A Note on Rebuilding Spoked Wheels
No. 224 August 15, 1941
Rebuilding Wheels
In rebuilding wheels it is general practice to simply true up and tighten spokes about as tight as they can be tightened, with spoke wrench.
Quite a number of rebuilt wheels do not run very far until the spokes, or at least part of them, are found loosened-up to some extent.
The following suggestions will help you build a wheel in which the spokes will stay tight much longer.
After all nipples have been pulled up until spokes are normally tight and wheel is true, or nearly so, seat each spoke head into hub flange with a sharp blow, using a flat nose punch and hammer. Then, re-tighten all nipples and finish truing wheel.
This method allows spokes to be drawn tighter at the start and prevents possibility of spokes loosening, due to spoke heads seating into flange, after wheel is put into service.
