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My rear hub is damaged. I have not yet inspected the source of the damage, but the wheel is moving sideways when rotating (a LOT), plus I rode it like this for about 35km. Therefore, I find it probable to soon need to replace the hub.

The rim and spokes are new (couple of months of commuting). I suppose I wouldn't be running in the "old spokes new hub" problem.

I know that rear wheels are dished. Also, I have trued rims, using V-brake as a guide.

I would like to do the repair (replace the hub) myself. However, I do not own a truing stand, neither a spoke tension wrench, and find those quite pricy to purchase just for this one job.

Here I found a gem of an explanation of how to do it. Here it is concluded that without the tools, this is impossible. Here it is mentioned that experience can substitute the tools (I have none, unfortunately).

My question is "is this doable". The wheel is the cheapest around, so ruining it won't be a big deal. The wheel will be tested on a commuter bike, and not for some off-road dangerous activities.

Edit:

So I inspected the wheel and the hub is just fine. However, I have 4 broken spokes, manly loose ones, and the wheel is out of true. Sounds easy to fix!

Edit:

Thanks for the discussion. I think I will purchase 24 cheap spokes and see what happens, for the learning experience. Maybe next month there will be a question around "how do I replace my rim".

Also, thanks for the references:

Community
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Vorac
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  • I'm not sure why a catastrophic wheel failure on a commuter bike would be any better than if you were off road.. – 7thGalaxy May 09 '14 at 09:41
  • @7thGalaxy, I expect to be better able to detect ongoing defects in the bike while rolling on smooth surface. – Vorac May 09 '14 at 10:11
  • The terrain on-road is relatively nice compared to off road, and there are a lot more chances of taking hits to cause catastrophic failure off road. – Batman May 09 '14 at 11:06
  • You could get a combination bike tool / set, that includes a spoke spanner. If you have such a set, look at it again :-) The only tools I use are a spoke spanner and chalk. A truing stand certainly helps, but for one wheel just use your forks. Enjoy, you'll feel totally empowered after building your first wheel! – andy256 May 09 '14 at 11:33
  • The first job, though, is to take the thing apart. You seem sure that the hub must be replaced, but without images we can't confirm your judgement. Maybe you'll find that it's just collapsed bearings. – andy256 May 09 '14 at 11:36
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    You can certainly do it. You can get an inexpensive truing stand for maybe $75, or you can use a bike fork, but in either case you need a separate "dishing tool" which is probably about $30. You also need a GOOD spoke wrench. And you need patience and a good description of the build process, including the lacing sequence. – Daniel R Hicks May 09 '14 at 11:37
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    (But I find your description of the failure confusing. If the bearings are bad they can often be fixed without replacing the hub. You should investigate more thoroughly before beginning.) – Daniel R Hicks May 09 '14 at 11:40
  • @andy256: The problem with doing a rear wheel is that the hub is 135 mm while the front fork is typically 100mm spaced. You'd have to use the rear of a bicycle for a rear wheel on a frame with some rim brakes setup for an already true wheel to get the alignment somewhat right. You could do a rear wheel on the outside of a fork, i suppose, but it isnt a very stable thing (like http://miketechinfo.com/new-tech-wheels-tires.htm). And you can often use the truing stand at your local bike co-op if you live in a bike friendly area. – Batman May 09 '14 at 13:13
  • @Batman Yes having a stand is better, along with every other tool. And it is easier to build a front wheel first. My point for Vorac is that it can be done without all the fancy tools. As for a dishing tool, I've never used one in my life! – andy256 May 09 '14 at 22:10
  • @Batman - You can get an old fork and bend it. – Daniel R Hicks May 10 '14 at 12:29
  • @andy256 - You can, of course, manage without even a crude truing stand, but the result will be poor quality. The dishing tool helps you assure that the rim is properly left-right centered over the hub, and without it (or an expensive truing stand that incorporates the function) you're unlikely to come within 2-3 mm of being centered. – Daniel R Hicks May 10 '14 at 12:32
  • @DanielRHicks Not in my experience. I've never used a dishing tool and all my wheels are centered within 1-2 mm. – andy256 May 10 '14 at 12:50
  • If you have 4 broken spokes, and the wheel has not been subjected to "trauma", you've got some other problem such as a poor build originally or poor quality spokes. A properly built wheel, used only for commuting, might break one spoke a year in the extreme case. In most cases you should go 5-10 years without a broken spoke. – Daniel R Hicks May 10 '14 at 19:09
  • And, based on your other question, you have a 24-spoke hub. That's a scary wheel that probably needs to be rebuilt professionally. All the spokes should be replaced, at a minimum. – Daniel R Hicks May 11 '14 at 13:17
  • @DanielRHicks, the wheel is dirt cheep (46BGN) plus the problem occurred during a short tour with panniers. So all the spokes should be replaced? Why are 24 most difficult? Is the rim weakened by the 30km with 4 broken spokes with paniers (sideways oscillations of amplitude several centimeters)? The rim is double walled and the spoke holes seem to have eyelets. – Vorac May 12 '14 at 07:02
  • A 24-spoke hub is extremely weak -- a good touring bike will have 36-40 on the rear. If you've broken 4 spokes then the others are hopelessly stretched (and probably were poor quality to begin with). The rim may or may not have been seriously damaged, can't tell from here. – Daniel R Hicks May 12 '14 at 11:46
  • Wheels usually have 36 or 32 spokes. 24 spokes is low; every spoke is carrying a higher load. You say its a cheap wheel and from the history you relate I would be just dropping it in the hard rubbish. @DanielRHicks just posted a similar comment: I agree completely. – andy256 May 12 '14 at 11:46
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    Buy decent quality (eg, DT) spokes. Cheap spokes are a false economy. – Daniel R Hicks May 12 '14 at 15:02
  • Strange: You can usually just transfer the old spokes to a new rim, avoiding the need to relace the wheel -- quoted by Sheldon, search the page for the text. – Vorac May 13 '14 at 11:33
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    I use an old fork for a truing stand. Simply took off the freewheel and the outer locknuts, and the axle slips int a front fork fine. As a gauge I use my fingers to get close, then I use a thin scrap piece of light eluminium like a ruler, to identify high spots on each side and radially.
    Rebuilding a wheel is not hard, but its fiddly and time consuming.     – Criggie Sep 23 '15 at 23:34

5 Answers5

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This is very doable!

I'm midway though building my fourth and fifth wheels for my own bikes from scratch with no more than an upside down bike, the internet and a spoke key (or screwdriver to begin with).

There are a number of different lacing patterns to choose from depending on your own preference and possibly the length of spoke available to you. There are also a number of websites which will tell you what length the spokes will need to be, though in this case you can just measure the existing ones.

Definitely don't by cheap spokes (unless they are good quality spokes for a great price). My third wheel lasted less than one day because two spokes snapped within 20 miles. It could be that this was down to a poor build but my first two wheels are still good after 500 miles with no adjustment required (using ACI plain guage spokes).

Once you start getting towards tension (you can pretty much feel how tight they should be from a built wheel) focus primarily on any vertical movement before lateral as this is much more difficult to correct when at full tension.

Put the wheel under tension before assuming its completed. When I think I'm true I squeeze the spokes together with my hands, and check true again. Then I attach the wheel to a bike and walk it around whilst applying some pressure to either the seat or handlebars depending on the wheel and check true again. THEN I go for a ride around a car park and, you guessed it! Check true again!

Its not a hugely difficult task to complete, but a very difficult one to perfect.

Stamfordone
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  • Yeah, those are essential steps. But of course you also need a good book or online reference for how to lace the spokes -- unless you're doing radial lacing (which I don't recommend) getting the spokes routed properly is a critical detail that is not intuitive. – Daniel R Hicks May 19 '14 at 11:29
  • And it's definitely a good idea to use a screwdriver (in the slot of the nipple) for initial adjustment, as square spoke nipples "round over" with amazing ease, and simply putting a spoke wrench on and off dozens of times is quite tedious. – Daniel R Hicks May 19 '14 at 11:31
  • @DanielRHicks I couldn't agree more with the lacing (I used various Youtube videos), but in this case I expect the existing pattern can be followed. If completely replacing it may also be worth noting that starting with the spokes which enter the hub from the outside is a lot easier at the end! – Stamfordone May 19 '14 at 12:00
  • You can only follow the existing pattern if you carefully record it before disassembling the wheel or you replace spoke by spoke. The latter is quite inefficient and results in a lot of bent spokes. Besides, there are tricks to installing the spokes in a certain order, to make it simpler and build a more balanced wheel from the start. – Daniel R Hicks May 19 '14 at 12:04
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It is doable without the extra tools, but it makes it more off a struggle. I found it a good practice to lay things aside when frustration rises. Another option would be to bring it to a bikeshop for the final fine tuning.

J.S.
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Basically it's doable, but as mentioned in comments to question, it's very hard to make it good. However there are tools that you can make yourself, see http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html. There you have also a good guide to build a wheel.
I'd suggest to replace any damaged spoke.

Alexander
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Study sheldon brown's wheelbuilding site,sounds like this will be a learning experience for you,patience is the key as you learn to build wheels.When you are able to build and true your own wheels you will learn that a $100.00 bike with $1000.00 wheels is better than a $1000.00 bike with $100.00 wheels.

trav
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Getting the spoke tensions high & even is on of the most important things – balanced tension makes the wheel stable, high tension keeps the loads on the wheel structure fairly constant as it rolls which helps to prevent spoke breakage. You can get reasonably close by pitch and ear (pluck the spokes and listen to the pitch). If you have a ear that doesn't hear pitch there is a nice iPhone app called Spoke Tension Gauge that does the job for like $5 US.

dlu
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