12-03-2018, 05:49 PM
(12-03-2018, 04:46 PM)KevinT Wrote:(12-01-2018, 08:43 PM)clasher Wrote: I would suggest buying and reading Roger Musson's wheelbuilding book if you are serious about building a set.
Thanks for that, just bought myself a copy.
I doubt that wheel building is anything I'll ever do, but I remember back in the early 90s when I was biking to and from college on ye olde 27 x 1 1/4" rims they would always warp after a month. I had a spoke wrench and would tweak them by tightening here or loosening there to get them back into true, but eventually they'd wind up true but egg-shaped, and nothing my deductive brain said should help was helping and so I'd bring them in to Braun's for professional service. With this book I can hopefully give 20 year old me some closure.
(The solution back then was to buy 27 x 1 1/8" racing rims with presta valves that cost twice what that high school road bike did. The guy at Braun's said they used a different spoke pattern which was much more stable and wouldn't have warping issues, and he was bang on. I still have that old bike with those rims on it today, though it gathers dust in the basement in deference to the mountain bike.)
If you read through the whole book you'll have a pretty good idea about truing wheels too.
Cheap old 27 1-1/4 rims were mostly rolled sheet steel and it bends really easy. I've seen some decent old aluminum 27x1-1/8 rims and they were far and away the better choice BITD.