lol, LBS cant lace wheel

[Haste]

dropped it off at a reputable place around here, they say no prob. I give them the length of the spokes and everything.

Call today and said they cant do it, and 2 days ago they said it would be 220 dollars to lace a bafang bpm

[johnrobholmes]

Now you know why people from other countries even hire me to lace stuff! I don't see why a bike shop couldn't or wouldn't, but I was never a shop employee to turn down a wheelbuild either. At least they got back to you in two days!

[ohzee]

I have yet to find a place around me that will do it.

One was willing to attempt , but wouldn't promise anything other then a big price tag.

[Haste]

Wow.

Yeah it's almost pathetic. They have 3k + fs mtb, and road bikes but cannot lace a small 7lb geared hub, I just don't get it. Also for over 200! Thats almost 2 of these hubs for a simple lace, even when I provide the rim. He even said he would have to order a "special" 26" rim because mine wasn't the right one... Trying to upsell me.

Not trying to bad mouth the shop, but it's like there trying to take advantage over me on something a bike mechanic can do, and they looked as if I was cheating or destroying the bike community.

[neptronix]

You've got the worst bike shop i can think of.. i hope you have another nearby.

Anyway i buy motors in wheels whenever possible for this reason alone. Always > $100, or i could pay China to do the job for $35.

( no offense JRH; you do excellent work and i would use you if i bought something that put out any real amount of power )

[StudEbiker]

You should just learn to do it yourself haste. The first time takes a long time, but after that it's not too tough. I even built a truing stand for about $10, not counting the dial indicator and magnetic base I already had. It's not too tough. I've only built two wheels so far, but I've got 2,500 miles on the first one with no problems at all so far.

[Farfle]

Best thing I have found is to lace it up, then take the sloppy wobbly wheel and have the bike shop true and tension it, just pay for it before you bring it in, gives a nice result, and lacing single cross is fairly easy and gives you practice until you can true it yourself.

[Haste]

Yeah after this incident, I will definitely lace it myself.

They have had the dang thing for 2 weeks before they just now said they can't do it and triple the original 55 dollar lace.

[StudEbiker]

I have found even truing not to be terribly difficult. There are some really good step by step guides available online. If you decide to do it, I think there are even a couple of threads on E-S that have the relevant links in them I can post here for you.

Here 'ya go: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=27667&hilit=+wheel+building

[miuan]

Most 26" sized rims can be built with stock BMX spokes into BPM motors, as they need about 190mm spoke length. BUT I've almost bled to death trying to find spokes for a Bafang 700c wheel locally - ending up doing the risky 2-cross build using the shortest DT Alpines available. You're better off getting spokes yourself, or purchasing a built wheel of known quality.
Don't pay much more than what they require for a standard wheel build. It's not really much harder. I've paid from €15 to €20, but he's a teammate of mine, so I guess €25 to €50 is more realistic.

[dogman]

Send it to JRH, or at least, buy spokes from him. Suprisingly easy to lace a wheel really. Just hard to get that first one figured out. Any similarly laced wheel next to your bench helps a ton!

The typical lace is best thought about in sections of 4 spokes. Start at the valve hole, so you get that right. Thread all the spokes on the hub before you start. Take it slow and easy. Once you get the first 4 spokes in right, the rest just falls into place. One two three four, that hole.

[johnrobholmes]

There are certainly many ways to lace up a wheel. I find it fastest to lace up two crossing spokes at a time on single cross wheels. left pair, right pair, on to the next holes. Essentially I lace spoke by spoke.

Most people find it easy to lace all the inbound spokes first, then all the outbound.

[ohzee]

Yea I actually taped my old wheel to a bare one and moved the spokes over one by one. then when I had that done I
took it to my LBS to be trued. At least in that state they were able to work with it.

That only works if your doing an existing wheel and have a new one on hand.

Still it seems like an art to me and the more you do it the better you get.

[amberwolf]

One thing I still don't get is why bike shops have such trouble with a hub motor lacing. Some of them seem perfectly capable of lacing large drum-brake hubs or even larger IGH hubs like the NuVinci, yet cannot (or will not) lace a small geared hubmotor that is even smaller and often lighter than either of those. Makes no sense to me.

I have no experience with such with any of my own LBSs, as I lace my own wheels out of necessity, but certainly seem to be a fair number of reports of such here on ES.

[Ykick]

I don't trust 'em (lbs) to treat wiring with the respect it deserves.

It's easy to practice wheel lacing/truing. I started on a couple junk wheels before graduating to new components. There's plenty of YouTube videos about how to lace and simple yet accurate truing setups with simple tie wraps. It's an awesome feeling to build a good wheel from quality rims and spokes.

[icecube57]

Dang... I loose laced my first wheel and tensioned it and got it trued at a LBS... now i gotta admit my LBS didnt know how to tension the wheel so the loosened up the wheel while truing instead of tightening it and truing it. Once i got them trained. No more problems. For them not to be able to even lace a wheel with a simple 1x pattern is pathetic.... I learned how to lace my wheel from youtube vids and Ypedal vids one of them.

[MattyCiii]

Rolling your own is the only way. As someone with way more money than time, I pick my battles on what to do myself and what to outsource. Wheel building is definitely DIY. Use not of the on-line spoke length calculators. Find or order spokes of the correct length (time and again, JRH has been an excellent source). Sit back and do the build, with the Internet/youTube and maybe an existing example wheel as your guide.

No need for a truing stand, use your dropouts. The quiet, repetitive process of assessing, truing and tensioning is a zenlike experience. It's something to be enjoyed. A $5 spoke wrench and a flat head screwdriver is the only tools you need. I dip each spoke into automotive anti-sieze compound for long term weather protection, but there are many suggestions out there how-to.

I'm glad it was hard to find someone willing to lace a NuVinci into a 406mm rim, it was the start of a great experience.

[lazarus2405]

So you provided the motor and the rim, and the $220 was for the spokes, nipples, and labor? That hardly sounds reputable. Around here the going rate is $40 for a build and $20 for a true. Spokes and nipples should have cost $30-$40. If you told them what length spoke they needed, and they said "sure, we have it", I can't see the problem. Possibly they only had 14ga spokes and couldn't get them to seat, but then the solution should be to call QBP and order a box of 2.3mm spokes.

Assuming all the above is sorted out, and the angle of the spoke exiting the rim isn't too extreme with your lacing pattern, building a wheel with a hub motor, or a NuVinci, or anything else isn't much different than any other wheel build. It boggles my mind that they wouldn't be willing to undertake it.

[Haste]

update:

went to pickup the non laced hub motor. They barely even let me grab my own hub and walk out the door! They were about to charge me for nothing at all, until I said a few nasty words and just took my hub and walked out the door.

The guy was saying that there is no way this hub will fit my standard mtb dropouts. He said my "hub" wont fit on any bicycle and can not be laced. Anger cannot even described how I felt...just complete ignorance on there part. There is always a guy that works there(manager?) who just stares at you, doesn't even smile. Just a bad vibe place, I hope they get rid of a few people. Its a bike shop, not a car dealership.

[StudEbiker]

I always get a kick out of people's experiences at bike shops. This one is my all time favorite:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13863&start=15&hilit=bike+shop

[neptronix]

Wow, i've dealt with some douchebags in my time at bike stores, your story and Luke's story both take the cake.

I remember my first hub motor came with a screwed up rim and had to be transferred to another. Many bike shops told me they couldn't do it. Then one figured out that they just needed a spoke wrench capable of doing 12mm, and immediately ordered... yeah.... that was the hold up.

Half of them give you attitude, the other half don't care or are borderline interested. I got a guy at a BMX shop to ride all my bikes ( except the magic pie one which i really am scared of handing over to anyone for their own safety ).. he thought it was cool, and started even trying to give suggestions. The owner at a MTB store locally always has this flustered face when i'm talking to him, like he's trying to hold it together and be professional even though he thinks what i'm doing is diametrically opposed to his entire being.

Odd spread of opinions and attitudes..

[Haste]

wow, Lukes convo and ours were similar except for the fact there were 2 other employees just staring at the hub shaking their heads in a negative manner. I just dont get it, to me this is one of the best growing hobbys out there. Combines transportation/electronics/evgrin/adrenaline rush. The largest disappointment was them just hanging onto for 2 weeks saying no problem, then all of a sudden its a big NO-NO. The first thing the "mechanic" did was pick it up, while laughing, said hes racebike weighs 3-4 lbs less than this...

[neptronix]

+ add scathing google review
+ ( optional ) flaming bag of turd on doorstep. Or other way of 'sending a message'.
+ start accumulating tools if you don't find another bike shop that consists of douchebags. Learn to DIY; lots of us have done this.

Sounds like you're officially an eBiker now Haste, you're already getting cynical and starting to butt heads with the lycras, and wondering why this idea makes no sense to anyone else despite how awesome you ( and we ) think it is.

Welcome to the club

[Haste]

hahaha.

Its funny, when I go onto the google reviews, there all positive 5 stars....but its so obvious that its employees that work there..

Can someone please talk to my wife about this hobby, she just doesnt get it. Its the only thing stopping me from going all out and doing some crazy ebike builds. Its even made me just stick to plug and play "hidden solutions" no 6-10 lipo bricks I can charge out in the open.

Also the hills around here..anyone seen the hills around TN area? No way comparable to san fran, but still..

[icecube57]

I would love to see a race up lookout mountain. I gotta granny gear to get up it in my car.