Luxe Wheelworks Tech Journal no.2

Here are the materials for my next wheel build. 

I keep these razors safely magnetized to this magnetic dish. They make opening small parts boxes and plastic bags very easy. 

These are some essential tools. I try to keep organized. 

I regret having used this bench for a spray paint project. I will be more careful in the future.

I set the skewers aside when I am in the process of building. 

I keep the parts on a shop cloth so they don't move around. 

I will carefully place grease at the fastener-rim interface.

I don't use much grease. Here is how much I think works. 

I align the logo with the valve hole and begin lacing the spokes. 

Here is the early pattern.

This tool helps me thread each faster onto its spoke.

Here is the initial pattern.

This is a picture of me putting the first spoke in on the opposite side of the wheel. 

I use the valve hole as the reference point.

 wheel has 32 spokes and that's a "3 cross" lacing pattern.

Here I am setting the spokes. (2020 edit: I don't do this anymore either. Stress relieving throughout the build is just as effective in my opinion.)

Now the wheel is ready to be tensioned.

I tighten each faster equally around the wheel.

                                                        I then tension the wheel to specification. 

I now clean all residue from the wheel.

The last step is checking the wheel's dish.

I like how it looks.

I inspect each spoke for proper tension as I build the wheel. Here you can tell the spokes don't yet have much tension on them. 

I stress relive the spokes repeatedly throughout the process of the wheel build as I bring it up to tension. Normally to stress relieve you would grab by parallel spokes.  

Once the wheel is at tension, I set the spoke heads. (This is unnecessary and I no longer do it.)
 

outside

inside

This is truing to round. 

This is checking the dish. 

This is checking the lateral trueness. 

Wheelbuilding is rewarding work. I think it's really neat because you are building a structure that moves.
 

I apply grease to the threads of the quick releases.

After my career as a bike racer, I went to school for Industrial Design. These Eames chairs are an iconic design and surprisingly comfortable. Hanging above them is an official Tour de France medal my team won in 1999. 

Justin Spinelli

www.luxewheelworks.com