ANTIQUE BICYCLE POSTERS

SECOND PASS!

Ok, you're well on your way. Flip the wheel over. Try to keep the hub rotated the same direction as if the chain were pulling the hub in the drive direction. Looking down on the hub you should note that the holes on the right and left flanges of the hub do not line up. You can see this by trying to put a spoke through one hole on the right and left at the same time - it won't line up. What we're trying to do is isolate the next hole to begin the second pass with. You're now looking at the left side of the wheel. Find your key spoke (next to the valve hole). We're now trying to find the hole "behind" it. If you can't see it, drop a spoke through the nearby holes until you see which one is half a turn behind the master spoke. When you've got that, drop it through and put it through the rim hole to the left of the one the master spoke is laced to on the rim. Now do the same thing as your first pass, skipping one hole at a time on the hub and skipping three holes at at time on the rim. You won't have to count for the rim because they will match up to the next rim hole to the left of your first pass on the other side, my photo is taken from the left side of the wheel after this process is complete. Good work, you're kind of half way there - go down to Whiz Burger and get yourself a chocolate malt and some curly fries friend, you've earned it.

One thing I'm going to get out of the way is a little trick I developed after much frustration on my first build. Although I've never actually watched anyone build wheels professionally I can assume this is actually the way you're supposed to do it. If you're building deeper profile rims, it will be extremely difficult to get the spoke nipple through the back of the rim after the second pass (you'll see why after you get there). Initially I tried doing this with a screwdriver and nearly went insane. The trick to doing this is to take a spare spoke and thread the nipple on it a few turns from the top (that is, the side with the head and groove for a flathead screwdriver). Now you've got it at the end of a spoke and you can put it through the rim without dropping it inside (especially nice for deeper profile rims)! I felt like a genius when I thought of this and then realized it's probably well known among mechanics as the only way to do it with any sort of efficiency. Yet I digress - you can now take your spoke key (you have one right?) and twist it off the spare spoke and onto the laced spoke all in one brilliant step. See? See how I'm doing it?