high flange track hubs, they're both 36h front and rear.

Is it a bad idea to get 42mm deep rims for them? Will the angles be bad?

Are these hubs with so many spokes more suited to a shallower rim?

I will be riding them fixed gear, if it makes any difference#

Update!

I've built the front wheel and this is how it looks https://imgur.com/a/2xY47pX it's 1kg with no tube or tyre, not light but that's ok. I wanted to get some lighter weight bladed spokes, but couldn't find any silver ones so just used standard round spokes.

Rear wheel will be done soon too :)

I built my first wheel, got it dang well true and round. Pre-stressed and stressed, even rode it around a bit with no changes in tension, and no popping or squeaking noises from the spoke whatsoever.

But I can't seem to bring tension across the wheel closer to target without affecting the trueness of the wheel. I've tried spreading it out over a couple spokes (IE Loosening one that is too tight, and tightening the couple on that side before and after) But it's either not enough; or it goes wild.

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Do these numbers look typical to the start of the tensioning and stress relieving stage? Or have I strayed too far?

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https://imgur.com/a/WuaaXsw

Since nobody in my immediate surroundings could give two sh*ts about it, I thought I'd post here. Maybe it will give someone else the encouragement they need.

The idea has been haunting me for a while and I guess the stars finally aligned, so I took it up.

I watched Park Tools videos on youtube and then just followed Roger Musson's book to a T. Built the wheel stand and dishing tool from scraps using hand tools. I used a Shimano Altus rear hub I had planned to cannibalize for parts (but never got to it), a DT Swiss 535 rim and some random spokes my local bikeshop had in stock plus Schwalbe blue rim tape. 36 holes, 3 cross.

When I started working on it, I had the dishing off by more than an inch, which looked kinda scary, but managed to figure it out (eventually) and slowly but surely got it under 1 mm.

All in all, it turned out better and the whole process was easier than I expected.

Test ride felt nice. I think I might do a dynamo front wheel next. It feels like I've obtained a new superpower.

Edit: I went over my calculations and realized why the dish was off so much. I simply swapped left-right spokes. They were 290mm (290.6) and 292mm (291.7) and I was somehow so convinced that the drive side must be longer that I didn't see what was written on the paper right in front of me. I did notice the spoke ends were uneven in the nipples, but didn't realize why at the time. Double wall rim saved the day. Alas, I'm not even mad. More opportunities to practice.

I know I could have just keep riding it, but I redid it all... Carefully took it apart, making sure to keep the inside-outside L/R groups apart, etc etc.

I am building a new wheelset with these two options:

- 28mm external width, 21mm internal width, 45mm depth

- 27mm external width, 21mm internal width, 50mm depth

The manufacturer said 28mm is better but since I really want to get a 50mm, I opted for 27mm external width.

What are thoughts on this? What would be the difference?

Which tire size is more suitable for 27mm external width rims?

Hi redditors! Does anyone from you have an experience with using 24H gr531 rim with d-light's as the rear wheel ? Recently I have bought a new wheelset and d-light were suggested by the wheel builders based on my 75kg body mass. Now after 80km I have second thoughts if that was the best choice because despite being very comfortable, I felt like they flex quite more than my previous wheels. (Or is it only my brain overthinking ?)

This might be an obvious answer for you guys but I don't really know anything about wheel building as it turns out. I have been riding mtb's for over 20 years and realized that I don't even know how wheel builders centre the rim on the hub.

Long story short I am bringing in my super boost I9 hydra hub to be rebuilt onto the i9 stock alloy wheel tmr (just new spokes and nipples, I am breaking spokes every ride), but I want to bring the wheel already disassembled. The hydra hub's driver slides right out of the hub body, this saves me taking the cassette off. If I bring the wheel without the driver as well as the drive side spacer in the hub will that effect how the wheel builder is able build the wheel? Example, impact the builder's ability to centre the rim on my hub, and ultimately impact centring of the wheel on the bike?

Hey everyone,

I recently noticed that the rim on my 2023 Trek Checkpoint SL5 seems to be bent. As a heavier rider (6'4" and 260lbs), I'm not surprised that the wheel took a beating. I'm wondering if it makes sense to build my own wheel, also, I'm not sure I want to pay for carbon wheels or components.

For some background, I primarily use my bike for city riding in Chicago, as well as longer weekend bike packing trips that can be up to 100 miles a day. Additionally, I'm currently training for a triathlon, so I'm looking for a wheelset that can handle a variety of conditions and distances.

I've been doing some research and have heard good things about Velocity wheels, but I'm not entirely sure which components I should be looking for. Does anyone have any advice on building a strong and durable wheelset that can handle my weight without breaking the bank? And any thoughts on whether I should stick with the stock hub or upgrade to something else?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

I know this is debated endlessly and from my understanding, it doesn’t really matter as long as the wheel is tensioned properly. But, is there any pro/con to using motor oil instead of grease as a spoke prep when they should achieve the exact same effect to the the threads? Why would Brandt and Musson both specify a medium weight motor oil?

I bought a set of DT Swiss ER1600's for a great price about six months ago. Five rides into them today and I was playing with tire pressure - I got it wrong. Not only did I burp, but I can't get the rim to seal. I'm assuming it is bent or cracked.

For the life of me, I cannot find a replacement rim anywhere. Everyone sells the wheelset but no one sells just the rim. Is this typical?

Can anyone point me in a direction to find something? This will be my first wheel build (45 years of tearing bikes apart and fixing them, and I have never built a wheel). I'm not afraid of a straight swap, but buying a different rim, calculating spoke length... That all daunts me to no end!

Is there a site that would likely have this rim or am I just out of luck?

Thanks!

I just laced my first wheel and have not yet started to build tension. 36H, 3 cross.

Edit: Wheel Build Photos

Using multiple spoke calculators, I calculated left and right to be within a MM of each other, so I rounded and used 260mm for both sides.

I was expecting disc vs non-disc side to be slightly different, but I was not expecting every other spoke on each side to appear longer. Every two spokes, one from each side, all the way around.

• Is this a non-issue that will work itself out with tension?
• Did I mix something up in the lacing pattern?
• Most unlikely, but did I get incorrect lengths?

Thanks for the input - I thought I knew what to expect, but this has thrown me off a bit.

I continually find myself building RF ARC rims for people wanting good/light/strong modern MTB wheels. Are there any strong contenders out there that I’m bypassing?

I need to build myself a wheelset for a parts bin bike and I’ve got a set of 28h hubs lying around. I’d rather build rims that I haven’t already run through the ringer. What else are y’all’s go too wide (ish) lightweight rims that come in 28h.

Between 30-40 inner

I can't seem to find the answer to this on DT Swiss website or user manuals.

My rim has item code RDH052CDPS32SA5217. It's an eyleted hybrid mountain bike rim.

I was going to build this rim with regular brass nipples and no washers.