Wheel Building!

I finally built my first bicycle wheel. I’ve wanted to do it for a long while, but never got around to doing it. The opportunity presented itself after the Zipp 404 clincher rim laced to my PowerTap hub cracked, again. This has happened more than a few times to me, so I requested that Zipp replace the wheel without my PowerTap hub. Zipp came through for me, replacing the rim under warranty and providing a new Zipp hub at no cost. Thank you Zipp Speed Weaponry.

Anyway, I had the PT hub anxiously looking for a good rim. Our sponsor shop, Breakaway Bikes, hooked me up with a DT Swiss RR 1.2 rim, and I opted to use 2.0/1.8 Paul spokes and brass nipples. It was really nice to hand pick the components for the new wheel.

I used the procedure outlined by Gerd Schraner in “The Art of Wheelbuilding”. It wasn’t as difficult as I had always imagined it to be, and really methodical, almost therapeutic. I did overtighten the right side spokes, which caused me to round some of the nipples that had to be replaced, but nothing catastrophic. So far, the wheel has held up well. I’m looking forward to building another wheel…