Nowadays, most bicycle wheels are made by machines. When compared with hand-built wheels by professional builders, in terms of quality, it couldn’t exceed hand-built wheels quality.
It’s not easy to be a professional, but wheel building itself is not so difficult. The only differences between professional and amateur are practice, concentration, understanding the whole process and foreseeing the interaction between components.
Through this course we can help you to fully understand the process and the interaction. And also through practice, we help your hands could remember the skills.
By learning the skills of Custom Hand-built Wheels, you can build your own wheels with various combinations of rims, hubs, spokes, and nipples. You will also be able to true your own wheels properly.
This is important because any wheels, even high quality wheels, could be distorted even if you ride it for a long time. Moreover, you could get a higher understanding of wheel building much more than normal mechanics in shops.
For details, please see the curriculum below. We cover all the knowledge related to modern wheels and practices with various components.
june, 2024
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Jerome Ahn
UBI (United Bicycle Institute. Portland USA) and DT Swiss Certified Advanced Wheel Builder
The on-demand course.
Class size is limited to 3 students.
2 and half days. 2 days 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM and half-day 9:30 AM – 12:00 AM
The course fee is RM 900. (Booking deposit RM 300 included)
Enrolment with deposit is required at least 1 week before the course starts.
Special professional wheel building tools and a truing stand will be loaned to one student in the course.
We also provide rims, hubs, nipples for hands-on practice.
1. Understanding wheel components
Hubs, Rims, Spokes, Nipples
2. Understanding wheel building tools
Truing stand, Dishing gauge, Nipple driver, Nipple holder, Blade spoke holder, Tension meter
3. Spoke Lengths
Measuring rim, hubs
Measuring straight pull hubs
Spoke length calculation for offset rims and frames
Spoke length for non-standard nipples
Spoke calculator
4. Lacing
No cross, cross patterns
5. Truing
Lateral and radial truing, Dishing and Tensional truing
6. Repairing
Checking spokes, rims
1. Measuring
Hubs (Standard and straight full) : Over locknut distance, Flange distance, Spoke hole diameter, Pitch circle diameter
Rims : Effective rim distance
Spokes : Diameter, Width and thickness of a blade
Nipples : Size
2. Calculation
Spoke length for offset rims and frames
3. Lacing
2nd cross pattern with blade spokes
2nd cross pattern with straight pull spokes
3rd cross pattern with round spokes
Triplet pattern with round spoke
4. Truing
Lateral and radial truing, Dishing and Tensional truing
Making a wheel truing report
5. Repairing
Spokes cutting and threading