I tried building my own wheels
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- čas přidán 19. 05. 2024
- This week I tried to build my own mountain bike wheels for my new Deviate Claymore. Wasn't too bad in the end!
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Park Tool video I used to learn: • How To Build A Bicycle...
Thumbnail by: @Kim_Norrie - Zábava
I love how mikes content has transitioned from learning time consuming skills to doing things that hes actually passionate about
@Don't Read My Profile Picture ok
I'm actually more of a fan of the former
@@StayawayfrommynameYeah, me too, but he probs doesn't enjoy making it anymore
@@gabif7 I think we can pinpoint exactly when he lost his mind and decided he needed to change things up.
It’s all respect for him doing exactly what he wants to do but I know I used to wait and wait for those videos
I rewatched the video where you taught Tom Scott how to ride a bike, and as an adult who cant ride a bike myself it motivated me. I started teaching myself how to ride a bike a few days ago, and im covered in cuts and bruises, but i am semi-capable at riding a bike! And in pain. Thanks Mike!
Congrats on learning a new skill!
Aye thats awesome! Hope youll have a blast cruising around in the future😎
When I was learning to ride a bike, I felt confident enough to drove down a steep hill at speed only to find out I forgot how to stop and crashed into a flight of stairs.
Cheering for you mate
That's fantastic news!! Congratulations on your new skill!!
Love that you glossed over the true nightmare of wheel building that is spoke length calculations 😂
Probably done by the manufacturer that put together the set?
Just use Sapims spoke calculator. Saves so much time and headache
Thats the most easy part.
Use dt swiss or sapim spoke calculator
There may be calculators out there, but if you have components that don't have easily accessible measurements and you have to measure yourself, such as older legacy components - it's still not too difficult to mess it up. For my first wheel build I ended up buying spokes 3 times, a costly mistake. You only get about a 1.5mm cushion. I won't get in to it but Now I have $170 worth of spokes I can't use (For 66 spokes it cost me about $85 each time, 32hole rim front and rear, and 2 spare spokes.) This was around year 2020.
I think it would have been cool if you went to a bike shop with all the tools to see how close to perfect you got with the tape method. Anyway, great video!
Technically you can get the same precision as the professional tools even with tape (or how I prefer doing it: zipties) and the bike you want to use the wheel with. The bike shop tools just make building and tensioning the wheel a lot faster and more convenient, so it‘s a lot easier to get a precise, well-built wheel. From what I‘ve seen on the video, the wheels mike built weren‘t as true as the bikeshop I worked at would give them out, but they definitely are good enough to be used without problems.
@@flyingby3703 Actually there is one step you can't do accurately with your bike frame: you CAN know if the wheel spins straight (doesn't wobble side-to-side), of if it is "round" (doesn't bounce up-down, or isn't a "perfect circle with the middle point being the hub centre).
BUT even if the wheel IS spinning straight, AND it is "a perfect circle", it can still be a perfect circle that spinning straight, but slightly to the other side!
Many tool companies have specific tools to check this.
If you would want to do this "check" in your own bike frame, you would have to "flip" it with "tape cauges" in place, AND the hubs would have to be mirror-symmetrical (which they are never in the back hub, and which they are not in this bike even in the front hub, because of the disc brake space on the other side)
Not having your wheel "spinning straight in the right spot left-to-right" might kill you, because then it could be destroyed when going hard to left or right, because the spokes are not angled enough to the other side
@@aeyuio2315 did you not watch the video? He goes into dishing with his cardboard box.
@@linuspauly2380 But he doesn't do it correctly, his method in no way takes into account the difference in distance on different sides. The distance should be the same from the spoke ends in the hub.
@@aeyuio2315 no the spokes on the drive side are usually shorter than on the non-driveside
The distance from endcap to the rimcenter should be equal on both sides
beautiful bike and nice job building the wheels up. I used to watch some of your videos on learning skills, but as a big time mountain biker I'm glad to see you enjoy the sport too! The more the merrier!
I appreciate that you talked about spoke tension. A true wheel isn't always a strong wheel if the tensions out of whack.
I've worked in a few bike shops in my time, few wheel builds though, it is truly an art and takes time. A wheel truing tip I use at home, instead of tape, is a zip tie on the seat stay cut clean, you can move it closer as you need as well, the tape could be used on the seat stay if your concerned about scratching paint. Well done man, stoked to see your stoke for mountain biking growing after your early Ben Collab's haha.
I have NEVER heard such a successful 1st time wheel building story. Nice work!!
I had a pretty good time on mine lol
as a former bike mechanic i would say they look very good (even if it did take a while), but the real challenge is can you do it with cheap parts? This is way harder because the never fit as nicely as those exspensive parts and the rims are never exactly round to begin with. So Mike are you up for the challenge?
Btw did you notice that the front spokes are a difrent diamenter compert to the rear?
with all due respect, but its spelled "compared"
hi, i'm not a professional, after the initial truing (basically what he did in the video) it's not necessary to pre stress the spoke by pushing on hte hub?
from what i know the spokes need to bite a bit in the hub to stay correctly tensioned and true for longer... i have the doubt that under the stress of a few rides the rim wil not be as round because of that.
could you explane plz?
@@MrAntonioSimone yes you are correct, as he didnt stress the spokes/nipples they will need a retrue after a few rides. i normally stress wheel builds by standing on the spokes while the wheel is on the ground, works great
@@grassgrow030 not everybody on the internet speaks English as their first language my guy
@@TheDjCageman thats completely ok, i never assumed otherwise. English is also not my first language. I would still want to be corrected on a mistake like this, especially when the rest of the text was so well written, and the mistake does not seem to be a mistype, but a wrong interpretation of the spelling of that word
I still recall the first mountain biking videos, learning downhill .. now, building his own bike in every detail. What a great journey.
Great video Mike. As someone's whose built wheels, bicycles and motorcycles this is amazing. You can true your own wheels now. Btw you should make a video on making a truing stand. I bought a motorcycle one and used that. Works great.
I have once rebuild a wheel while changing a hub. The biggest problem for me was to get a correct tension of the spokes, because I didn't have a spoke tension meter. At first I have built the wheel too loose. Then the spokes would go out, it was a mess. Later I was grabbing all bicycle wheels I could find to get a feel how a proper tension should feel like. After tensioning all the spokes somewhat correctly I was really happy with the result.
I learnt to build my first (and only) set of MTB wheels in 2020 for something to do during covid lockdown. I used cable ties on the frame instead of tape and the coin stack trick to get the dish right but essentially the same cheapo method you did. Oddly enough it took me just under 6 hours too! They're still straight and round now, never had to adjust either of them once!
Great video! About 15 years ago I started lacing my own BMX wheels similar to this. Back then instead of using youtube, a BMX brand had a guide on their website with pictures. I used that and well, the first wheel turned out awful. As time went on I got better but I still don't aim for perfection and I don't own a truing stand too. I can still bang out pretty good wheels and most of my local town riders rode with wheels laced by me because they could not be arsed to learn it and I was cheaper than a bike shop. Great skill to have.
When someone with a strong Scottish accent tells me that someone just send him his brandnew Claymore, the last thing I am expecting is a bicycle.
Watching you just live life and have fun making videos about thing youre passionate about is so inspiring. keep it up !!
Great video! I have built a few wheels, and trued them in the frame like you did. If you have a steel frame/fork you can use magnets and cardboard to set up easily adjustable guides. One thing that really takes out a lot of frustration imo, is an adjustable spoke nipple bit, they cost around 20-30€, but I find that you get a great baseline very quickly, that only needs little truing after
Mike I hope you take this criticism with light heart, your content after you stopped sponsors became more casual/ boring before it was sophisticated, well-made, and had Mike Boyd print all over it, It was special. But still RESPECT.
Nice Mike. I have a truing stand that I picked up cheap, but my first wheels and many repairs were done with the bike frame as my guide. My -tightarse- sensibly frugal trick was to zip tie a clothes peg to each "chainstay" (or the fork for the front wheel). You can then chuck a hex key with a ball end in the peg and slide back and forward to adjust the spacing. Centring is a case of using a ruler to check the side/side, and assuming the bike's reasonably symmetrical.
This video is super cool to me because I used to work for we are one composites, who makes carbon fiber mtb wheels and frames. I did the rim layup from scratch- raw carbon to mould, mould to oven, and out comes a fresh hoop. It was one of the coolest jobs I've ever had, I can safely say I'm one of very very few people who has built their own wheels from scratch. That being said, the drilling, spoke lacing, and hubs were never something I dealt with- so seeing the process in a video form like this is super neat! I wish I would have been able to stick around longer to learn all that, but things happen I suppose. Now I can sit back at home with my new job in Whistler and enjoy the process without the suffering that appears to be quite common in this challenge! Thank you for that, and thanks for making great and informative and entertaining mtb videos!
As a bike mechanical, that absolutely loves wheel builds, awesome to see you give it a go! I am curious after a few rides if you needed to re-true the wheel since you didnt pre-tension the spokes
Good job!!! One tip though is when you think you're done, put the wheel on an old car tyre and jump up and down like f.... on the spokes with soft shoes - both sides (be brutal), then true again. The spoke tension over time will deform the holes & flanges in the hubs at the spoke roots leading to loss of trueness , this jumping up and down will preset this leading to truer wheels for much much longer!!!
I'M GONNA PUT IT OUT THERE I do this for a living and you did a quality job! reccomendations for next time would be for dishing use coins instead cause you can fine tune without it moving and use a spare spoke on either side of the frame for the overall truing as they're easier to push in and out and fine tune the true (Works more like a truing stand)
So excited to watch this I bet it is going to be a great video love your content
love to see this. ive built a few unicycle wheels myself now and its always an annoying process at one stage or another, but very very satisfying. My biggest problem is figuring out the length of spokes required since most of the online calculators aren't calibrated for uni hubs
Incredible that you get to do different things. I also would like to do all these myself
you should definetly do more vids like this. idk what it is about your biking videos but there just so unique in a good way
Don‘t forget to re-true and re-tension your wheels after a few rough rides. Your new spokes, hubs and rims will probably set in a bit. After that they should be in good shape for a long while though!
By far the toughest thing is to construct wheels that keep spinning straight even after leaving the shop. Almost anyone can eventually get a wheel to straight for a moment, but it's very difficult to get all the tensions & strengths right in the long run.
My local bike shop used to have young mechanic doing wheels, but they had to make him stop it, because "his wheels didn't keep straight" and the customers kept on coming back after riding a few days.
I think uniform spokes, uniform spoke condition, uniform sound from the spokes goes a long way, even without tension gauges. The sound might be even more accurate than the gauges.
@@aeyuio2315 Yup, that’s true. I‘m not very experienced when building wheels myself, but I did build my own wheels while I was working at the bike shop and trued up quite a few of them. I picked up a few tips and tricks from the guys there, but in the end only experience will get you to reliably building good wheels in a reasonable amount of time.
Great video, cheers Mike, that's given me the confidence to give it a go when I need to get a new wheel/rim 👍
Great video Mike. Really enjoyed this. Great hub/rim combo as well 👌
I love this ❤
I build and work with e-bikes and bikes all day, and building wheels was my least favourite thing when I first learned it
And shout out to Park tool for the great video on lacing 3 cross patterns (a nightmare with Ebikes), and ya boi kelvin 😂 their videos saved my ass so many times.
Six hours to learn how, thread, tighten, true and be happy with the outcome? That's a win. And very fulfilling.
Good job Mike! That was very smart to use a masking tape 👍 thanks for shearing your outside the box idea 💡👍
Congrats on building your own wheels and considering the tools, how round you got them! Remember being a bit intimidated doing it the first time, but as you said, once you know what's going on it isn't that hard. Now I love it when I get to build a wheel, feels a bit like meditation to me.
thank you very much for this video. I was trying to build my own unicycle but got a bit stuck since i can't weld aluminium with my electrode welding machine. Now i will try to chance the hub from an old wheel into a hub of steel so i can weld my cranks to it. Thank you very much
That process for round dishi g and radialing sounds incredibly tedious, having to tighten some here loosen some there, and do it for a crap ton of spokes is crazy! Super neat tho!
I guess I know what I am going to have to try this summer... great content as always!
I love this channel, I wish I could get you to speak to some of the athletes I coach in track and XC, you are proof if you put your mind to something, you can really achieve it. It takes commitment, dedication, and time. Always love the videos.
Very nice video. Love that you took a time to learn. I don’t know anyone personally that can lace or even true a wheel
The best bike wheel build tutorial I found on the CZcams was Ali Clarkon's. I've done 4 sets now all thanks to him really, and that park tool one is also very good. 👍👍
I learnt to true my wheels with much the same method a few years back after some nasty bumps put my wheel out of true. Can be quite finiky but feels great when you finally get it :)
Definitely takes a few hours to get the hang of, good stuff :)
Love your content! Keep doing what your doing!❤
Lovely looking bike there mate!
As someone who has worked in a bike shop, this is extremely impressive!
I would love a bike maintenance series from you!
Building wheels is no dark art! It’s actually quite simple when you get down to it. I’m 22 now and have been building my own wheels for the past 4 years. Ali Clarkson had an amazing video on how to build them!
Yep. Great video tha one
I have that exact same rear rim and hub!! 🤘🏼🤘🏼
This is a dream watching mike boyd bring his video style to a hobby that both he and I enjoy, it's not for everyone but for us odd bunch, this is great
Now that I finished the video, Mike forgot to stress the spokes, so that wheel will need some more truing in a couple of weeks 😅
Are you still climbing and/or bouldering? I'm really excited to see the bouldering video!
After your first climbing video, it inspired my wife and I to try it! Almost 3 months later, we're members at a local gym and getting better every time!
I rebuilt a racer wheel in my teens in the late 80s (so no Internet, although I was able to talk to someone who knew the lore) and I was _really_ proud of it, long after I no longer had that bike. It's a sort of meditative process which gives you a real sense of achievement.
Congratulations on 3,000,000 subscribers!
I've built maybe 20 wheels in my life. Every single time, you learn something new, and you get better at it. My most recent wheel was a HUGE jump in quality.
Ugh I want to learn because I have a DIY ebike with a hub motor and the spokes go loose all the time and 2 have broken so far. I have no idea what Im doing so I just tighten the loose ones and replaced the broken ones.
I really just want to rebuild the whole thing fully as I am sure the tension is off and its not properly trued.
@@1234567895182 yeah just do a rebuild. It's not hard. When I saw this video, he's using DT swiss rim/spokes which are the easiest to build. DT swiss uses it's own spoke wrench, and the squorx nipples with washers make for a longer-lasting true.
I was literally just looking into doing this today!
Hey Mike I know you did this project already since you made n uploaded this video n all that, but always watch a tutorial front to back before you even pick up a part. I've had many projects go south because I was too excited to go in head first but knowing the tutorial first is a great way of knowing which direction you're headed.
I used to work at a shop and did have to rebuild a couple of wheels. Mostly it was for warranties where they sent just a new hub or rim. We wouldn’t do it for customers because it’s such a pain and takes forever, and a whole new wheel costs the same after labor. A good learning experience though.
Love this biking content!
Thanks for sharing
as a younger bike mechanic lacing wheels is one of the most satisfying things to do almost peaceful in a way. good stuff
1:34 you are the first human on yt that arranged properly inner and outer spokes
3:00 HAHHAHAHAHA he just causally says, "If you get it wrong, you die!"
Great mate!
now i need to try this meself, thank you!
I’ve built my own wheels for years. Can be frustrating at first. Otherwise it’s a very satisfying experience.
I’ve did something similar to the tape method with zip ties many times. I usually flip the axles to check for dishing (centering) every so often as I tighten.
Hi Mike,
You should do a video on your process you go through when learning a new skill. I’m sure it will help many people.
"that's good enough for me" is a very important step when building wheels. It won't get much better if you continue :)
The reason I build wheels, I can customize like crazy. I've built wheel with spokes that I powder coated (even one wheel with spokes in four colours) and even used a twisted lace pattern. The last wheels I built were 20 inch (451 ETRO) with an 8-speed Alfine. You simply can't buy this when you want to upgrade a vintage bicycle for your kid.
Really sick!!
Not gonna lie, this was more interesting than a video about a random useless skill tried over and over, it was really cool to see the process, really enjoyed this one.
good job mike. surprisingly not too easy.
The way you made those wheels round is the same way you would tune a drum head. You get it close by ear, and then you use a tension gauge to get it even at each lug around the rim.
i've recently build my set of wheels and it was a pure joy, im going to do this on every build !
but there were numerous times that i dropped a spoke nipple inside the rim and spent ages getting it out 🤣!
One trick to avoid dropping the nipple in the wheel is to use an extra spoke as an insertion tool. Just thread a nipple backwards on the extra spoke to insert it into the rim, thread the actual spoke on from the correct side and unthread the extra spoke.
@@TeKaMOTO thanks , great idea
another method that works well is putting a fork in a vise and using zip/twist ties like the parts of a truing stand to help center the wheel
On the mobile app, if you click on a video and it plays an ad, tapping shorts and tapping back to home rerolls the ad (and eventually it gives up and plays the video).
All that to say, I’ve heard “BYE BYE BYE BYE” quite a bit and it’s hilarious every time
5:30 probalbly a common trick but my brother uses tape in order to attach an allen key or something to the frame so he can see the wobble
"Hopefully they stay together and I don't die" 😂
Great job Mike!
I literally never knew bike spokes were like cables before this video, I always thought they were rigid
That's a NICE wheelset
Those look great! Nice job. We like using a trimmed zip tie when a truing stand isn't available. Now that you've done one set you HAVE to do another right?
Spoke tension meter and a good truing stand make the process way easier. Just wait until you have to calculate spoke lengths, though!
Perfect timing for motivation.
I have been putting off re-spoking my rear wheel.
I've worked in bicycle repair shops (learning as I go) - didn't get around to 'wheel lacing' yet :). (Busy shops - takes time to learn... yada yada)
The tape thing is a good idea.
I know the same trick, but with zip-ties on either side.
(You can turn the zip-ties to adjust the distance to the wheel - a bit like an official truing stand)
Also, I know that Park Tool video.
Another person to learn a lot from:
RJ The Bike Guy (on CZcams)
He fixes vintage + not so vintage bikes, and has covered just about any subject / any brand / any part you can imagine.
And I agree - putting something together, or fixing something yourself - it gives you a greater appreciation of that thing.
(You kinda bond with that item... be it a bike or a guitar or whatever.)
Gonna try and lace my wheel this week :)
thx
The moment Mike pls something mountain bike or any bike related stuff you know it’s gonna be a good video
Sweet bike!!
Such clever problem solving here, definitely think I learnt something, despite not being interested in bikes!
Haha! Right?!
Thanks for the mtb content!!
I learnt to build my own wheels on my bmx when I wanted a new back hub but didn’t want to buy all new rims and spokes. Once I figured it out I found it a rather weirdly relaxing thing to do in my spare time. Only tool I had was a flat head screwdriver and a spoke key and mine came out just fine.
Loving the mtb content!
Oh god man, I love making wheels!
Before i became ill, I use to make a couple of wheels per week, for years working in a bike shop.
And for five of my seven bikes I made the wheels myself at the shop or at home watching netflix or youtube.
(also made some backups because the spokes came in boxes of 150)
If you have any interest in bikes at all, I can highly recommend it and I find very relaxing.
-But do NOT start your first wheel with any used hubs, spokes or rims!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can get strange anomalies and trouble shooting those are a 'female dog'.
Best start with no or internal hub gears, they usually have the same spoke length.
Use the simplest 1 crosses 3 pattern and broader rims give you room to work.
If all the spokes are in place set all the nipples at the same length
A simple and fast way is to feel with your nail when the treads just disappears into the nipple.
Then go round and round the wheel making full turns, increasing the tension a quarter turn per spoke at a time.
Only when all spokes are in tension do you start to keep an eye on your straightness.
To move the whole rim one way, always loosen one side and tighten the other, spoke for spoke, that keeps the tension the same.
If you have a height wobble, loosen the four nearest spokes at the low point and than tighten the four in direct opposite.
That way you keep the overall tension the same and there is less chance that you pull the rim to either side.
And lastly, squish all the spokes in groups of four because the threads and nipples will need to settle and you can hear them ping.
Then see if it is still straight and make adjustments if needed.
The name of the game is slow and steady and it's handy to remember that most spoke patterns are multiple groups of four.
When making any adjustment to the spokes on any wheel, do it slowly about a quarter turn.
O boy, somehow I wrote a short howto and didn't really a comment on his video, he's doing fine..
My passion for bikes might be a side effect of being born and raised in Amsterdam in the Netherlands I guess.
The way I've been taught to true wheels is by sound and tension, so I'm quite surprised that you only mentioned tension at the end and didn't put more effort into getting the spokes to equal tension.
What I do is I tighten the spokes to equal tension first and then start truing it. Do a rough truing first, then squeeze (grab two spokes with one hand and squeeze hard a few times) the spokes to relieve any stresses, equal tension again, squeeze, fine truing, squeeze, equal tension, squeeze, fine truing, squeeze and then final check to make sure everything is equal tension still.
Ensuring that the spokes are at equal tension all around is the most important thing to making sure that the wheel stays true in use.
I’ve even seen people stand on not full pressure but stand on the spokes and re tension lol
I lace and true dirt bike and street bike rims. 5 hours isn't to bad for your first go! I don't have a truing stand either (tho would like have one to save my back). I put them on our balancer and free spin them with a zip tie as a pointer (some high end rims I use a dial indicator, but a simple pointer is almost as accurate tbh)
I did that once when I was 14 years old. No CZcams back then. It took quite a while. But it did work, at the end.
🔧🔥🚗 It's fascinating to witness the evolution of Mike's content and how he has shifted from learning time-consuming skills to pursuing his true passions. Seeing him explore his genuine interests adds an extra layer of authenticity and enthusiasm to his videos. It's great to witness someone doing what they love and sharing it with the world. I'm curious to see the process and challenges involved in building his own wheels. Keep up the amazing work, Mike! 🏁🔩👍
In the past few months I disassembled and assembled my bicycle around 15 times for the first time in my life. I learned absolutely everything needed to fix your own bike and the feeling of building it yourself is truly amazing. Except ... I didn't even try to build a wheel hahaha
Nice work Mike :)
its really cool that he was able to build his own wheels with just a youtube video and some knowledge about bikes
you should checkout the redshift seat and handlebar suspension stuff!
ive been a bicycle mechanic for like 10 years... and some days i still have to watch youtube videos on how to build wheels, the hardest part is getting the correct size spokes and the correct starting hole, everything else is easy
You should have met up with Ali Clarkson for this one. He´s a great wheel builder and I´m sure the content would be fantastic. Either way, great video!
Please do more vids on bikes 🙏
You should ride with a full face all the time, they aren’t even heavier than half shells. I’ve got an IXS trigger ff and I always forget I’m wearing a full face. Well worth it considering how much more protection it gives. Great video, keep the mtb stuff coming 👍
you did a good job!
Ali clakson did an amazing video, been using that to build wheels for 5 years now. And can get a cheap wheel stand from ether x-tools or life line.