Tandem wheel building

Now that all the parts are here is it time to actually build the wheels. So the parts list is as follows. DT Swiss R 1.1 double eyelet rims, Shimano 32-hole M760-S mountain bike hubs, Wheelsmith DB14 double-butted spokes (silver) with black spoke nipples and finally some Ritchey snap on rim strips.

Front wheel will be a straight forward 2-cross spoke pattern. I was thinking about both radial and a single cross but decided for aesthetic reasons to go with a two cross on the front to better match the standard 3-cross on the rear wheel.

I settled on 32 spokes as the final number for several reasons, one was the weight of our team. With the tandem, two riders and the stuff we tend to carry with us, we are about 380 pounds total riding weight.  Most spoked wheels are very stiff radially, unless they are poorly built and should not suffer from spoke breakage. As an example take a look at what Santana and Shimano has done with 16 spoke Tandem wheels. The front wheel is plenty strong enough with the Shimano Sweet 16 even though the wheel is not any wider than a normal wheel (the rear is a different story).

One of the big keys to wheel durability is proper spoke tension. There are many on-line resources that show you how to build a wheel so I will not rehash that here, suffice it to say that as you slowly bring the wheel up to tension as long as you do it evenly you should not have any issues with durability and strength. Along with the slow even tensioning process the right tools and preparation are essential.

I am a firm believer in some sort of prep for spoke thread, it will make it easier to tension up the spokes minimizing spoke wind up and it will make minor adjustments easier later on. On thing I am not convinced of is the use of specially marked products like Spoke Prep. I tend to use regular anti-seize that come from your favorite automotive store. It is a lot cheaper and with one jar you will have enough to build a lifetime of wheels. Besides that it is good for other dissimilar alloy bold/thread combinations.

The other key tool is a Park Tension meter. With it I can test spoke tension more precisely that I can with my specially calibrated spoke plucking fingers and specially trained pitch listening device (my ears). Even tension spoke to spoke is essential for durable low maintenance wheels.

Now about the 32 rear spokes. If you remember my other article Tandem hub conversion, you will note that a longer axle was installed. this effectively shifted the entire hub toward the drive side, removing some of the dish to the wheel. It was so effective at removing the dish that the difference in spoke lengths was only 1mm. The tension differential between the drive side and non-drive side of the rear wheel no longer exists. This should allow the rear wheel to be built as strong as the front wheel in the lateral plane.

After I have some miles on the wheels I will revisit this subject to speak on the long term durability of the wheel build. I will also elaborate on the good and the bad points of the wheels in general. I do expect them to be a great addition to the Cannondale.