At the beginning of the season I bought a beautiful teal 1988 Trek 1000 and have been riding the hell out of it. Unfortunately all that riding has come at a price, Ive ruined two rear wheels(rims) over the span of a few months.
I know I can tuck my tail and head back into the shop to have them lace me up a new wheel (they got me back on the road for a good price the first time) but I'd like to take a stab at building a wheel myself.
So my question, how hard is it to build a wheel?
- I've watched the park tools wheel building and truing videos and I'm sure they make it look easier than it really is.
- There's a few shops around me that do "open shop" hours a few times a week that i plan on taking advantage of if i actually do this.
- I also looked at just getting a new wheelset but then discovered the freewheel vs cassette change and the old hub width is the old 126mm standard and decided it might be easier if i just learned to lace a wheel and put a new rim on.
(I guess I'm actually just looking for some encouragement, tips)
If you want a good sense of how bad it is in the states here are two episodes of Freakomomics that do a job of exposing the issue.
"The Perfect Crime": https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-perfect-crime/ (From 2014)
Then a follow-up episode: "Why Is the U.S. So Good at Killing Pedestrians?": https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-the-u-s-so-good-at-killing-pedestrians/ (from July 2023)