You might think that building a spoked wheel is pretty simple – just attaching the rim to the hub using spokes and nipples as fasteners, and then bringing the wheel up to proper tension, right? Well that’s the basics, but whilst the process of building a cycle wheel can be relatively quick, it takes lots of top kit and years of experience to make sure that you end up with the best quality wheel built right for your ride.

Why have spoked wheels?

The simple reason is weight. A spoked cycle wheel is naturally incredibly light, especially given the forces it encounters out on the road or track.

By having the spokes radiating out at an angle from the hub in a range of specific patterns, this helps transfer the massive rotational forces your ride sees during acceleration and braking.

Spoke heads alternate direction on each flange, with some facing in and  some facing out. Different spoke cross patterns create different wheel performance characteristics, with many cycle wheels having the classic three cross pattern.

There’s also practical considerations, with the spokes on either side of the valve hole sited parallel to one another, which allows the tyre pump head to go on to the valve more easily.

It’s all about the build

It’s true that to build a wheel all you need is a rim, some spokes and nipples plus a hub, spoke key and screwdriver. The reality is that getting your wheel exactly right takes expertise. Most old spokes are recycled, as the threads are worn and sometimes the spokes are even slightly bent. We take new quality steel and put new nipples and threads on them. Each spoke is fed carefully through holes in the hub flange, then through holes in the rim, then tightened up by turning the nipples. Of course all of this has to be done in a sequence for a usual 36 spoke front bicycle wheel.

Fitting spokes is known as lacing, with spokes angled left and right out from the hub flange. That’s why the spoke holes in the rim are not on its centreline and alternate between slightly to the right and slightly to the left. The holes to the right are used for spokes coming from the right flange of the hub, and vice versa for the left flange. Leading spokes point from the flange in the direction of rotation of the wheel, with the first leading spoke fitted known as the ‘key spoke’. This comes out of the flange on the outside and goes into the rim at the first hole anti-clockwise from the valve hole.

A nipple is screwed onto the end of the spoke where it comes through the outside of the rim. The key spoke is the same as all the others, but as it’s next to the valve hole the completed wheel has parallel spokes on either side of the valve, not crossed ones, giving easy access for inflating the tyre.

Wheel tensioning and truing

Once the wheel is laced, the spokes are still loose, so the next goal is to evenly draw up tension in the wheel. To start, each nipple is tightened using something called a nipple driver or spoke wrench to the point where no threads can be seen. The next stage is to tension up the wheel all round. This is the part that takes time and skill, using specialist equipment like a spoke tension meter.

In addition to adding tension, we make corrections to the lateral truing, radial truing, and dishing of each wheel, which add tension to the wheel. A truing alignment gauge helps ensures each wheel is ‘true’ all the way to within a 10th of a mm if required.

Once the wheel is true, dished, and tensioned, the wheel is checked to make sure that all the nipples are seated in the rim and all the spoke heads are seated in the hub.

That’s it – your wheel for your ride is ready!