Wheel rebuilding

Last night at our VMCC meet we had a demonstration on wheel building and making them true. Its all very impressive but this chap is Blind from birth and also deaf. He can talk but his wife uses sign . Just think if you had to lace and true a wheel with a blindfold on .

He also had the guinnes record for Jet ski
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1492489.stm

And a quad
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/3565386.stm

Ken

Ken
I bet that was interesting, Blind and deaf wow.!!

I have just lased up my front and back wheels for the 89 and it is time consuming, and very hard when you can see what you are doing.
You have to admire the man for all the things he does. makes us feel inferior don't you think.

Graham (tbird)

Hi All

Forgot to mention when rebuilding wheels, the parts list for each of the two bikes (80 & 89) quote 6 9/16" and 7" spoke length for the Cruiser 80 and 89 only one of these is correct the 6 9/16"(the wheels are the same 6" brakes)
7" spokes are wrong. the other set of spokes 6 3/8" are correct. so watch out.

Graham (tbird)

great stuff Ken, that bloke is surely talented and should inspire anyone normal sighted to have a go building there own wheels, theres little excuse if a blind man can do it!

Malc

Graham, how you getting on with the wheel building, I did some drawings a while ago showing the offsets of the hubs & the lacing pattern etc, I found one of the most difficult aspects of the building was getting all the spokes in the correct position on the rim & hub before tensioning the spokes. Do you know of the correct method of tensioning them or is it correct when the "ping" of each spoke is the same & sounds right? Somebody must be able to tell us or is it a trade secret. Furthermore, should we even be considering building our own wheels?
Mike

This chap not being able to hear the ping said make sure all threads are free and then feel the strain as you tighten them ken

mike Sayer wrote: Furthermore, should we even be considering building our own wheels?
Mike

My opinion is absolutely we should Mike, as much for the challenge as the saving. i know a bloke from ilkeston way never did it before in his life, relaced a bullet rim in around 2 hrs and made a great job of it following a guide off the web. His jig was made from 2x2 wood!

Malc

If anyone need a jig I have one that Authur Gent gave me made of wood but well made and dont have any plans yet to use it so will pass it to anyone that needs it now. Or it could be shared.

Regards Ken

Hi Mike
Wheel building is not rocket science.
The things to know are the offset of the rim taken from the brake to the rim.
And the layout of the spokes, take pictures of the wheel before you take the old spokes out.
This is my Triumph wheel before I took it apart.
I think it is part of restoration to do jobs like this, it's worth the effort, and the satisfaction it will give you.
Hope I got the picture right.???

Graham (tbird)