My fastest time is half an hour, reguraly is 45 minutes but the regular is one hour (I'm bike mechanich). I like a lot your videos and all the trick from old school. Congratulations for your chanel!
I laced my first mtb wheel. This guy is the goat in explaining this. It was so easy after this tutorial, things just kinda fell into place and it was done before I realized it.
I've watched this multiple times... any medals for 5 hour club members... your time and effort that went into this is incredible... and so very much appreciated. You are a man of many talents... and teaching is right up there at the top!! Thank you.
I know im a bit late to the party, but I just cracked my old rim along with my frame and somehow broke the hub and today all the parts for the new wheel were delivered to me 😁 I was really drunk and even though I saw my hand and every spoke 3 times I could build my wheel flawlessly with the help of this astonishingly great video!
Can I say a massive thank you (and a subscription) for this amazingly helpful video. My cheap Chinese ebike ate it's rim wall and I was able to re-lace the new rim using your excellent and clear guide. In case it's of any use to anyone else, I took one of the old spokes and wrapped tape half way up the threads. I then screwed this spoke (until the tape jammed) into the head of the new nipples and used this to pop them onto the new spokes, avoiding them dropping into the cavity in the new rim. Thank you again.
Simply the best wheel building tutorial out there, this helped me build an insanely strong hope and dt swiss fr560 dh wheelset that hasn't gone out of true after 2 years of punishing tracks. Thank you!!
As a wheel builder who learnt my trade, working in bike shops throughout the 90s, I have always just done it as second nature much like yourself. Often in front of the tv with a coffee etc. But it was great to see such a vivid, organised and well thought out presentation of what goes on. Next time someone asks me for advice on lacing, I'll be directing them to this video. Great job Ali!
Watched the first 15-20 minutes then skipped to three cross, then built a wheelset today. Took me six hours to build them up and get them perfectly trued. I’ll feel good about my work after I get a couple rides on my new gravel bike. Thank you Ali for such an in depth walkthrough to include all the illustrations to help us out!
Thank you for taking the time to explain your experience to others. Like you, I was quite excited by the concept of the product, particularly the compact battery as I commute short distances. A few other customers have also shared their experiences and my balanced view has been to cancel the process. Customer service and Aftersales is a crucial part of any purchase like this and I no longer have confidence in the company, nor the idea of waiting months whilst they have the money. I will keep looking...
Great tutorial! Between this and the Park spoke length video, I just finished my first set of wheels today (long time coming). These replace the factory wheels that predictably died on my Electric converted Mini Velo (Bafang bbs01/Argos Urban Camper). New wheels are Deore disc hubs (rear reduced to 130mm spacing) laced to 40mm wide Blank rims I grabbed in the CRC sale. I’ve had to reverse mount a centerlock disk to clear the frame because of the 130mm disk design. Thankfully the disk caliper reaches the disk and still clears the spokes 😬 Relieved to have my commuter baby back. Add to that I’ve learnt a new skill and navigated several technical hiccups successfully all be it unconventionally! Cheers Ali 😊
Your old wheel build video has helped me through 4 new wheels over a few years and they're all still holding strong so thank you for the amazing videos! I'm sure I'll be getting plenty of use from this one over the years so thanks in advance
Ali, this is the most comprehensive easy to follow guide for wheel builds i have run across. I work at a bike store and am just starting my second year there. i've done a number of wheel builds, but i don't get them often...just enough time to forget. I use your video each time to get oriented to the plan. I hope you keep this up for a long time, i plan on having new techs review this for their first builds in the future. thanks again!
An absolutely highly informative video to all the people who are into the cycling industry. All information just makes you sound like a more knowledgeable person in the cycling industry.
Thanks Ali! I just re-laced a Wolber Super Champion 36h rim to a Specialized sealed bearing hub as a replacement for my vintage 1983 Specialized Expedition touring bike. Tensioning, truing, stressing here we come!
Hey man can't thank you enough for this video. so much effort. youtube is a great place but wouldn't be such without people like you sharing all they got. sharing is the new age for sure, Bigotry for knowledge is not the way to go in the 21 century, we need to share and work together. I subbed !
@@Ali_Clarkson Were waiting for part 2 how to true it, now that we are professional lacing it :) it will be probably the best trueing video on youtube, can't wait !
Watched the whole video and portions more than once...appreciate the time you put in. It helped for sure...since I like odd stuff, I was going to radial lace a 36 front, but went changed to a 1x since the spoke calculator showed the same length. I went elbows out, looks great and something you won't see on the BMX track more than likely. Did a 4x in the back since I use a disc and wanted to try that lace since I have only done 3x in the past. Gotta say, really had to tweak the 4x cross on the 20 inch carbons. No gouges though! Thanks Ali
Will definetely watch this vid entirely. I could have used it today, I was building a pair of wheels and I am not that good at wheel building. Thanks a lot, this is gonna be very helpful for my future projects ! And thanks for all the hard work you put into making this whole video
This video changed my life. I was able to build my first set of wheels and I didn't die. So stoked to NOT be dependent on someone else when I want to try new hoops or hubs. This is awesome. THanks Ali.
I built my first set of wheels using your first wheel building video and theyve been great. Got a bit of an egg i struggle to get rid of. If this videos anything to go by i cant wait to see the next one in the series. Thanks for easy to understand and follow wheel building tutorials 👍
Thanks for the in depth view ! I refer to your original wheel build video every time a begin a set of wheels. I think it would be hard to make a better tutorial than that one for starters!
hello bike mates! I watched your tutorial on wheel lacing but sadly only the 3X part :( So at the beginning before watching it seemed to me almost like a nightmare and after spending some half an hour over the 3rd set of spokes I finally started lacing a set of 26'' rims. It took me I don't know something between 2-3 hours to finally manage it as I was miscalculating the over over down pattern and one spoke wasn't coming parallel to the valve!!! Now I have only the 4th set undone and still need to but a truing stand so I can finish the whole project:) A thousand thanks for youw advice and.... Greetings from Greece to all bikers worldwide :)
Hey Ali, Just wanted to send a big thanks for this in depth video on lacing patterns and the tricks of getting it right. I laced up my first set of 700C vintage Campi rims on some new 130 mm spacing Miche Primato hubs to get some more life out of these rims. I was able to use the same original DT spokes and nipples (after a wash up) as the hub flanges of old and new matched. I don’t have a truing stand so they remain to be trued, especially the rear as I was able to get the front wheel pretty dialed in using the bike fork and brake pads. It’s interesting how it just takes one build to get the lacing technique internalized. Thanks again!
Ali, as an amateur wheel builder who has only laced a few, your last wheelbuilding tutorial was the best I've found. This is going to be yet another incredible reference. Who better to learn wheelbuilding from than a trials pro who does 10 ft drops and puts wheels absolutely through the wringer. Thank you! As a side note, I've also now learned by experience why you use aluminum over brass nipples. I laced one wheel with brass, laced it tight, and now 3 of the brass nipples have broken and needed replacement. Aluminum next time for sure. Thanks again!
Thanks Sebastian, I'm glad you liked my last one :) I hope this one will fill in a few gaps I missed last time and allow anyone to build a wheel with their lacing of choice :)
Assuming they're not defective, broken nipples suggests that your spokes aren't approaching the rim at a sensible angle. There's only a limited angle available for the nipple to seat properly in the rim. I've seen wheels built where the lacing was wrong for the angle of the rim drilling, and you could see the spokes were pulling the nipples sideways.
Absolutely amazing video man, thank you so much for your work. Iam quite experienced home bike mechanik, but I was always intimidate with wheel building and this video help me rebuild my factory carbon wheels with new hubs and spokes. Results are amazing build worked on fist try and wheels are better than new. Thanks again.
Fantastic! I was dreading doing this but the wheel on my budget-build used an obsolete hub size so buying a pre-built wheel was not an option. It was really painless to follow along with this video.
Excellent! Wish I had found this video prior to building my first wheel. One note at 1:05:38, Shimano dealer manual actually illustrates to use heads out (shoulder in) on the leading spoke (key spoke) for the drive side, which appears how you build. For the disc brake side, they illustrate heads in (shoulder out) for leading spoke (key spoke) which appears opposite of how you show. Apparently this has to do with torque as you mention when either pedaling or braking. Seems to make sense that shoulders out would be stronger since part of the spoke is supported against the flange. During braking the left leading spokes (shoulder out) are being pulled on the left side. During pedaling the trailing spokes (shoulder out) are being pulled on the right side. Not sure it really matters since I've seen wheels built both ways.
Fantastic! Very easy to understand and enjoyable to watch. Thank you. This is the first and only video of yours I've seen so I'm guessing you've covered this question somewhere but Lazy am I. On offset alternating holed rims do you recommend using the hole nearest the outside of the rim to go to side of the hub nearest to that hole or can this be crossed if that makes sense. If so which do you think is best? Cheers Johnnie
Great work on the drawings! These and the editing must have taken forever! As it is a quite overwhelming technique (or so it seems beforehand), I as a mech myself, always find it hard to pass on that knowledge. You did a pretty good job there! Now if only my apprentices had good enough language skills to refer them to this video! Keep it up, Cheers from Germany!
First time building a wheel from spare parts, I assembled the drive side in a 3x format... And the brake side was either 1x or 2x, because the spokes weren't long enough to do 3x again (I was re-using spokes, don't worry - I learned a lesson on that). Went to have my bike inspected and wheels trued before really riding it hard, and the technician said: "I don't even know HOW you did this, but you mixed spoke patterns, and still ended up making a well-centered wheel... I'm not even mad, I'm actually kinda impressed."
@@Ali_Clarkson He convinced me to have it re-laced by the shop, because we had no clue what quality the spokes were... Cheaper than a hospital bill, I figured. Wheel building is half art, half geometry, and half voodoo witchcraft 😂 I would have kept running the 2x+3x laced rear wheel if the spokes were known to be at least "decent." Thanks for all the information, Ali!
Thanks ..wonderful work. Had ordered hubs from the engineer that created HiE engineering, a bespoke hub and bike components company in the States. He would send the most complex diagrams of spoke patterns that worked amazing on his hubs. The fronts were always 1 cross heads out. Beautiful wheel that looked radial. The rear was a 30 hub spoke with 20 on the drive 3 cross and 10 on the left 1 cross. Pulling spokes inside. High drive flange and low on the other. The left right balance was perfect, same torque each side due to the different spoke count. I'm still using the wheels from 40 years ago! He made his own flat rolled aluminum rims that used hollow rivets to hold together. The spokes went into the hollow rivets. 212 grams per rim. Amazing kit it was.
Great video! One question: what would you do if the hole on the left of the valve is oriented down? Flipping the rim may not be possible due to the rim sticker orientation. Is this an issue you encountered?
I have the same problem, now the valve is 1 spoke away from being in the grand clear.... I guess, we must start on the non drive side or mirror each move on this side?
I'm riding sometimes hard, bikeparks or some jumps with hard landings, every month i see a slightly loose spokes in the rear wheel I'm trying to tighten them, just to keep straight tension (if the wheel is +/-1mm (1 milimiter) it's fine for me, right? equal tension is more important than .1 truiness ) I was thinking, if Parktool tensiometer would be useful for me or should I just look if the wheels is fairly straight/round in my frame and spokes not too loose (By sound or by touching them)
WOW, a bit long but well worth the watch, thanks Ali, I've watched your original video and as you mentioned in this one, I was stumped with the key spokes, especially 3x. I'm able to do 4x just about blind folded but 3x was a mystery, until now. I only watched this video once and got the 3x correct on my 1st try. Well explained, thanks bud, much appreciated 👍💪🙏
Wow, thank you so much Ali, I thought the previous wheel building video was excellent but with this one you are really spoiling us! Also, I know I've said it before but seriously dude, tutorials are your thing, brilliant!
Firsr of all, tnx for the vid. My question; were to place the first 2 key spokes, when the right hole is not directly behind the valve hole, but on the second hole left from the valve hole? I have an french rim. Because i can plce the spoke on the second hole left from the valve, but should i place the left spoke to the right behind the valve, or to the left of the first spoke? So it will placed on the third hole left from the valve. My rim is a French nipple hole pattern, and not the Europe pattern. Update: I have found my answer on Roger Musson book. First spoke to the second left from the valve, and the second key spoke to the right of the first key spoke. So both holes directly behind the valve are filled, opposite of the traditional rims
First off. I have to admit that I watched quite a few different videos before sitting down with yours. First wheel laced! The color coordination helped. Very detailed video! Three cross Spank with a Diore XT hub. Thank you!
I am struggling to make my first 1X wheel right now. I didn't like the idea of radial but wanted to do something more unique than 2X so I settled on 1X. As you mentioned, the bend in the spokes when trying to alternate heads in, heads out, was very intense. I don't think its feasible to make it like that, complicating my build. Are you sure there is no structural disadvantage to having all the heads face one way? I haven't seen anyone else mention making a wheel without alternating heads in, heads out.
Wonderful tutorial - and I’ve used it a couple of times now. But now on my first disc hub for effectively a front wheel - and got a bit confused if I need to start on the Disc Side or Drive Side. These terms seem annoying similar but would mean different things for front / rear wheels - as in NDS (non drive side) is the disc side of the front week. So I think you means for front disc wheels you start on the NDS as you should start on the disc side - but this seems different to other wheel builds I’ve watched / seen, and wonder if you misspoke and meant Drive Side. Just curious if I do start of the disc side (NDS) - does this flip the pattern of leading and trailing spokes specific to disk wheels? Some how the concept of trailing and leading spokes eludes me as it seems to change depending of the way the wheel is twisted and naturally the direction of forward rotation of the wheels orientation. Well anyway if you got to the end of this comment you deserve a medal - and you should get a second one if you understood my puzzlement here 😂🙏
Ali Hello What software do use to create the 3D illustration of the hub? I am not referring to the software used to draw the lines that we see during the video, but to the software used to create the drawing of the hub. Thanks very much. Great video, it helped me a lot to build my first wheel.
Really really good video! At around 1:10:00 I was about to add a comment on how to find key spoke hole when having different patterns on respective side, but you answered it right after! Love it!
There are some wheels that come from factory with two lace patterns. Like 3x on the drive side and 2x onde NDS. I did lace one this way, but I take the longest route or lace 3x than redo the nds to 2x. is there any tutorial on how to lace those wheels?
It’s exactly the same process as I’ve said in the video but if you do one side three cross, when inserting the key spoke for two cross you move one hole to the left…if going radial you count three holes to the left
I have never built a wheel, I probably never will, but now I know how it is done! Kudos is due, fantastic job! Excellent presentation, great graphics, you made it really interesting. 👍😀
Hello- so I watched your entire video- and I have 36-spokes wheel for a 4 cross pattern but I am confused on the placing of the second spoke- to my amount of spokes- since yours it’s shorter set of spokes🤔 Can you send me the information pls thanks
Hi, does your lacing technique also work with bladed spokes? In terms of threading and bending them (as from third quarter on) through the other spokes...
Question: On the parktool video of 3X lacing, on the third quarter, they did OVER-OVER-UNDER-SKIP A HOLE-INSTALL THE SPOKE. Does it make any difference?
So i have an "assymetrical" rim by your description, my problem is that either way i turn the rim, the hole on the left of valve is pointing to the non-drive side (36 holes). Shall i just follow your indtructions but strating from the NDS rather than as you do in this vid (strating to lace DS flange to "left of valve" - hole)? Or shall i go the other way around (clockwise), starting from right of valve to DS flange (where spoke hole is also offset to drive-side)?
Great video. I have the same pattern for rear wheels . But What about the front : we see reverse spoke insertion : spokes that are going forward are mounted from the inside of the hub . What’s your opinion about this ?
Thank you! As for the spokes…it really doesn’t make any difference in my opinion! I’m sure there’s theories that suggest one is better than the other but in the real world you’d never notice
Great job Ali 👍 I used to lament over heads in or out depending on drive side, disc side etc and it used to make building wheels much longer than it should be, then I built one using the alternate method, really didn't notice any difference, said F'ít and just lace now with heads out on the first set of spokes to go in, much faster. Curious on the 4x cross for your wheels. Understand you couldn't/didn't get the right length, but curious if the butt on those spokes isn't long enough to have had Tarty cut the threads longer and go with a 3x setup? Would be about 1cm difference 3x -4x by my estimatation.
Hi can i ask a question. 3 cross when weaving the 3rd and fourth lots of spokes at the point of the third crossing the spokes foul each other and basically bend around each other. On a previous wheel i redid them so it didnt pass under at this point and it seems better. Are there any downsides to this?
So technically that will work, I’m not sure on specific numbers but the wheel won’t be as stiff. Think of the weave under the spoke as adding another triangle to the system, triangles are stiff and the weave adds a very slight one going perpendicular to the lacing pattern…combined with the friction of the spokes touching it adds a lot of rigidity to the wheel
Such a helpful video. Thank you 🙏 I am about to buy one of those LB rims myself - I’m just curious if you’ve ever used those rims with wire bead 26” tyres. I ask as I have a few favourites that aren’t tubeless and would enjoy using them with a tube - but I have a feeling this rim is meant to be used with newer folding tyres. Long shot you’ll reply here I get that - but when I saw those rims showcase I thought I might as well comment and ask. Cheers again for helping me learn to build wheels 🎉
Hi, im trying to lace my wheel but i want that when it's riding it looks as if its spining backway, by chance do you know which type of lace it's called?
Thanks Ali, even years later you are helping people with this one! I had watched several videos until yours helped clear up the 3X lacing pattern for me, thanks again.
Great, now I can do this from scratch instead of looking at an already built wheel! :-) One thing though... I don't believe that you must run the "tougher" lacing pattern on the drive side if you use different patterns. I mean, the hub is extremely stiff in the rotational direction and therefore torque should be transfered (almost) perfectly equally through _both_ flanges. Actually, since the drive side spokes have less angle (closer to the center), I wonder if it wouldn't be beneficial to run radial lacing on the drive side instead to get better lateral stiffness if anything. Sometimes the "known facts" aren't fully thought through. ;-)
Yo, Ali. How accurate do I have to be with spoke lengths? Do you round up or down? If a calculator says I need a 296.2 mm spoke, what's the usable range? Thanks.
You need to be fairly accurate but not to the decimal points. 296.2 would be perfectly fine as a 296, you could still use a 297 (though I’ve found spokes usually come as even numbered lengths)…298 would be a push though, maybe doable but not recommended
Yes, but I sneak up on it with lighter steps, like I mention in the video hubs flanges are weakest with radial but they do still need to be bedded in. You have to do every spoke individually too (as there’s no crosses) so each spoke is taking all the stress (and therefore all the stress is located at a single point at the flange) so you don’t actually need as much weight put into the stamp as a normal 3x wheel anyway
@@Ali_Clarkson Thank you, Ali. But are straightpull wheels always radial? Or can they be built with 3-cross layout? The Shimano XT 28-spoke straightpull rear hub I have on-screen while writing this, has 2 holes for spokes going in opposite diretions on each flange point (7 on each flange).
Your original wheelbuilding video was what taught me to build wheels, and I go back to it again and again. You explain the technique better than any other video tutorial on the internet. Love the Khan Academy style of this new vid, too! Cheers Ali for teaching me a new skill!
Anyone joining the 1 hour club?
I'm not able to watch the entire video right now and since i want to really understand the process I'll watch it tomorrow :)
But already liked it ;)
My fastest time is half an hour, reguraly is 45 minutes but the regular is one hour (I'm bike mechanich). I like a lot your videos and all the trick from old school. Congratulations for your chanel!
Also there are more lacing patterns, I tried some of them (very complicated), can I link them?
Watched the whole thing and don't even need new wheels. Very well done tutorial.
I laced my first mtb wheel. This guy is the goat in explaining this. It was so easy after this tutorial, things just kinda fell into place and it was done before I realized it.
Even with following you on IG I can't even imagine what amount of time you put in this just for us. Thank you.
Thanks Will, this was definitely a full-on video to make...more so than I first thought :P
I've watched this multiple times... any medals for 5 hour club members... your time and effort that went into this is incredible... and so very much appreciated. You are a man of many talents... and teaching is right up there at the top!! Thank you.
I know im a bit late to the party, but I just cracked my old rim along with my frame and somehow broke the hub and today all the parts for the new wheel were delivered to me 😁
I was really drunk and even though I saw my hand and every spoke 3 times I could build my wheel flawlessly with the help of this astonishingly great video!
Can I say a massive thank you (and a subscription) for this amazingly helpful video. My cheap Chinese ebike ate it's rim wall and I was able to re-lace the new rim using your excellent and clear guide.
In case it's of any use to anyone else, I took one of the old spokes and wrapped tape half way up the threads. I then screwed this spoke (until the tape jammed) into the head of the new nipples and used this to pop them onto the new spokes, avoiding them dropping into the cavity in the new rim.
Thank you again.
Today I watched 6 wheel building videos and this blew everything else out of the water. Every part was succinct and easy to follow.
Probably I’m not gonna build a wheel any time soon, but now I know where to come when it’s time. Great illustrations Ali!
Simply the best wheel building tutorial out there, this helped me build an insanely strong hope and dt swiss fr560 dh wheelset that hasn't gone out of true after 2 years of punishing tracks. Thank you!!
Really pleased to read this! I’m glad the video helped :)
Algorithm, we’re here for you.
Thanks Mum 😂
@@Ali_Clarkson @Dorothy Clarkson how wholesome hahaha
As a wheel builder who learnt my trade, working in bike shops throughout the 90s, I have always just done it as second nature much like yourself. Often in front of the tv with a coffee etc. But it was great to see such a vivid, organised and well thought out presentation of what goes on. Next time someone asks me for advice on lacing, I'll be directing them to this video. Great job Ali!
Can tell you were an artist/designer, very well done. There’s nothing out there like this. Well worth the wait.
Thanks Tweaks!
Watched the first 15-20 minutes then skipped to three cross, then built a wheelset today. Took me six hours to build them up and get them perfectly trued. I’ll feel good about my work after I get a couple rides on my new gravel bike. Thank you Ali for such an in depth walkthrough to include all the illustrations to help us out!
This is the best wheel building video ever. From all of us, thank you
Sensational!
best and most comprehensive wheel building guide I've seen, your effort in putting this together is very much appreciated 👏 👍 👌
Thank you! :D
Just liked the video because I know how much effort you put into it and one day I will need it, thank's Ali
Thank you :)
Thank you for taking the time to explain your experience to others. Like you, I was quite excited by the concept of the product, particularly the compact battery as I commute short distances.
A few other customers have also shared their experiences and my balanced view has been to cancel the process. Customer service and Aftersales is a crucial part of any purchase like this and I no longer have confidence in the company, nor the idea of waiting months whilst they have the money.
I will keep looking...
Just used your guide to lace my first ever wheelset. Thank you!
Great tutorial! Between this and the Park spoke length video, I just finished my first set of wheels today (long time coming). These replace the factory wheels that predictably died on my Electric converted Mini Velo (Bafang bbs01/Argos Urban Camper). New wheels are Deore disc hubs (rear reduced to 130mm spacing) laced to 40mm wide Blank rims I grabbed in the CRC sale. I’ve had to reverse mount a centerlock disk to clear the frame because of the 130mm disk design. Thankfully the disk caliper reaches the disk and still clears the spokes 😬 Relieved to have my commuter baby back. Add to that I’ve learnt a new skill and navigated several technical hiccups successfully all be it unconventionally! Cheers Ali 😊
Your old wheel build video has helped me through 4 new wheels over a few years and they're all still holding strong so thank you for the amazing videos! I'm sure I'll be getting plenty of use from this one over the years so thanks in advance
Ali, this is the most comprehensive easy to follow guide for wheel builds i have run across. I work at a bike store and am just starting my second year there. i've done a number of wheel builds, but i don't get them often...just enough time to forget. I use your video each time to get oriented to the plan. I hope you keep this up for a long time, i plan on having new techs review this for their first builds in the future. thanks again!
I just did 2 wheels in 4x because of your video 👍🏻👍🏻 Thankyou.
An absolutely highly informative video to all the people who are into the cycling industry. All information just makes you sound like a more knowledgeable person in the cycling industry.
Thanks Ali! I just re-laced a Wolber Super Champion 36h rim to a Specialized sealed bearing hub as a replacement for my vintage 1983 Specialized Expedition touring bike. Tensioning, truing, stressing here we come!
Hey man can't thank you enough for this video. so much effort. youtube is a great place but wouldn't be such without people like you sharing all they got. sharing is the new age for sure, Bigotry for knowledge is not the way to go in the 21 century, we need to share and work together.
I subbed !
Aw thank you very much, kind words indeed and I totally agree ☺️
@@Ali_Clarkson Were waiting for part 2 how to true it, now that we are professional lacing it :) it will be probably the best trueing video on youtube, can't wait !
Great information! Thank you. I watched the whole video because it is so well done.
Watched the whole video and portions more than once...appreciate the time you put in. It helped for sure...since I like odd stuff, I was going to radial lace a 36 front, but went changed to a 1x since the spoke calculator showed the same length. I went elbows out, looks great and something you won't see on the BMX track more than likely. Did a 4x in the back since I use a disc and wanted to try that lace since I have only done 3x in the past. Gotta say, really had to tweak the 4x cross on the 20 inch carbons. No gouges though! Thanks Ali
Hands down the best wheel video I’ve seen! Thanks for making this! You’re a legend🤘
Will definetely watch this vid entirely. I could have used it today, I was building a pair of wheels and I am not that good at wheel building. Thanks a lot, this is gonna be very helpful for my future projects ! And thanks for all the hard work you put into making this whole video
The best explanation/tutorial I've ever seen!
This video changed my life. I was able to build my first set of wheels and I didn't die. So stoked to NOT be dependent on someone else when I want to try new hoops or hubs. This is awesome. THanks Ali.
I built my first set of wheels using your first wheel building video and theyve been great. Got a bit of an egg i struggle to get rid of. If this videos anything to go by i cant wait to see the next one in the series. Thanks for easy to understand and follow wheel building tutorials 👍
Really waited for this one, awesome how much you effort you put into it
Think i`am gonna speak for Everyone here if say Thank you for that great Tutorial
@@finnschmidt9514 Ali's tutorials are simply the best ones, no joke
Thanks for the in depth view ! I refer to your original wheel build video every time a begin a set of wheels. I think it would be hard to make a better tutorial than that one for starters!
Brilliantly explained! Thank you
You're very welcome!
Haven't watched it yet but already liked it and looking forward to watching it! 👍🏻
This video is an amazing resource. Well detailed but easy to follow. Thank you Ali!
hello bike mates!
I watched your tutorial on wheel lacing but sadly only the 3X part :(
So at the beginning before watching it seemed to me almost like a nightmare and after spending some half an hour over the 3rd set of spokes I finally started lacing a set of 26'' rims. It took me I don't know something between 2-3 hours to finally manage it as I was miscalculating the over over down pattern and one spoke wasn't coming parallel to the valve!!!
Now I have only the 4th set undone and still need to but a truing stand so I can finish the whole project:)
A thousand thanks for youw advice and....
Greetings from Greece to all bikers worldwide :)
Hey Ali,
Just wanted to send a big thanks for this in depth video on lacing patterns and the tricks of getting it right.
I laced up my first set of 700C vintage Campi rims on some new 130 mm spacing Miche Primato hubs to get some more life out of these rims. I was able to use the same original DT spokes and nipples (after a wash up) as the hub flanges of old and new matched.
I don’t have a truing stand so they remain to be trued, especially the rear as I was able to get the front wheel pretty dialed in using the bike fork and brake pads.
It’s interesting how it just takes one build to get the lacing technique internalized.
Thanks again!
Ali, as an amateur wheel builder who has only laced a few, your last wheelbuilding tutorial was the best I've found. This is going to be yet another incredible reference. Who better to learn wheelbuilding from than a trials pro who does 10 ft drops and puts wheels absolutely through the wringer. Thank you!
As a side note, I've also now learned by experience why you use aluminum over brass nipples. I laced one wheel with brass, laced it tight, and now 3 of the brass nipples have broken and needed replacement. Aluminum next time for sure. Thanks again!
Thanks Sebastian, I'm glad you liked my last one :) I hope this one will fill in a few gaps I missed last time and allow anyone to build a wheel with their lacing of choice :)
Assuming they're not defective, broken nipples suggests that your spokes aren't approaching the rim at a sensible angle. There's only a limited angle available for the nipple to seat properly in the rim. I've seen wheels built where the lacing was wrong for the angle of the rim drilling, and you could see the spokes were pulling the nipples sideways.
on around 1000 made wheels, i never had broken nipple
Brass nipples are usually very tough. I'd be surprised if you get better results with aluminum nipples, all else being equal.
very good video it help me to lace my wheel the right way, thank you.
Absolutely amazing video man, thank you so much for your work. Iam quite experienced home bike mechanik, but I was always intimidate with wheel building and this video help me rebuild my factory carbon wheels with new hubs and spokes. Results are amazing build worked on fist try and wheels are better than new. Thanks again.
Alas!! finally I made it! thank you for this video!!
this is going to be good i know it :}
i was watching the older spoke/wheel video the other day
Fantastic! I was dreading doing this but the wheel on my budget-build used an obsolete hub size so buying a pre-built wheel was not an option. It was really painless to follow along with this video.
This was just awesome, Ali! Really appreciated this. Looking forward to more of this!
Thank you Ali, you are the best!
Thanks, much appreciated :)
Back building another rear wheel my third:
1:02:38 Scripture and Bible of wheel build!👌
your tips years ago, very good
Appreciated thanks 👍🏻
I waited for this one👍
I hope it’s useful :)
I refer to this every time.
Excellent! Wish I had found this video prior to building my first wheel. One note at 1:05:38, Shimano dealer manual actually illustrates to use heads out (shoulder in) on the leading spoke (key spoke) for the drive side, which appears how you build. For the disc brake side, they illustrate heads in (shoulder out) for leading spoke (key spoke) which appears opposite of how you show. Apparently this has to do with torque as you mention when either pedaling or braking. Seems to make sense that shoulders out would be stronger since part of the spoke is supported against the flange. During braking the left leading spokes (shoulder out) are being pulled on the left side. During pedaling the trailing spokes (shoulder out) are being pulled on the right side. Not sure it really matters since I've seen wheels built both ways.
The weird kid next door, it's fine but there are better options... love it, definitely going to use that anology when trying to explain to customers
Just perfect video.
Ali, do you find it difficult to true wheels that have those stickers on the rim?
Good question…it’s just as easy to get the wheel 99% as tru as other wheels but the sticker can make it hard to get that last 1%
Thank you for the tutorial
Currently watcthing this series, but would you ever cover some of the lesser known patterns? Crows foot, 2L2T, 3L3T etc?
Fantastic! Very easy to understand and enjoyable to watch. Thank you. This is the first and only video of yours I've seen so I'm guessing you've covered this question somewhere but Lazy am I. On offset alternating holed rims do you recommend using the hole nearest the outside of the rim to go to side of the hub nearest to that hole or can this be crossed if that makes sense. If so which do you think is best? Cheers Johnnie
Really interesting stuff, good video!
You are an excellent teacher. I use a piece of tape on my key spokes.
Great work on the drawings! These and the editing must have taken forever!
As it is a quite overwhelming technique (or so it seems beforehand), I as a mech myself, always find it hard to pass on that knowledge.
You did a pretty good job there!
Now if only my apprentices had good enough language skills to refer them to this video!
Keep it up, Cheers from Germany!
Yeee about time one of your vid pops up in notification s normally don't show
That’s good to hear 😁
Great Video!
this is, by far, the best tutorial for building wheels
First time building a wheel from spare parts, I assembled the drive side in a 3x format... And the brake side was either 1x or 2x, because the spokes weren't long enough to do 3x again (I was re-using spokes, don't worry - I learned a lesson on that).
Went to have my bike inspected and wheels trued before really riding it hard, and the technician said: "I don't even know HOW you did this, but you mixed spoke patterns, and still ended up making a well-centered wheel... I'm not even mad, I'm actually kinda impressed."
The system works! 😁 glad to hear of your success :)
@@Ali_Clarkson He convinced me to have it re-laced by the shop, because we had no clue what quality the spokes were... Cheaper than a hospital bill, I figured.
Wheel building is half art, half geometry, and half voodoo witchcraft 😂
I would have kept running the 2x+3x laced rear wheel if the spokes were known to be at least "decent." Thanks for all the information, Ali!
Bro thank you!
No worries Mike 👍🏻
Thank you!
Thanks ..wonderful work. Had ordered hubs from the engineer that created HiE engineering, a bespoke hub and bike components company in the States. He would send the most complex diagrams of spoke patterns that worked amazing on his hubs. The fronts were always 1 cross heads out. Beautiful wheel that looked radial. The rear was a 30 hub spoke with 20 on the drive 3 cross and 10 on the left 1 cross. Pulling spokes inside. High drive flange and low on the other. The left right balance was perfect, same torque each side due to the different spoke count. I'm still using the wheels from 40 years ago! He made his own flat rolled aluminum rims that used hollow rivets to hold together. The spokes went into the hollow rivets. 212 grams per rim. Amazing kit it was.
Great video! One question: what would you do if the hole on the left of the valve is oriented down? Flipping the rim may not be possible due to the rim sticker orientation. Is this an issue you encountered?
I have the same problem, now the valve is 1 spoke away from being in the grand clear.... I guess, we must start on the non drive side or mirror each move on this side?
I'm riding sometimes hard, bikeparks or some jumps with hard landings, every month i see a slightly loose spokes in the rear wheel
I'm trying to tighten them, just to keep straight tension (if the wheel is +/-1mm (1 milimiter) it's fine for me, right? equal tension is more important than .1 truiness )
I was thinking, if Parktool tensiometer would be useful for me or should I just look if the wheels is fairly straight/round in my frame and spokes not too loose (By sound or by touching them)
WOW, a bit long but well worth the watch, thanks Ali, I've watched your original video and as you mentioned in this one, I was stumped with the key spokes, especially 3x. I'm able to do 4x just about blind folded but 3x was a mystery, until now. I only watched this video once and got the 3x correct on my 1st try. Well explained, thanks bud, much appreciated 👍💪🙏
Thank you very much!
Wow, thank you so much Ali, I thought the previous wheel building video was excellent but with this one you are really spoiling us! Also, I know I've said it before but seriously dude, tutorials are your thing, brilliant!
Thanks Wonderbat9, This makes me happy :)
Firsr of all, tnx for the vid. My question; were to place the first 2 key spokes, when the right hole is not directly behind the valve hole, but on the second hole left from the valve hole? I have an french rim. Because i can plce the spoke on the second hole left from the valve, but should i place the left spoke to the right behind the valve, or to the left of the first spoke? So it will placed on the third hole left from the valve. My rim is a French nipple hole pattern, and not the Europe pattern.
Update:
I have found my answer on Roger Musson book. First spoke to the second left from the valve, and the second key spoke to the right of the first key spoke.
So both holes directly behind the valve are filled, opposite of the traditional rims
This is probably the best lesson on RUclips so far ! Well done. The drawings help a lot, so that's easy to understand.
First off. I have to admit that I watched quite a few different videos before sitting down with yours.
First wheel laced! The color coordination helped. Very detailed video!
Three cross Spank with a Diore XT hub.
Thank you!
I’m glad it helped! 😁
This was the best tutorial i could find just build my first wheel thx to you❤
I am struggling to make my first 1X wheel right now. I didn't like the idea of radial but wanted to do something more unique than 2X so I settled on 1X. As you mentioned, the bend in the spokes when trying to alternate heads in, heads out, was very intense. I don't think its feasible to make it like that, complicating my build. Are you sure there is no structural disadvantage to having all the heads face one way? I haven't seen anyone else mention making a wheel without alternating heads in, heads out.
Wonderful tutorial - and I’ve used it a couple of times now. But now on my first disc hub for effectively a front wheel - and got a bit confused if I need to start on the Disc Side or Drive Side. These terms seem annoying similar but would mean different things for front / rear wheels - as in NDS (non drive side) is the disc side of the front week. So I think you means for front disc wheels you start on the NDS as you should start on the disc side - but this seems different to other wheel builds I’ve watched / seen, and wonder if you misspoke and meant Drive Side. Just curious if I do start of the disc side (NDS) - does this flip the pattern of leading and trailing spokes specific to disk wheels? Some how the concept of trailing and leading spokes eludes me as it seems to change depending of the way the wheel is twisted and naturally the direction of forward rotation of the wheels orientation. Well anyway if you got to the end of this comment you deserve a medal - and you should get a second one if you understood my puzzlement here 😂🙏
My basic rule of thumb is that I start on the more important side first, so drive side rear, disc side front 👍🏻
Which hub types are typically stronger: straight pull or J-Bend type?
I don’t know with confidence but I’m sure I read somewhere that J bend is a stronger hub
Ali Hello
What software do use to create the 3D illustration of the hub?
I am not referring to the software used to draw the lines that we see during the video, but to the software used to create the drawing of the hub.
Thanks very much. Great video, it helped me a lot to build my first wheel.
Really really good video! At around 1:10:00 I was about to add a comment on how to find key spoke hole when having different patterns on respective side, but you answered it right after! Love it!
Would Chris king hub flanges be big enough to use the 4x pattern?
Yes, that’s what I’ve been using for the last two years 👍🏻
There are some wheels that come from factory with two lace patterns. Like 3x on the drive side and 2x onde NDS. I did lace one this way, but I take the longest route or lace 3x than redo the nds to 2x. is there any tutorial on how to lace those wheels?
It’s exactly the same process as I’ve said in the video but if you do one side three cross, when inserting the key spoke for two cross you move one hole to the left…if going radial you count three holes to the left
I have never built a wheel, I probably never will, but now I know how it is done! Kudos is due, fantastic job! Excellent presentation, great graphics, you made it really interesting. 👍😀
Thanks Mike, good to know the hard work was worth it :)
Hello- so I watched your entire video- and I have 36-spokes wheel for a 4 cross pattern but I am confused on the placing of the second spoke- to my amount of spokes- since yours it’s shorter set of spokes🤔 Can you send me the information pls thanks
Everything is exactly the same really, no change to the process only now you have to just add 9 spokes to each flange rather than 8
Hi, does your lacing technique also work with bladed spokes?
In terms of threading and bending them (as from third quarter on) through the other spokes...
Yes, this technique is one of the best for not bending the spokes
Question:
On the parktool video of 3X lacing, on the third quarter, they did OVER-OVER-UNDER-SKIP A HOLE-INSTALL THE SPOKE. Does it make any difference?
So i have an "assymetrical" rim by your description, my problem is that either way i turn the rim, the hole on the left of valve is pointing to the non-drive side (36 holes). Shall i just follow your indtructions but strating from the NDS rather than as you do in this vid (strating to lace DS flange to "left of valve" - hole)? Or shall i go the other way around (clockwise), starting from right of valve to DS flange (where spoke hole is also offset to drive-side)?
Just go to the right on your flange.
Great video. I have the same pattern for rear wheels . But What about the front : we see reverse spoke insertion : spokes that are going forward are mounted from the inside of the hub . What’s your opinion about this ?
Thank you! As for the spokes…it really doesn’t make any difference in my opinion! I’m sure there’s theories that suggest one is better than the other but in the real world you’d never notice
Great job Ali 👍 I used to lament over heads in or out depending on drive side, disc side etc and it used to make building wheels much longer than it should be, then I built one using the alternate method, really didn't notice any difference, said F'ít and just lace now with heads out on the first set of spokes to go in, much faster.
Curious on the 4x cross for your wheels. Understand you couldn't/didn't get the right length, but curious if the butt on those spokes isn't long enough to have had Tarty cut the threads longer and go with a 3x setup? Would be about 1cm difference 3x -4x by my estimatation.
what is the hole count for 36 Hole rim/hub from the key spoke in 4 cross pattern?
No difference 👍🏻
Hi can i ask a question. 3 cross when weaving the 3rd and fourth lots of spokes at the point of the third crossing the spokes foul each other and basically bend around each other. On a previous wheel i redid them so it didnt pass under at this point and it seems better. Are there any downsides to this?
So technically that will work, I’m not sure on specific numbers but the wheel won’t be as stiff.
Think of the weave under the spoke as adding another triangle to the system, triangles are stiff and the weave adds a very slight one going perpendicular to the lacing pattern…combined with the friction of the spokes touching it adds a lot of rigidity to the wheel
@@Ali_Clarkson brilliant thanks for the reply. It makes some sense.
Such a helpful video. Thank you 🙏 I am about to buy one of those LB rims myself - I’m just curious if you’ve ever used those rims with wire bead 26” tyres. I ask as I have a few favourites that aren’t tubeless and would enjoy using them with a tube - but I have a feeling this rim is meant to be used with newer folding tyres. Long shot you’ll reply here I get that - but when I saw those rims showcase I thought I might as well comment and ask. Cheers again for helping me learn to build wheels 🎉
Glad you liked the video 👍🏻 yes wire tyres will work just fine on those rims 🙂
@@Ali_Clarkson and you replied. Wow. Thanks Ali. (Addictive this wheel building malarkey!)
Hi, im trying to lace my wheel but i want that when it's riding it looks as if its spining backway, by chance do you know which type of lace it's called?
Hi Ali, thanks for the helpful video. Which program do you use to create these drawings?
Thanks Ali, even years later you are helping people with this one! I had watched several videos until yours helped clear up the 3X lacing pattern for me, thanks again.
Great, now I can do this from scratch instead of looking at an already built wheel! :-)
One thing though... I don't believe that you must run the "tougher" lacing pattern on the drive side if you use different patterns. I mean, the hub is extremely stiff in the rotational direction and therefore torque should be transfered (almost) perfectly equally through _both_ flanges. Actually, since the drive side spokes have less angle (closer to the center), I wonder if it wouldn't be beneficial to run radial lacing on the drive side instead to get better lateral stiffness if anything. Sometimes the "known facts" aren't fully thought through. ;-)
Yo, Ali. How accurate do I have to be with spoke lengths? Do you round up or down? If a calculator says I need a 296.2 mm spoke, what's the usable range? Thanks.
You need to be fairly accurate but not to the decimal points. 296.2 would be perfectly fine as a 296, you could still use a 297 (though I’ve found spokes usually come as even numbered lengths)…298 would be a push though, maybe doable but not recommended
@@Ali_Clarkson Got it, thanks a lot.
One question about straightspoke wheels. Do you stress them the exact same way you stress J-bends, by stepping on the spoke crossings? Thank you :-)
Yes, but I sneak up on it with lighter steps, like I mention in the video hubs flanges are weakest with radial but they do still need to be bedded in. You have to do every spoke individually too (as there’s no crosses) so each spoke is taking all the stress (and therefore all the stress is located at a single point at the flange) so you don’t actually need as much weight put into the stamp as a normal 3x wheel anyway
@@Ali_Clarkson Thank you, Ali. But are straightpull wheels always radial? Or can they be built with 3-cross layout? The Shimano XT 28-spoke straightpull rear hub I have on-screen while writing this, has 2 holes for spokes going in opposite diretions on each flange point (7 on each flange).
Your original wheelbuilding video was what taught me to build wheels, and I go back to it again and again. You explain the technique better than any other video tutorial on the internet. Love the Khan Academy style of this new vid, too! Cheers Ali for teaching me a new skill!