Fixed my first full wheel build this weekend - took 3 tries to get it right

I finally built a wheel from scratch at my shop in Portland. Been working as a mechanic for about 2 years and always chickened out on wheel building. Last Saturday I took a deep breath and laced up a 36-spoke 27.5 inch rim for a customer's old mountain bike. First attempt had way too much tension on the drive side and I had to start over, but third time the dish came out perfect. Has anyone else found a trick for getting even spoke tension without going cross-eyed?

2 comments

2 Comments

owens.cameron10d ago

Took you three tries but you got it done, that's what matters.

gracewebb10d ago

See, I push back a little on that. Three tries means three failures before the final one, and that's a lot of wasted time and resources. In my experience, the first attempt should be the one that counts if you did your homework. Your mileage may vary, but I think there's a difference between learning from a mistake and making the same mistake over again. Maybe they needed to step back and plan better instead of just charging ahead. I'm not saying persistence doesn't matter, but it's not always the win people make it out to be.