Lacing Spokes
Now that you have your components, it's time to lace the spokes.
Our example will be the most commonly hand built wheel, a rear 26" rim, 32 spoke, triple cross. The same principles apply to wheels with a different number of spokes or a different crossing pattern.
First some terms:
Trailing spokes are the spokes that are pulled when the pedals are cranked. When you look at the wheel mounted on the bike, they are the spokes that angle toward the back of the bike.
Leading spokes are the spokes that are not pulled when the pedals are cranked. When looking at a mounted wheel, they angle toward the front of the bike.
The valve hole on the rim is the hole the tube valve goes through.
The key spoke is the first spoke threaded on the wheel, usually the second one to the right of the valve hole as you are looking down at the rim.
The drive side of a rear wheel is the right side, where the gears go.
The left side of the rear wheel is the non-drive side.
An offset rim is a rear-specific rim with spoke holes that are not centered on the rim, but that are offset slightly to the non-drive side to reduce dish.
Spoke holes are not all in a line. They alternate to the left and right of the rim centerline. Spokes on the left hub flange go the the holes on the left side of the rim, and vice versa.
This is how to lace a rear wheel. Rear wheels are harder, because they are dished and the right side spokes are probably a shorter length than the left side. It's the same procedure for front wheel, but all spokes are the same size and it's a lot easier.
The procedure to lace a bike wheel:
1. Apply spoke prep to the spoke threads. I use Wheelsmith Spoke Prep. Beeswax works and is a lot cheaper and can be bought at a hardware store.
2. Get comfortable. I lace wheels sitting in a chair with the rim on my lap, with the spokes, nipples and tools on a nearby stool. Don't get too comfortable. The one time I drank a glass of wine before lacing a wheel I made a cobweb.
First we will lace the trailing spokes on the drive (right) side.
3. Start on the right side or drive side of the rim. Looking down at the rim, you should be able to read the label on the rim. In other words, the label should be right side up when looking at it from the drive side. (This is a matter of style and does not matter for strength.) If you are using an offset rim, the spoke holes must be closest to the non-drive side. Unless the manufacturer messed up, the label on an off set rim should be readable from the right (drive) side.
4. Hold the rim is on your lap, positioned as in step 3, with the valve hole directly away from you.
5. Pick up the hub, and hold it vertically with the drive side up. Drop a spoke (the shorter length spokes) in every other hole of the drive side hub flange. The spoke enters the outside of the flange.
6. Find the hole for the key spoke. It is almost always the second spoke hole to the right of valve hole. It will be the first hole to the right of the valve hole that is positioned closer to the right side of the rim--unless the rim manufacturer screwed up it will be the second hole.
7. Thread a spoke into the rim hole for the key spoke and attach a nipple just a few turns--just enough to hold it on. This will be your key spoke. Mark it with a piece of tape, because you will refer to it later. It is cool to be able to read the hub's label through the spoke hole (with the writing right side up as you look from the back of the bike), so try to use the right spoke for this--but don't sweat it since it is only style.
8. Skip 3 spoke holes to the right and thread the next spoke into the 4th hole, turning the nipple just enough turns to hold it on. Thread the rest of the right side trailing spokes. Each rim spoke hole should be closest to the drive (right) side of the rim.
9. Take the freehub body in your fingers and rotate it clockwise, the direction it would go when you crank on the pedals. Notice that the spokes you just laced leave the hub heading backwards. These are trailing spokes that will carry most of the load.
Second we will lace the trailing spokes on the left (non-drive) side.
10. Flip the rim over to work on the other side, keeping the freehub body in the position from step 9. Turn the rim so the valve hole is directly away from you.
11. This is one of the trickier steps, so be careful. Look at the spoke holes on the drive side hub flange and the non-drive side. Notice that they are not aligned with each other. If you drop a plumb line from a non-drive side hole it will fall midway between 2 drive side holes. Your job is to find the non-drive side flange hole that is directly in front of the flange hole for the key spoke. Locate the key spoke on the drive side hub flange. (Remember you put a piece of tape on it.) Drop a spoke (one of the longer spokes) through the non-drive hub flange, making sure that it goes through the hole right in front of the key spoke's hole. Run this spoke to the hole to the immediate right of the key spoke. This should be the hole to the immediate left of the valve hole. Thread on the nipple just enough to keep it on.
Note that the key spoke and the first spoke on the left side are nearly parallel. We want the spokes adjacent to the valve hole to be nearly parallel and not to cross over above the valve hole, because we want to be able to easily reach the valve.
Step 11 is the step newbies screw up. So triple check.
12. Drop a spoke (the longer spokes) from outside in every other spoke hole on the non-drive (left) flange.
13. Skip 3 spoke holes to the right of the first spoke on the non-drive side and thread the next spoke into the 4th hole, turning the nipple just enough turns to hold it on. Thread the rest of the left side trailing spokes just a few turns each.
14. Rotate the freehub body like in step 9, in the same direction it would go when cranking the pedals. Notice that all the spokes leave the hub going backwards. They are the trailing spokes. Each of the spokes should be 4 holes apart, and they should enter from the outside of the hub flange, and run along the inside of the flange. No spoke should cross over the valve hole. Each spoke should go to a rim spoke hole that is closest to the non-drive (left) side of the rim.
Third, we lace the leading spokes on the drive (right side).
15. The left side is still facing up. Drop the rest of the shorter spokes through the drive side (right) hub flange holes. They should be hanging down past the freehub body.
16. Flip the wheel over and put it on your lap with the valve hole away from you. Rotate the freehub body clockwise, in the same direction it would go if you were pedaling. Find the spoke toward the left that will go in the spoke hole nearest the valve hole, and just to the left of it. This spoke must cross over two trailing spokes, and then you cross it under the third. Then stick it through the hub and attach the nipple just enough to hold it on.
On this set of spokes it may be harder to get the nipples in contact with the spoke threads, especially with deep double wall rims. A nipple driver is useful. If you're having a hard time losing nipples between the walls of your double wall rim, take a spare spoke and thread the butt end of the nipple on it, and stick this contraption through the spoke hole. When the business end of the nipple is attached to the spoke, you can unthread your helper spoke.
17. Attach the rest of the drive side leading spokes, 4 holes apart. Make sure each one crosses over the first 2 spokes and under the third.
18. Admire your work. Except for the fact that the spokes are all loose and bowed, the drive side should look like a wheel.
Make sure that no spoke crosses over the valve hole.
Check that a drive side spoke goes in every other rim spoke hole and that all the holes are closest to the right side of the rim.
Check that spoke holes on the rim that are left unoccupied are 4 holes apart, and all the holes are closest to the left (non-drive) side of the rim.
Compare your work to a built wheel.
How does it look?
Fourth, we lace the leading spokes on the left (non-drive) side.
19. While the right side is still facing up, drop the rest of the longer spokes through the inside holes of the left hub flange. They should be hanging down away from the wheel.
20. Finding the right holes is easy. Take any spoke and cross it over 2 spokes and under one and it should terminate at the right hole. Lace all the spokes and thread on the nipples just enough that they stay on.
Finally, we inspect our work.
21. Inspect your wheel to make sure it is laced correctly. Compare it to a built wheel. Fix any lacing mistake before you spend hours trying to tension the un-tensionable. Did you dial step 11?
All right (drive) side spokes should go to holes on the right side of the rim, and vice versa.
No spoke should cross over the valve hole.
Every leading spoke should cross over 2 spokes and under the third.
Every trailing spoke should cross under 2 spokes and over the third.
On each hub flange, whether the spoke enters from the inside or outside should alternate.
On each side, the trailing spokes should be 4 holes apart. The same goes for leading spokes.
Long spokes go on left (non-drive) side, short spokes to right (drive) side.
On the rim, there should be one left side spoke between every right side spoke, and vice versa.
Very good. The next step is to tension and true your new wheel.
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