Wheelbuilding / Wheel Building / Wheel build help

Anyone got any experience with the cheap n nasty truing stands off ebay? (e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bike-Wheel-Truing-Stand-Maintenance-Cycling-Parts-Repairing-Tool-Folding-Pro/333868407580?). About to press go on a first-time wheelbuilding project but the cost of a new stand is making me hesitate, and I don't really have the materials to go down the home-made route. Would prefer a decent second hand one but there's bugger all to be found on ebay!

I use a POS £12 one. Not like that though. It's fine.

All it has to do is hold a wheel securely in a convenient place for you to work on it.

it should do the job. I use a M-Wave stand wich is just a tad pricier, but IMO still in the cheapish area price-wise. built approx. 12-14 wheels on it. go for it!

I thought about one of those as a cheap alternative to an upside down bike - only issue might be stability, if the whole lot flexes or wobbles when you spin the wheel it'll be a royal nuisance - the Park etc. ones are pretty meaty for this reason

I ended up making one out of a couple of old clamp stands & bits - at 20kg it's not the most mobile but a decent bodge & has a certain industrial chic...

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^ That's ace.

This is the style of Minora I have.

They used to be very cheap and sold widely.

I've got that kit from Rose and have been very happy with the stand and the dishing gauge. The no shipping to UK strikes again there.

Found a nos/unused 26er wheelset locally on Facebook marketplace. Hope hubs, Dt swiss spokes and these campag mirox rims.
Was wondering if on a 16/17mm internal rim I can get away with a 2.1 inch tyre? Have seen some charts online.
Also, what's rough cost and how dooable to get a half decent, wider 26 inch 36 hole rim swapped in there? Thinking almost certainly not worth it - unless these 1992 campag rims are worth anything whilst they're nos and not seen a brake.
Cheers

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Thinking almost certainly not worth it

That very much depends on how much you're thinking of paying for them 🙂

@gbj_tester I'm unfortunately not a wheelbuilder :( but learnt a tiny bit when I got a set built by my lbs last year. So shop prices for labour and parts.
What do you reckon on tyre width?

I meant how much you're going to pay for the wheels. They really need to be worth the asking price for just the hubs.

As for rebuilding, if you want something ideal for 2.1" tyres the baseline is probably Ryde Andra 40, which are £50 a pair. If you pay a shop to build those onto your hubs you're looking at the usual range of prices, probably around £80 including spokes.

27.5 boost SRAM XD rear wheel 30mm wide. Anyone got a recommendation for a good wheel that isn't not too spendy but is also quite speedy?

@gbj_tester cheers for replies btw. Paid £135. Ideally go like 2.2/2.3 but was wondering how wide I can go on that 17mm rim. If 2.1 works won't be forking out £180!

I wouldn't worry too much about rim width, back in the 00s is all we had in our 26ers and it was fine.

@Netakure sweet cheers

Superb

wondering how wide I can go on that 17mm rim. If 2.1 works

As Netakure suggests, the original MTBs used pretty skinny rims. IIRC, Mavic G40 was the rim of choice for the 29er originators, and they're only 15mm wide. A 2.1" tyre on a 17mm rim won't be lovely by modern standards, but it will only be as horrible as what we all had in the 90s 🙂

More survivor’s bias here: used 2.1” tyres on 17mm Bontrager wheels on my Trek 8000 hardtail mtb, no issues.

Sun Ringle rims from AliExpress, fake or real? Okay to build up?

@Eseman @gbj_tester great stuff cheers

phwoar, that is a lovely bodge! inspirational stuff

cheers @miro_o and @HK_Berlin. think I'll go for a cheap n nasty ebay special then.

stay tuned for updates / moaning while I embark on my first wheelbuilding adventure...

I've got a pair of old (screw on) Campagnolo 36 hole record hubs on Nisi Solidal tub rims. The rear doesn't stay true very long after being rebuilt, so looking for new rims. Recommendations for 36h clincher and tubular box section rims? Mavic Open Pro tubular (rebranded Reflex) seem to be the only choice for tubular now?

Also recommendation for someone who I could send the hubs to and build the wheels, should I choose not to myself.

TBF I have 2.1 WTB Nanos in 17mm internal Mavics on the GF pootle wagon. The tire shape is good and the thread is in the right place.
Probably a more dramatic effect in road wheels where we use 25mm tires, 5mm wider rim is huge. For making an appreciable difference in the shape of a 2.1 tire you'll need a big jump in width, and if you're using rim brakes it's limited by how far back you can push the brake pads and availability.

In case you want to keep it vintage... I have a set of Mavic Monthly Route rims, 36h. They look virtually untouched/new. Currently laced to a set of Maillard hubs (same shape as Campagnolo hubs).

The rims are this model:

If you are keen on the rims I would happily sell you the rims or wheelset, or build the rims onto your Campagnolo hubs. PM me if this is interesting.

Cheers for the offer. Looking for a bit more modern rim this time, at least with a machined braking surface, so single pivot rim brakes can actually brake rather than just function as speed reducers.

Probably gonna get shot down by the wheel gods for asking a stupid question but here goes.

I'd like to have a go at rebuilding my rear wheel into a new hub. I have a 105 hub but need something that can take a Campagnolo cassette, so probably a Bitex RAF12.

Granted, I've only used one calculator, but hypothetically speaking, if my current spoke length is:

NDS: 291.2mm
DS: 289.2mm

What are the chances I can reuse these spokes if the Bitex hub spat out these spoke lengths:

NDS: 292.1mm
DS: 288.3mm

Less than 1mm of difference between them on both NDS and DS. Reusing spokes should be okay in this instance I think. The wheels didn't have many miles on them prior to me moving to Campag from Shimano.

Though I guess the spoke measurements I should really be taking are of the spokes I have in the wheel in real life....