ftssjk wrote:i found this truing stand from cycling deal
i looked into them when i was wondering about their hasa bikes from 2 years back.
will it work?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Bike-Wheel-T ... 27c625c651" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
whats the difference between that and the expensive ones?
Oooh. Now that makes it pretty hard to justify not having a proper wheel building stand.
Good ones might be a bit more robust, straighter and more accurate, but as we've said above, it's eminently possible to built a wheel using a bike frame and sticky tape (or bulldog clip or zip ties), so any kind of stand is going to be an improvement.
is there some sort of a wiki guide in terms of good spokes/hubs, etc?
Hubs and rims: holy wars are fought, just like any other bike part.
Spokes: DT by default. Wheelsmith and Sapim also do good spoke. Straight-gauge spokes work just fine, but butted spokes build a better wheel (the ends are standard thickness for strength, the long bit is thinner for a bit more "give", which allows the wheel to handle big loads better. Also marginally lighter, but... meh).
Back in the day, butted spokes used to be triple the price of straight-guage (DT Champion), so I built with straight. Now they're only about a 25% premium (and I have more money), so I use DT Competition. DT Revolution have even skinnier middles, and have a reputation for being difficult to build with and not as robust when built. They're also more expensive again, and I don't bother.
Brass nipples.
if i were to start on this should i buy cheap hub/spokes to practice on, or should i build what i intend straight away?
Jump straight in.
It's really quite hard to screw up irreversibly. You're not "risking" quality hardware by having a go. Worst case, it will take you a long time, and you might even damage a couple of nipples somehow. So, replace the damaged ones and keep going.
Since I started building my own wheels, I've folded three wheels. They were all new... from the factory. I've never folded a wheel that I built, or that I adjusted and re-tensioned. I am quite certain that my dodgy home-built (or home-adjusted) wheels are far stronger than a factory wheel. You really have nothing to lose.
ps, i managed to find a copy of the Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt online. let me know if you want the link.
apparently it is the 'bible' of wheel building.
Oooh, yes please.
I learned to build wheels from Sheldon Brown's instructions. He was a disciple of the Jobst school, when it comes to wheels.
tim