Wheelie?

I haven't had the time of late to do much updating. I think most of that had to do with not having much material to "blog" about. It's just day to day work that seems too mundane to write about. I realize many of you might like to know that I painted the inside of the trailer, or took out the garbage to the dumpster but who wants to read about that when there are great blogs out there to read.

That feeling has passed about 2 hours ago when I decided to build a wheel I promised someone I'd build up for him. Once I started building the wheel I realized how much I could say about the act of building a wheel. Mechanics like to wax poetically about this. But it is true, how it is such a learned skill that I bet not many of the younger mechanics in todays bike shops can do.

Is it a skill or an art. Probably both. Yeah, a machine can do the same thing on a mass production line but it's not the same thing. What makes a hand-built wheel so nice is the soul of the builder that goes into the final product. In it's basic form a wheel is composed of the rim, hub, and spokes. Assemble these together in the proper order and tension and its an amazingly strong structure capable of holding many times its weight. Rolling down the road, accelerating, braking, absorbing potholes...

I guess I became nostalgic while building this wheel because I haven't had to build one in quite awhile. Probably the last time I worked full-time in a bike shop was when I built a wheel. These days most wheels are pre-assembled and offered as complete integration of spokes, hub, and rim specific to the manufacturers design. Wheels these days are really cool. It's just that the mysteriousness of a mechanic sitting as his bench and twiddling with the spokes in some artful way is gone.

I can remember the first wheel I built. Following a step by step description from a book. I can almost remember many of the wheels I've built at the bike shops I've worked at. I bet many of those wheels are still rolling along as someone's training wheels right now. I remember nights sitting at home with a pile of spokes and nipples lacing up a new pair of race hoops for myself (Dura Ace hub, Mavic rims, Double butted spokes).

The art is in the hands. The feel you get from the nipple engaging the threads. Quarter turns here, eigth turns there. Check roundness, check side to side. Bring it all together like a painter with a few brush strokes. Right in front of you a pile of parts becomes this thing that has a piece of the builder's soul in it. It's a strong statement, but you aren't a proper mechanic until you can whip out a standard 32, 3-cross wheel. Show me a 16 year old working in a shop that can do that. Show me a 25 year old shop mechanic. Actually, show me a 16 year old that is actually wanting to get his hands dirty in a bike shop. Don't get me started.

Want to talk about tied and soldered wheels? I've got a sweet set of mountain bike wheels still rolling. They might be 10 years old. Another time perhaps.

(How's that Davidson?)

Cheers,
DJB