PowerTap Wheel Build...

Yesterday I built up a my first wheel.  I choose to built a PowerTap Wheel after trying a PowerCal and Trainer Roads.  I just felt I needed more consistent data than the PowerCal provided, and more often than Trainer Roads alone. It is also true that I am a data geek, and needed the PowerTap to provide more accurate and consistent data. The Folks at Cycling Concepts provided me with the G3 PowerTap Hub. They had a Demo Wheel from last season that they sold me at a significant discount saving me around $400 off list (thanks Dave). 

Next was the choice of Rim.  I have had a custom wheel set built for me before with Mavic Open Pro, so that was my first choice, and my brother Nick choose a 340 Stans rim.  I looked at both, and then at the RR540 from DT Swiss.  I felt that the Open Pro was the same old same old, and Sondre said they would not have a black one in for 2 weeks, OUT!  The Stans was my next choice, but I was too soft according to Sondre for my Weight, always a factor.  Sondre recommended the RR540 from DT Swiss.  I check that out, but was on the heavy side.  DT had a new rim the RR440 Asymmetrical rim that intrigued me, as it most matched my Shimano Dura Ace.  Dave said they were not available until the end of March, so I found one at Wheelsmith.com and ordered it.  It came in on Monday last, and I built the wheel on Tuesday, a vacation day.

Sondre choose the DT Swiss Competition Spokes and the DT Pro Lock Nipple in Red Anodized Aluminum.  This color scheme matches my Dura Ace 7850 front Wheel which I have chosen to use with the PowerTap Wheel instead of building a new one. 

 

Now that I had all the parts I needed to start the build.  Before I actually built the wheel, I had to get the hub off of the old wheel.  I snipped it off in minutes.

Once I had the hub off the old wheel, Sondre choose the right spokes size  for both Drive and Non-Drive side, and laid them out separately on the workbench.  Starting with the drive side I put the Inward facing spoke in first making sure the the rim decals, valve hole and hub decals faced correctly offsetting by 3 holes to account for the 3 cross pattern for the 32 hole configuration (Chosen for strength and weight bearing ability).  After the inward facing drive side came the inward facing non-drive side spokes.  About half way done...

Up to now was the easy part, now it got a bit tricky.  The outward facing spokes on the non-drive side and drive side require a crossing of the other spokes.  It was over the first two crossed and under the last cross. The non-drive went like silk.  But the drive side ran into a glitch when the spokes shortened and I could reach with my fingertips, one of the nipples slipped into the rim. I took a bit of jiggling around but it finally came out.  Sondre then showed me how to use a nipple wretch to attach the rest of the nipples to the spokes.  Although I was done lacing I was hardly done with the build.

The next step involved using the nipple wrench to tighten each spoke down until the thread on each did not show anymore.  Being as careful as I could to get them evenly done.  I then tightened each on full turn, and then felt for tension.  The spokes that were obviously still very loose I tried to tighten to what I felt the others to be.  Then came the first truing.  Truing and rounding a wheel takes patience and touch.  Taking an 1/8 turn at a time one side or the other to push and pull the wheel into alignment.  I then turned another 1/2 turn on each, and rounded and trued again.   

It was now time to dish the wheel. (Dishing is when you check to see whether the wheel is centered or not using a dishing tool)

I was way off, and needed the wheel to go toward the drive side.  We also checked for spoke tension with of all things, a Spoke Tension Meter.  22  kilograms force was the Max Tension for the Drive Side for this wheel build, and I was at about 18, quite a ways to go.

Sondre was not in the shop, he went to a meeting about Mountain Bike Racing, so Mike told me how to move the wheel toward the drive side, but I would not believe him, so I went the wrong way, (Sorry Mike).  I am a bit stubborn and Mike has only Build 2 wheels to date, so I tried it the way I thought it should go...Not a good idea.  After dishing and figuring out I went the wrong way, I had to loosen the non-drive side and tighten the drive side twice.  I also had to Round and True the wheel twice more, before I had it dished, round and true. 

Video of the final spin.

 

 

Sondre had come back by then, checked my work, and pronounced it Adequate. Sondre changed the cogs from my R500 wheels to the new wheel, put a tube and trainer tire on, and I finished by connecting the PowerTap to my Garmin Edge 800.

I left the shop and headed over to Cycling Concepts in Glastonbury for our Tuesday Night Indoor Ride to test the wheel.  I rolled extremely well, but I had trouble with the Power Reading on the Garmin.  Dave Pilone thought it might be a conflict between the PowerTap and PowerCal, as both were connected the my Garmin.  I will wear a different HR Monitor tonight at Cycling Concepts in Rocky Hill to see if that will make a difference.  Hopefully it will, or I need to change the way in which it reads from the PowerTap Hub. 



Just want to again thank all the great folks at Cycling Concepts for their help and continued encouragement and enthusiasm for the sport of cycling.  Below you see Keith the owner in his Cycling Concepts kit.