At OYLC, we love Wheel Building. Over the years we have gained invaluable knowledge and experience building wheels. Whether it be for BMX, Road, Gravel, Trail, or Downhill, we are up to the task of building your dream wheelset. Stocked with an array of spokes and nipples, conjoined with our specialty wheel-building tools we are prepared to get you rolling. Want to save some weight with fancier spokes or yearn for a hubset that matches your bike? We are more than happy to special order what is needed to make it happen. Equipped with a Morizumi spoke cutter, Wheel Fanatyk tensio, and unmatched skills, we are ready to bring your dream wheelset to fruition.
Wheel building is the fruit of your labors. The more attention to detail given to the task, the better the wheel will be. We make sure that every new wheel build is with new, high quality spokes and nipples, has even tension, and not only is straight but is round as well.
Nearly anyone – given enough time can make a wheel straight, but the real testament to their skill is how round the wheel is and how evenly tight the spokes are.
Round; also known and radial true, is how, round, the wheel is. Rims – carbon and aluminum – are never perfectly round from the factory. Then once you lace a hub into the center and start bringing up the tension, it starts to show the up and down, sometimes flat-spots, sometimes high spots. Judiciously bringing that rim into round takes patience and skill as to not overdo it. Bring the tension up too quickly, and you can’t get it round as easily, it is always best to accomplish radial true at low spoke tension. Why do we care so much? A round wheel performs better. It is a smoother ride, will last longer having more even tension, and won’t bounce you around as you’re rolling along. Any imperfections in round will be exacerbated once you inflate a tire onto wheel and get it up to speed.
Straight; or lateral true is the side to side deviations. A wheel out of true has a slight wobble to it, sometimes giving the sensation that your bike jerks to one side every revolution if it’s bad enough, and may even rub the frame or fork. Other times the wheel is so out that it has deviations alternating to either side. When this happens we need to make sure that straightening it doesn’t affect dish.
Dish; how evenly the rim sits in between the ends of the hub, can make a bike handle funny. Making sure the rim is spaced – in relation to the hub – properly ensures that your bike will track as best as possible, assuming your stem isn’t off to the left. It also affects where your tire sits in the frame or fork. A couple millimeters to one side and you may rub through the finish work of your bike. Having a wheel in dish also helps you visually assess whether your frame is bent or broken. Not to mention, details just matter.
As a part of our process, every wheel build starts with a careful selection of hubs, spokes, nipples, and rims to meet your riding needs. We calculate the lengths needed, sometimes requiring us to custom cut and thread spokes to the desire lengths. Then we prep the spoke threads with Loctite 222 low-strength thread prep compound to allow us achieve a wheel build in a wet application that will then dry once it’s done. This results in a wheel that resists unwinding of the spokes and nipples, while affording us the ability to re-tension and true the wheels as needed in the future.