I rebuilt the rear wheel on my wife’s Ron Kitching last night. When we bought it on eBay about 6 months ago it came with a mixed pair of wheels plus a few other “homebrew” oddities, but overall it’s pretty original and just needed some TLC to return to being a very sweet little bike.
On the front was a classic Mavic MA40 700c rim with the old red diamond logo, laced to an Azzurro hub. Not been able to find out anything about the hub but it looks identical to a Campagnolo Record of the same era (early 1970’s), with an oil cap and classic low flange design.
The rear on the other hand had a Mavic Module 3 rim, laced to a “real” Campagnolo hub, with a Sachs-Maillard 7 speed block. The Module 3 is a decent rim, double eyeleted with a bare aluminium finish and the later Mavic “mountain range” logo. But it looks very plain when compared to the charcoal grey anodised finish of the MA40 and the elegant diamond logo. I am pretty sure the MA40 is the original rim for the bike, plus it looks better so I resolved to find another MA40 rim to match the front.
After a bit of eBay trawling I picked up a lone MA40 rim with matching red diamond logo, laced to a Pelissier front hub (lovely hub by the way). That would do nicely and I’m sure I can use the hub one day. I may even lace it back onto the Module 3.
A closer examination of the rear wheel showed it has definitely been rebuilt, and not very well either – the Module 3 has absolutely no wear on the braking surfaces, plus it has been laced off-centre, the rim wobbled gently but distinctly up and down with each revolution. Amazingly it wasn’t perceptible when riding at lower speeds, but it is clearly unacceptable to ride with a “clown wheel”. It was also not dished correctly, with the rim sitting distinctly off to the left.
On Saturday I decided to do a “quick and dirty” re-rim job using the MA40 I had found. I took the donor wheel apart and bundled up the spokes for possible future re-use. I cleaned and checked the rim which is in excellent condition although irritatingly, a lighter shade of grey than the original front rim. Oh well, it’ll do. I then taped it to the Module 3 in the position I wanted it. As the donkey who laced up that wheel hadn’t even managed to line the rim and hub logos up properly, I corrected that first.
Once the rims were taped together, I loosened off all the spoke nipples on the Module 3. Then I started to transfer the spokes one by one to the MA40, ending up with the MA40 loosely spoked to the hub and the Module 3 held on with tape. I then untaped the Module 3 and put it in my ever expanding spares box (it’s a decent vintage rim). At this stage I had my wheel ready to be trued and tensioned.
Now I could see why the previous person had finished with a “clown wheel” laced off-centre. About 4 spokes had been replaced, and with 2.0mm gauge in place of the original 1.8mm. Worse, they seemed to be about 2mm longer than the rest. And to cap it off I suspect a few of the left and right spokes had been accidentally swapped (different lengths for offset wheel). A bit of a mess.
Anyway there was enough thread depth on all the spokes for me to get away with it as it was. I replaced the spoke nipples (ancient and well rounded, presumably from being tightened with a pipe wrench!) with a spare set I had lying about, taking care to identify the 1.8mm and 2.0mm spokes.
Given the crazy spoke lengths I took care to get it true right from the start. I have to say I am getting damn good at this (and I did say it, several times. I even had a(nother) celebratory beer). Anyway, a few beers later and we had a lovely true wheel, perfectly dished and nearly a perfect match for the front wheel.
I know I should have taken the whole wheel apart and matched up the spokes, plus I should have replaced the odd 2.0mm ones. But an old bike, unrestored, is the sum of its history. I prefer to work with what is there within reason, but get it right. This wheel will be good for many years now, even though not perfect. Well that’s my excuse anyway. In reality I wanted to finish it now rather than have to wait to order 4 new spokes.
So yes I broke some rules, but that wheel is true, strong and evenly tensioned. I really am getting pretty good at this (and I’m feeling warm and self congratulatory after a few beers).
On the subject of perfect wheels, I just stumbled across this excellent blog – Wheelfanatyk. Loads of useful looking tips for extra finesse in wheel building. I look forward to reading it at length.
UPDATE: Tip 6 is brilliant. I’ll do that next time. I may even rebuild the Kitching wheel again and I have been shamed at my rough and ready approach.
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