How long to build a pair of wheels

[Ken Robb]

How does time required relate to number of spokes?

[carpediemracing]

Originally Posted by bikinchris

If I am in a hurry, I can build a wheel in 45 minutes from box of spokes and hub in each hand to mounting a tire. Front or rear, it doesn't matter. I have built only a few hundred wheels, since I have only worked in small shops.
But frankly, I enjoy building wheels very much, so I try schedule the wheel builds when I can take my time.

I like how you say "only a few hundred wheels".

This describes me. My fastest wheels were in the 20 minute range - a lower spoke count front wheel with double eyelets (mountain bike rim like M217 I think), I raced on the wheel without any further work on it (other than mounting tire etc). Normal wheel builds were 40-60 minutes each wheel.

I haven't built wheels regularly since 1997. About 8 or 9 years ago I built a wheel in the family room of my dad's house while a bunch of very young nephews were running around, brothers and sister were talking, etc, a front wheel (no eyelet aero carbon rim so some lengthy dropped spoke nipple retrieval efforts) and it took about an hour to complete the wheel. That, too, I raced, after gluing a tire on it; still have it.

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

How does time required relate to number of spokes?

When dealing with a very low spoke count wheel, like 16H or 18H, it literally takes half as much time as lacing up a 32H or 36H rim respectively. Once laced it takes half as much time to get spokes up to tension (I build up tension doing laps around the rim - a 16 spoke lap is quick, a 32 spoke lap not as quick).

My fastest wheel build ever (from above) was a 28H mtb wheel, radially laced, so as simple as it gets.

Non-eyeletted rims that have very deep wells for the spoke (like a 58mm carbon rim) do take longer to lace up, especially you drop a spoke nipple into the rim. Double eyelets are nice, they keep the nipples from dropping into the rim and the brass lets the spoke nipple turn better once the spoke has decent tension on it. Mavic (I think?) had these plastic inserts for a while (maybe they still do?) so you could lace a tall rim without risking losing nipples in the rim, although I think there was no brass eyelet per se. The "anti-losing-a-spoke-nipple-in-the-rim" thing was nice.

[malbecman]

To quote Wayne's World, "We're not worthy, we suck......"

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by peanutgallery

With the introduction of the the relatively poor quality of stans and velocity rims, wheels take me forever to build. Sometime up to 2 hours each. Lacing is like 10-15 minutes each, screwing around with the lack of eyelets and the out of roundness of them right out of the box suck up my time. Find that most stans/velocity generally have something going on with the seam. It can drive me nuts. Miss the quality of mavic stuff like 10 to 20 years back. H plus son are pretty good, too bad they don't do mountain rims. Did I mention velocity/stans are kinda crappy?

My tensionmeter is an old wheelsmith, probably a little dated. Definitely on the list for an upgrade. Use one

I have built about 8 wheels recently using Velocity rims(Major Tom, Escape, A23), and previously, I agreed with you about Velocity. Their FLA made rims really had some QC issues but the last 8 or so, all made in FLA, have been really excellent. I think they listened and made positive changes. IMHO.

Yes, I am not a fan of stans tho-

[JAGI410]

I can do fat bike wheels in 20-30 minutes. So easy it's almost cheating. Regular wheels are an hour or more depending on beer quality and music volume.

[erslah]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

I have built about 8 wheels recently using Velocity rims(Major Tom, Escape, A23), and previously, I agreed with you about Velocity. Their FLA made rims really had some QC issues but the last 8 or so, all made in FLA, have been really excellent. I think they listened and made positive changes. IMHO.



Yes, I am not a fan of stans tho-

This is a crucial point, though: The quality of the materials can have a huge impact on the time you spend at the truing stand. The last ones I built using Archetypes, and I hardly had to do anything in terms of ensuring that the wheels were round.

[unterhausen]

a round rim is a joy to build with

[Hermes_Alex]

For just lacing, the best $20 I ever spent was on an EVT Mulfinger tool. It is basically just a knurled metal stick with a tapered point, which holds nipples on by friction and lets you turn them onto a spoke a few turns, even in really deep rims. It's very dextrous and easy to use. There are also little dummy-QR brackets which you can screw into a table that hold a hub in place, and let you build around it, which are really cheap and convenient.

Ditto about rim quality having a big impact on build time. I can do really good rims, like Spank much quicker than Kinlins, or a large proportion of stuff to come out of Sun-Ringle's plant in China. As far as hole count goes, lower spoke counts demand greater care in keeping the spoke tension consistent than higher spoke count wheels, which takes some time, but still ends up being considerably quicker with practice.

Triplet lacing also cranks up the difficulty considerably.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Hermes_Alex

For just lacing, the best $20 I ever spent was on an EVT Mulfinger tool. It is basically just a knurled metal stick with a tapered point, which holds nipples on by friction and lets you turn them onto a spoke a few turns, even in really deep rims. It's very dextrous and easy to use. There are also little dummy-QR brackets which you can screw into a table that hold a hub in place, and let you build around it, which are really cheap and convenient.

Ditto about rim quality having a big impact on build time. I can do really good rims, like Spank much quicker than Kinlins, or a large proportion of stuff to come out of Sun-Ringle's plant in China. As far as hole count goes, lower spoke counts demand greater care in keeping the spoke tension consistent than higher spoke count wheels, which takes some time, but still ends up being considerably quicker with practice.

Triplet lacing also cranks up the difficulty considerably.

Yup..made for me by a Maverik designer. DT, H+Son, current Velocity-a joy to build when new. Others, not so much.

[in_version]

I started building a wheel last night against the clock with my response to this post in mind. So... despite serious thought and acknowledgement I consistently prove the adage "haste makes waste". Set the first elbow in trailing spoke on the right of the valve stem hole, 3/4 of the way through I realized this so disassembled. After starting again and getting 3/4 of the way through, I realized the third set (elbow out leading) were laced one hole too far. At that point I got myself another beer and then finished up. All in all I spent about an hour lacing (and un-lacing) the wheel. I am pretty anal about tightening all spokes evenly as I get up to tension as I have found this results in less time truing. That being said I probably have another hour or so to get it ready to ride. I would say I could build a pair of wheels ready to ride in about 4 hours once all the parts are laid out and if no mistakes are made. I have probably built around 10 wheels (most with only a frame to true, and my ear to tension) and I really enjoy it, like building up a lego kit back in the day.

[dpk501]

I don't believe that...that's probably your "tranquilo" wheel build mode! I wonder what your warp speed is like?

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

From spokes laid out, lace, build, about an hour to hour 1/2 per wheel for me.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by dpk501

I don't believe that...that's probably your "tranquilo" wheel build mode! I wonder what your warp speed is like?

No such animal as warp speed for me. Nobody standing over my shoulder saying hurry up, hurry up. One speed. Lacing does take about 5 minutes tho unless I gotta use the nipple holder tool, then maybe 10.

[cnighbor1]

How long to build a pair of wheels
It takes me about 8 to 12 hours for a set of wheels I have built mainly 25 sets
What slows me down is I lose my attention to detail. I notice I get less exacting so I stop and wait till a new day arrives
My friend who ran Elliott bay cycles under 2 hours a set

[marciero]

I did the lace/relace once on one side- the valve hole having ended up between non-parallel spokes.

[jhat]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

I have built about 8 wheels recently using Velocity rims(Major Tom, Escape, A23), and previously, I agreed with you about Velocity. Their FLA made rims really had some QC issues but the last 8 or so, all made in FLA, have been really excellent. I think they listened and made positive changes. IMHO.

Yes, I am not a fan of stans tho-

I am glad you are having better luck with velocity, I have not experienced it. Major Tom , A23 and Blunt. The Blunt fought me so badly that I have thought about saying no to velocity builds. It is like the rims start out egg shaped with a very stiff rim seam.

If there is a trick with these, I have not found it yet.

To be original question, about an hour a wheel if the build is going well. Major Toms are closer to two hours unfortunately.