I had to build a wheel for Windy’s bike the other day. When we put her new full suspension bike together, I had to ‘borrow’ a rear wheel from another bike to stoke the setup out. The rear hub had to be an Onyx and that got her going. It just left my klunker disheveled and crippled.
I ordered up a new Vesper hub around then and some of the spoke sizes I was running low on. The parts sat there for a month or two until I finally got around to build the wheel.
I’m finding it difficult to work in the shop these past few years. There isn’t as much interesting there as there is in my virtual world. I’ve been so busy with designs that service work keeps getting pushed back.
As this is a rear wheel, I need to lace for a disc brake. This lacing pattern is a pain in the ass. As tricky as getting the lacing right is, getting the label lined up with the valve hole is even harder.
The Shimano specification for disc:
Here’s an old photo of what this looks like when the wheel starts going together:
I had always wanted to make a map that would help with this. I finally did. Using this makes starting the wheel super easy.
What this also confirms is that the hub marking that faces the valve hole should be located center spaced radially between the drilling on either side of the hub. This is true for rim brake lacing or disc wheel lacing. It’s also true with most common wheel builds; 36, 32, 28, 24 holes with 2, 3, or 4 spoke crossings.
This comes up. Nice to know that there is an answer.
