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Building Bicycle Wheels, Robert Wright (1977)
Macmillan 0-02-028260-5 46pp £3.95
A slender volume that does exactly what it promises on the cover –
provides enough information to allow you to build you own wheels
 
Like so many, complicated technical processes, this was one that I fancied
mastering. Indeed, I imagined that, once I had acquired the knack, I would
build any number of clever variations on the simple bicycle wheel.
Wright’s instructions are clear and easy to follow. And he goes
a good way towards explaining how wheels work, and the possible variations
on the regular patterns. Notwithstanding the ease with which the author
presents the instructions, though, the spokes that I tried to deploy were
infuriating.
I did eventually manage to knit them together, and tighten them into
reasonably true wheels. The end results even managed a decade’s service
on my daily rides. That was more than 20 years ago, however. But in fairness,
I don’t think my failure to repeat the exercise can be laid at Wright’s
door.
PS August 2008
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