Let's build a wheel with no tools!

Arguably the most specialized area of bike repair is wheel building. You need to know about spoke types, spoke lengths, hubs, rims, rim sizes, lacing, truing, dishing, and a variety of measurements that would make your head spin. Not to mention the expensive specialty tools like truing stands, nipple drivers, spoke wrenches, and dishing gauges.
It’s no wonder that some bike shops outsource their wheel repair to specialists. Just carrying the parts is a challenge. To me, wheel builders are like heart surgeons. So, I came up with a terrible challenge: Swap a rim with no specialty tools other than a spoke wrench.
We’re not starting with a pile of parts though. I actually do have a bent wheel here which needs a new hoop. First we’ll remove the brake rotor to expose the side of the hub. I said I’d only use a spoke wrench, but I don’t think a torx driver counts as a wheel building tool. In an attempt to make my life slightly easier I’m tying all these spokes together with string. For an experienced mechanic this wouldn’t make things easier at all, but for me it takes the complexity out of lacing the wheel back up.
Now I’m removing all of the spoke nipples, which would be way way easier with a nipple driver. I feel like my hand is going to fall off and I haven’t even started fastening the new rim. You can sorta use a screwdriver for this, but it doesn’t have the little point in the middle that keeps it centered. It’s harder than you would think.
Now to lace the new hoop on. Even with the spokes tied together this is not easy. In fact, I almost wish I left the string off. This part of the process wouldn’t have been too bad, but I got a few of the nipples stuck inside the rim. To get them back out, some wheels are worse than other. A few times I considered just sawing the rim open and quitting mountain biking. I tried tweezers, magnets, you name it. The only thing that works is shaking the wheel for 20 minutes and hoping for a miracle.
Now that I have all my hardware back, the wheel is at least put together. Now it needs to be trued so that all of the spokes have even tension. Since I’m doing this with no tools, I’ll use the front fork and some zip ties. If you’ve never trued a wheel before, it’s basically a matter of finding the biggest bow in the wheel, tightening the spoke on the opposite side of it lightly, and then repeating the process until the wheel is straight. Although it might look straight, we still need to align this rim with the hub laterally. This part is called dishing.
Dishing is normally done with a gauge, or even a properly calibrated truing stand. Since I don’t have either, I’ll be using a trick I saw on a forum. Basically, I’m setting a reference point on one side of the wheel, flipping it over, and making sure the hub face is the same distance from the rim on both sides. It’s not. It’s off tremendously.
Because it’s off by so much, I’m going to tighten every spoke on the right side, and loosen every spoke on the left side one half turn.
30 minutes later and a couple more passes around the wheel, and I’m as close as we’re gonna get with my homemade precision dishing gauge. One more tedious truing and we’re finally done. That took me over 3 hours and I regret it thoroughly. There’s a little jump in the rim too. It won’t be noticeable while riding, but I’ll know it’s there and it’ll bother me. There are scratches all over my brand new Easton Arc rim, and the nipples look like they’ve been through some kind of S&M clamping ritual.
I don’t know what tool I missed the most. Obviously the truing stand would have helped, as a properly calibrated one can pretty much do the whole job. Not only that, but it provides a nice mount at eye level for working on the wheel. The other part that killed me was not having a nipple driver. If you’ve ever smashed your hand in a car door, then you know what it feels like to build a whole friggin wheel with just a spoke wrench. Let’s also consider that I was building a front wheel, which is easier than a rear since it’s pretty much centered over the hub. A rear wheel is offset even more to account for the cassette, so my terrible experience was actually the best case scenario.
I could have used really nice tools, and the help of an experienced mechanic, but I thought this video would be useful those who wanted to save a few bucks. Actually, how many bucks are we saving? $35? Ugh… Even if your local shop charges twice this, I can’t recommend doing it yourself without the proper tools and knowledge. The risk of you screwing it up and costing yourself more money is just too great. I hope that at least, this was worth the entertainment. Thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll see you next time.

[@paulandrews7573]

Pro wheel builder tips: 1. Before you lace up a rim make sure it's flat and round by holding it up to a straight rim. 2. Grind a 1/4" drive flat screwdriver bit into the shape of a nipple driver (point in the middle) and use it in an electric screwdriver or drill. Even a nipple driver gets tiring if you're building wheels all day. 3. Get a wood or plastic dowel about the size of a pencil. Sharpen it on both ends in a pencil sharpener. Now it can be used to hold nipples and tighten them a couple of turns as you lace the wheel. 4. True a wheel by tone. Pluck the spokes like a guitar string to hear the tone, as you true the wheel try to even out the tone on all the spokes. Spokes on the same side should all sound the same. If some spokes are looser and some tighter the wheel will not stay straight as the wheel is ridden. Even if you have a tensionmeter it's faster to go by tone and then check the final tension with the meter. Repeat untill the splokes are the proper tension. Evening out the tone is similar to what the Park tension graph does visually.

[@makantahi3731]

i am not agree with all your points: instead flat screwdriver , take flat insert bit , 5cm long and make point in middle with 2-3 lenghts( 2mm, 4mm, 6mm) and enough wide to hold niple when insert into deep rim.different lenghts bits can be used for prime tighten, for ex, rear wheel, left niples with 6mm , right niples with 2mm, next thing is that same tension of spoke does not guarantee straight wheel,

[@paulandrews7573]

@@makantahi3731 I did say to use a bit in an electric screwdriver, having the tip at different lengths could be useful, but if you have your spoke lengths correct shouldn't be necessary The point of evening out your spoke tension is to make the spoke tension stable over time, a straight wheel with uneven tension will ride itself out of true (the lower tension spokes will loosen) , a SLIGHTLY less true wheel with even tension will stay that way. The art of wheelsmith is to balance tension uniformity and trueness. Not trying to start an argument, just passing along some types learned from building 1000+ wheels for Ritchey, Wheelsmith, and many bike shops.

[@makantahi3731]

@@paulandrews7573 me too, i made about same amount of wheels for few shops, and rim is not uniform stiffness because on place where two ends are bonded, rim is stiffer, so on that place spokes must be on more tension, after i made wheel, i squeeze all spokes symetricaly and by side and then spokes sing, after that i check if wheel is still straight and correct it if needs, mostly more uniform tension on spokes is on single , soft rims, on double wall ,deep rims, with less spokes, differences can be noticable, and at the end i put one drop of elastic glue on head of niple and rim, what prevents of unscrewing but can be trued because that glue is not strong as treadlock glue

[@paulandrews7573]

@@makantahi3731 have you tried spoke prep? Highly recommend.

[@makantahi3731]

@@paulandrews7573 i put niples into cup of wd40 to reduce drag when screwing, and wd40 vapourise soon, so it does not leave to lubricate, no other prep

[@colincolincolincolin]

THANK YOU FOR STOPPING ME FROM CONSIDERING THIS.

[@gappie]

I should have seen this earlier, experienced the hard way

[@teopini]

Same here!

[@bkxc]

Hahahaha, 4:03. It was worth a try and really worth the entertainment. Thought the gunshot in the background was your wheel exploding.

[@Shalami]

ohhhh thats a gunshot!!

[@mutleyadamsracing2684]

Brian masterbatts n pickle parks

[@Ewan.f15]

Another option is to tape the old rim and the new rim together matching up the valve holes next to each other, you then move each spoke across one by one. Saves a fair bit of confusion

[@kornerklan3670]

In my opinion simpler method is full unlace the wheel with no tape, zips and this stuff, and lace the new rim with one of lacing method. But I'm bike mechanic and I build new wheels every week ;)

[@secretwpn]

Szymon Świtalski that might be actually the easiest way even for a less experienced person. I've only built one wheel so far, and it was just looking up for a tutorial on KZbin and following it. took me maybe 2 hours and the wheel turned out quite decent

[@_rizoff]

Simon O Same. I have never built a wheel until now. (Actually, had to jump from the 9mm qr front hub to 20mm front hub) It took me 1 hour to lace it with the three cross pattern and true it.

[@jamesalanjob]

Yup. This is the way i replaced a rim on an old dura ace/mavic open pro wheel.

[@abhinavsixfaces]

Work at a bike shop. This method is awesome. Of course its better to use new Nipples.

[@hairypaulmm7wab195]

Fair play to You for having a go with just a spoke key Seth :-) I learned to build wheels back in the 80's and spent a bit of time in the Netherlands in the late 90's where I learned a lot about the physics and mechanics of wheel building from a proper Dutch Fietsenmaker. He also taught me several different ways to lace wheels creating different custom spoke patterns. I still build my own wheels and even strip and completely rebuild new wheels before I use them as most 'mass produced' wheels are made to quite wide tolerances. I prefer to use tighter tolerances and know I have a good strong pair of wheels under me. The only way to get good at building, tensioning and truing wheels is to practice, a lot! Although I have built and repaired wheels with just a spoke key, it is a bit of a faff and using the proper tools does make it a bit quicker and easier. :-) All the best & keep having fun!

[@littlegoobie]

This is one of the few things i never bothered to learn. I figured the same thing, it takes a lot of mistakes and built wheels to get good at it. How many wheels does the average person go through in the life of a bike setup? Without doing this on the job or building for other people, i just don't see anybody realistically being putting in the hours to good at it. Then you factor in the low cost of paying someone who's already good at it and it makes literally no sense to do it yourself.

[@strategicthinker8899]

This is probably the most useful truing advice found on the internet. Most people true a wheel once in a blue moon and don't want to buy expensive tools for just that one time. Thank you.

[@gnmatsu]

Aloha, this is great! This is how I did my very first wheel re-build back in the 70's. I learned a lot and it goes to show it can be done with a lot of patience. And I grew up without a lot of money but lots of time. One trick for the spoke nipples and having them "fall" or not fall inside the rim is I use an old spoke that can be threaded into the back side of the nipple. I can put one in or take one out without it falling into the rim. Thanks for putting this together, lots of great things can be done without fancy tools and having patience and time. I have to say I do have all the special tools to help speed things up AND build better wheels.

[@SethsBikeHacks]

+G Matsushige that trick with the spoke os smart!

[@gnmatsu]

+Seth's Bike Hacks - Shoot. Yeah. There are other tricks I've picked up over the years of building so many wheels for all kinds of applications over the years. Thanks again for posting up so many helpful videos.

[@Hertog_von_Berkshire]

That old spoke is often called a "feeder spoke" or just a "feeder", and often cut down to about 4 inches to make it (a) more manageable and (b) easier to identify when you have a bench full of spokes.

[@cezrok5405]

Even better than a spoke is to use a tooth pick !

[@10--50]

4:22 I Was like damn, that was a hard hit.. then I realized they were right next to a gun range lol

[@derekjoelduecksalas4658]

0:01 Seth: a good day to ri... Tree: surprise motherf*cker

[@Elliott947]

LOL

[@DDD893]

I did both wheels. In bike shop I had to wait for 2 weeks, so I decided to do it myself. Used my bicycle as a stand, and plastic ruler attached with rubber bands as a measurement. Checked spokes tension by listening to note of each spoke. Took some time, but it's totally doable with no special tools if you have some engineering skills, and musical skills too :)

[@thesmf1210]

cheers for the sitting the rim on some cans dishing trick seth, checked a wheel i built recently last night doing this but used a tape measure to check instead of pennies, not only had i trued it inbetween my brake blocks but i had also got a perfect dish already, amazing :)

[@Bigred10101]

I know this is from a few years ago but wheel builds cost a whole lot more than $35, over in Australia it is usually around $95 to $110 per wheel for lacing them up and about $30 for measuring the spokes (that's what was the average rate when I worked as a mechanic for a couple of years) and I imagine that it has only gone up since then

[@yolomanswagger3856]

love how you don't spend time talking shit and you leave the clip for the end. keep it up, you put out great content

[@the.apostolos5958]

Was about to do this exact thing, so glad I watched this...I will be going to my local bike shop. Thanks and keep it real! Love your stuff, keep it coming!

[@freddyfox5002]

I love your video´s. I hope you can make this your primary income and give us great content and you having more time for riding and video´s.

[@SethsBikeHacks]

+Freddy Fox 500 me too!

[@mikeybone9125]

Seth's Bike Hacks hello Seth, I really hope your doing well and that your move went great.. I'm hoping if I can send you a picture of my MTB to get your feed back on it... any and all help I could get would be very helpful thanks...

[@federicotonello9286]

Freddy Fox 500 i

[@Lasseu]

This video helped me a lot :) gave me more confidence to start my own wheelbuild :D

[@uptmax809]

Ok

[@meamjustme]

Hey Seth. I love this video. I work fulltime on high end bikes somewhere in the netherlands. Just a tip so you can try this again the next time. Place the wheel in a vice so it lays flat. You can place your new rim on top of the old one. Maybe tie them together making sure that the valve holes are lined up. Now start by taking one spoke nipple out and moving the spoke to the new rim. Reinstall the nipple in the new rim. Just work your way around the rim. Dont bother with the lacing. It will stay the same if you just move every spoke to the new rim. Now you need to tension and treu the wheel. But you got that part pretty much figured out already. Just need to practise. Mastering this takes time.

[@saintless]

OMG... this is comic genius. Thanks! I look forward to watching your other videos now, and I will absolutely be sharing this one.

[@floatingsystems2929]

Best video I've ever watched. Really needed the reminder to not let my ego bite off more than I can chew

[@jasonbear1336]

Seriously dude you have some of the most entertaining and informative videos on Mountain biking! Keep it up love it! Jason

[@Manniger]

Hi Seth - I remember watching this video a while ago when I found you on KZbin. It actually stopped me from trying to build my own wheel for a long time until just recently I watched some tutorials about it and decided to try it. In combination with a good truing stand (I'm using the TS 2.2p) it turned out not to be that difficult at all - it was actually quite fun! Why not try it again :-)

[@mikeoxhard3826]

Your videos are what saved me and my bike many times, love ur videos

[@johnscottmagruder9073]

you and your informative videos are the best. I am new to mountain biking and have learned so much with your videos. keep up the good work.

[@lukaregla]

you my man..... You are a f*****g legend

[@15aac]

That's some dedication! These are great videos, keep the coming :)

[@ValueReviews]

Seth your the man, I love your channel! A wise master mechanic advised the use of a toothpick for a nipple driver and it works pretty well in my experience. Although I totally agree with you the lacing and trueing is a pain!

[@duckcrisps]

This is a brilliantly creative video idea, Seth! I actually snapped a spoke on my eastons last week when trying 180s ahaha

[@survivalmike]

totally awesome dude. great job and very entertaining, like all your vids. love em. cheers from Austria Mike

[@sc5691]

Watching this made me realize that I'm lucky that I've learned building a single wheel in 4 hrs, made my own truing stand with scrap metal and a little bit of welding knowledge, and a handmade spoke wrench made with scraps as well. I'm only 15 btw

[@aryabimaputra8021]

great

[@vongua8822]

S & M Clamping Ritual !! Pretty funny !!!

[@MaquinasDePalomitas]

Great video man, in awe the entire time... until I got to the end and yeah, I’ll be taking it to the shop

[@mitchypoo117]

You’re the man Seth, love your vids!

[@samlee3036]

Seth, I dig your hacks and tutorials, man. Strong Island!

[@pixiesmate]

I remember years ago when I destroyed the front wheel of my motor cycle on of the other riders gave me the name of a wheel builder. I had not even considered having it rebuilt, my first thought was to buy a complete new wheel. I priced up the difference of a new compared to Ray Halfacre's services. It was a no brainer, and instead of just an off the shelf (after being thrown around in transit) wheel my rebuilt wheel was trued and balanced. I like to think I'm pretty good at mechanical things and fixing things but total respect, the man was a true artisan I would have no idea which way to even start well done to you for having a go

[@josephkahn6830]

Thank you for saving me a ton of stress and frustration I was considering this.

[@fathernojoy2706]

Seth, I know this video is almost two years old but I just watched it again and want to commend you on your balls to do this. I love your vids, thanks for what you do.

[@hpathree]

Great video! Humility is a virtue. Cheers.

[@johnbouttell5827]

Good video. I'm glad I have a bike shop I trust. Best wishes, John in the Peak District.

[@cannonball666]

Nipples through an S&M clamping ritual? Since this is a family channel you must be referring to the S&M bike company.

[@Toto-is8ci]

Lucky for us we have a local bike coop with all the tools needed to build a wheel. Thanks for the entertainment!

[@vermonthillsumc]

I love when you do experiments like this and this one was really eye opening

[@yveslaingui457]

These vids are brilliant cant stop laughing at this one! Keep em coming!

[@tim1499]

You can also check the dishing by seeing if the center of the rim is at the center of the fork.

[@hillandrewdavid]

I cracked my carbon rim and purchased a replacement. I was strongly considering rebuilding the wheel myself. My local shop charges $75 to build a wheel. You have convinced me to send it to the shop.

[@reddot8052]

Good video. Thanks, taught me enough, never to try to re-spoke wheels, just replace them.

[@anthonysalvage8582]

Have got to say...loved the can trick! Who knew my old Relentless cans could be usefull, though I did use 3 :) Went from about a 1.5cm difference to maybe a mm...thanks so much :)

[@BangTheRocksTogether]

Great video, thank you. More information in less time than most bike repair videos, well done.

[@BangTheRocksTogether]

I took a wheel apart 10 days ago, then started learning how to put it together by reading and watching videos. Your video was the one that gave me the confidence to proceed...

[@emilsvilcins2310]

Needed new rer wheel for my DJ bike and laced a wheel for first time (couldn't give it to shop because I don't have any LBS). In the end after 40 minutes my wheel was centered, dished almost perfectly. Tried it up on jump and trick I smashed old wheel and it holds up fine. I don't know about others but it wasn't difficult for me to lace it up. But it still is challenge to do it on your own.

[@lazylonewolf]

Wheels are usually expensive, and I think if you can afford those, you can afford to pay someone for wheel building. Thank you for doing this video. I'm already reluctant to do learn/do wheel building on my own aside from lacking a truing stand and dishing tool, and now I'm even more reluctant.

[@vucalvin]

I've been building my wheels with just a spoke wrench all my life so when my LBS said they can lace a wheel in 15 min I was in awe. Now I know why lol

[@impactlures]

Thanks for this! I was entertaining the thought of rebuilding mine. Think I'll let the shop do it.

[@jacobfrushone6508]

Man I absolutely love your videos nice job and keep going

[@georgeparaskevas8091]

Amazing videos with a very adventurous taste! Thanks Seth you, i hope you can also make this your primary income!

[@GrandMerc89]

This was totally worth watching. I had no idea there was such thing as a nipple driver. Double wall rims used to tick me off, but with the proper tool it'll be nothing. Never tried taping the spokes, but when I'm respoking it's usually because I want different hubs.

[@AlcibiadesHidalgo]

Ha! I did the same thing until I got to the dishing part, then I lost hope. Great video! Thx from TPA.

[@deadwrong82]

This might be my favorite SBH video. Mainly because that crash is so relatable.

[@Emontop1]

Good idea , we need victim before to give the tutorial . Absolutely fantastic tips, thank you so much. LOL. Cheers.

[@pinesparrow]

You did a great job with this

[@ronchappel4812]

Thanks so much for this!It was super interesting.

[@DualDesertEagle]

I've built and trued several wheels, one of which was a 36-hole rim on a 32-hole hub, and thanks to KZbin and tons of tutorial videos I've found it pretty darn easy to build and true a wheel. And the only special tool I have for it IS a spoke wrench. For dishing I prop the wheel up on its rim with the outmost end of the hub just a few millimeters off the ground, measure that ground clearance and then repeat the same on the other side. For truing I just mount the wheel on the fork / frame, spin it and apporach the spinning rim with my fingernail to find the highest points. I've never had problems building pretty darn straight wheels that way. Oh, and for anyone interested in seeing that 36 / 32 wheel being built, I've got a time lapse video of that on my channel.

[@FeedEX40]

This is the exact video that got me into wheelbuilding some three years ago

[@curtisajike]

Love this video man keep it up !

[@teunluijbregts2533]

That was the right call to make 👍👍 And a fun video too :-)

[@XKclassHater]

I just used an old fork and rim brakes to align an out of true wheel. Works like a charm every time!

[@jamesclacey1069]

great video. Home made dishing stand really helped me out 🖒👌

[@Toastybear1]

very very interesting!! i only trued my first wheel the other day thanks to your videos because, as you said, worst comes to worst, i have to buy a new wheel anyway!! and its amazingly satisfying!! i urge anyone to at least give it a try!!! thanks so much :)

[@ChicoBlanca6977]

I'm actually about to start one right now on my Polygon Xtrada 5. The rear stock hubs are absolutely garbage so I checked between the sofa cushions and underneath my bed for some scratch and purchased a Koozer 390 HG rear hub and the difference in mechanism between the old and new is significant. There aren't any dependable reviews I could find for this specific brand and model so I'm hoping for the best and gonna try to be optimistic. Reading some of the comments here, I've mentally prepared myself to be working on this all morning as it's about 6:30bam here in Jersey. First timer here as well, hope all goes without a hitch. Wish me luck y'all 🤘

[@someoneelse1904]

😂 Great video! I was on the verge of giving this a go.

[@chokhou]

I will never do that my self. Thank you for sharing.

[@tamasvarga67]

Awesome video again, you are the best! :)

[@123oneshotonekill]

I don't know... But your videos are always very calming to me :D nice!

[@spoon929]

i built a set of rims with only a spoke wrench. You can use a spare spoke to thread a nipple through double wall rims, and file 2 of the 4 sides off an old phillips head screwdriver as a makeshift nipple driver. Also dishing by eye in the frame is good enough in most scenarios. In total it took me 1.5 hours to lace and 1 hour to true each rim. Rims were Spank Oozy 295 with Miche xm50 hubs and DT Swiss competition spokes

[@RobertBlando-ss9og]

".....that took me over three hours and I regret it thoroughly....", thank you for the laugh! :)

[@DJChris849]

Well I'm going to try and dish my front wheel, thanks for the heads up

[@richardlaurie966]

Tips works perfectly. Muchas gracias.

[@michael_emtb]

Another quality video as usual. Something I've always wanted to do........but will not bother trying!! 🤣🤣

[@SerialEater274]

After just doing this with a rim that I can't afford to replace, and I had to get it right to be able to ride, and hours and hours of frustration, this video made me laugh so hard I peed a little, and cried. Thank you, I needed that.

[@sdolman79]

New MTBer so watching all your old videos, love it how the gunshot coincides with the crash like a sniper took you out.

[@mrljgibson]

Just rebuilt another wheel on Fri/Sat, took a few hours on Friday afternoon to tear down the old wheel and relaced a fresh hub and rim, then as usual I waited a day before finishing truing it today... as it's a Zen thing. I also changed my fork from a QR air fork with sod all travel, to a 15mm QLoc air fork with 140mm travel, wish I'd built it with that originally as it is so much more solid

[@boomerangfreak]

A solid month ago I started working in a bikeshop, I'm actually pretty excited in learning some proper wheel building in due time. Also considering getting me 1 of those nice Parktool truing stands for home. Having 3 bikes atm and growing 1 being a Dirt jumper I need to true wheels more than your average rider I think so it'll come in handy plenty. But yes I don't think building a wheel with just a nipple key is all too viable. Also when I bought my wheels online the site I got em from only charged $15 for lacing per wheel, what a bargain :D

[@thomasmitchell3239]

I replaced a rim with almost this same exact method with zip-ties on the fork and all after i hit on a tree on Rabbit Ears at Alafia. it worked well, but i ended up with a slight hop in the rim also. rode it for about 2 months before i went ahead and took it to my local shop. great video as always Seth, keep up the great content

[@206board]

This was so helpful! Would have taken around 3 hours if I hadn't flipped the wheel around and tightened when I thought I was loosening. Its almost perfect, just a few little bumps in the Y-plane.

[@MRGILBERTO83]

I am homeless and the SAN MATEO POLICE DEPARTMENT threw away my brand new specialized bicycle that I bought with some money i saved so I could continue going to work so I could one day rent my own room or apartment. My friend gave me a EXTREMELY Rare KARPIEL disco DownHill Bicycle and the rear end keeps destroying Rear Wheels. I am going to have to build a rear wheel for that aggressive riding. Someone said I was going Banshee. Anyways, your video is going to be very helpful when I am ready to build. THANK YOU for Creating and Sharing.

[@kofalin]

i'll be replacing my rear hub next week,,, after seeing all the hassle you went thru, I might take my dremmel and turn an old flat screw driver into a nipple driver. thanks for the video.

[@thecount1001]

thats a funny and slightly crazy wheelbuilding technique. you'll try anything eh?! with your chops and enthusiasm mate, it would be great to have you out for a ride in BC. you would love it.

[@peterxyz3541]

Useful, yes. Thanks for this video warning on DIY.

[@cornpuffs9621]

You deserve a ton more subs, easily my favorite you tuber. And I don't even do a ton of mtb, they're just entertaining

[@nickroyal8619]

100% worth the entertainment!thanks

[@martialsunwalk9955]

that was actually super helpful

[@norquay626]

Well done though. I've been truing my wheels without a truing stand since I've been about 13 and I'm now in my 40s, but I've never rebuilt a whole wheel. I've changed out nearly half my spokes, changed a hub and fixed wheels in most ways that you can think of, but never a whole wheel. I guess I should try soon. Regardless, you'll find that all the experience will only make things easier and make you're mountain biking experiences even better. Because I've been doing it so long, I guess I find that part fairly easy. It's weird because now, that I'm pretty much just mountain biking, I'm terrified of bleeding my brakes. What is easier for some is terrifying for others, but as I said before, I think the little things make for a better overall mountain biking experience. Great job!

[@kueven]

I am an experienced mechanic and this video slightly horrified me. That said, kudos for jumping in and just doing it. People learn by doing, so thanks for an educational and entertaining video. BTW, one oldschool, yet very lazy method of dealing with a nipple lost in a rim during wheelbuilding is to use a grease gun and squirt some grease through an eyelet near where the nipple is rattling around. Let the grease capture the nipple and leave it there. Not the mark of a mechanic who cares, but if you've ever had a wheel that developed a low speed "tink-tink" noise, this may have been the reason. Eventually, that grease dries out. Anyhow, keep the videos coming! Cheers!

[@jethromartino]

last night was my first time to replace a freewheel to cassette, lace spokes and true a whole rear wheel. all i had is a bike stand, spoke wrench, screw driver and 3 zip ties to rebuild the wheel. i removed all spokes and laced it back to prevent scratching the rim paint. the 2 zip ties were to check for wiggle and the 3rd is for the bounce. the most tedious part is removing the old hub and spokes. had to check spoke tension every now and then so it would stay true even on the road. took 4hrs i think in total (more or less). i was able to ride it this morning w/o issues.

[@mikemumford1327]

I also use a spoke tension meter. This helps a lot when you are doing a rear wheel. Because the drive side and nondrive side has different tensions.. Really nice video and you can swear as much as you want...LOL

[@melgozakoki85]

Its useful alright.... I ain't messing with that... glad I ran into your video

[@alexanderauer637]

hey Seth ! Greetings from germany, love your posts. This is exactly the experience I made with just a small twist - As I love spending time in the garage I got myself a cheap truing stand and have now been building some four or five sets of wheels. Offset is really tricky, but what's even more tricky is getting the right tension to start from. I usually do it by the pitch of the sound the spokes make. How do you do it ? BTW , I found some bike shops that build or true wheels and ask for as much as > 100 $ as they calculate 2-3 hours of work for a trained mechanic ... :-(

[@bansheemopar]

Nice Video, if you do this again it is a good idea to have a spare spoke. You can thread the nipple the wrong way around onto the spare spoke and use this as a guide to put the spokes into the rim. When you thread the nipple on the spoke, it automatically unthreads fron the "guidespoke". I startes building all my wheels a few month ago, and found that all tools I need are: - Nipple wrench (I am a car mechanic, so I havr enough strength in my fingers and hands to do two wheels without any fatigue in my hand) - bladed spoke holder (because my crossbike has bladed spokes) - spoke tensiometer ("cheap" but good one from Parktools) - and some old lowers from a fork and an old rearend from a cheapo fully-bike. The tensiometer is the only specialty toll, and i think it is extremely important, because spoke-tension is very important, and if you just do it by eyeballing it, you will end up with a wheel that is visually straight but where the load is unevenly distributed between the spokes, and this can lead to snapped spokes or cracked hub-holes.

[@AidanChen7]

The tool you miss the most is the bike shop😅😅😅

[@COOLCABMAN]

😃 🤭 🤣 🤣 😃.. Amazing.. Loved it.. It gives us courage to attempt.. ❤️

[@energ8t]

This is very true. Wheels are worth the experienced pro build. I've built a few wheels, it's not easy, requires a lot of time and tools and technique are vital. That said, if you can learn it, it's very satisfying to know you can DIY

[@organi34]

actually i think that lacing a wheel is possible. i did about 4 laces for my mtb and unicycle... a good tip would to practice on a walmart wheel because you dont want to damage an expensive wheel. another tip that can be a solution for the nipples problem is to take the nipple, put a spoke on the OPOSITE side of it and than push it to place. this will work like a nipple driver.

[@josereneducharme142]

Entertainmet? I can't wait for your first full feature full length movie.