The bicycle wheel

If you are looking for tips & info on how to build your dream lightweight wheelset, then look elsewhere because you won't find it in this book.

I read the whole book in one sitting. The diagrams are much bigger than neccessary, for example one per page, and you get the idea they're just added as "filler". Some of the diagrams are repeated throughout the book, further giving that impression.

All you are going to find here is the standard way to make 36 spoke 3-cross wheels with double butted spokes. That is it.
The man doesn't even agree with radially lacing a fron wheel. Let alone anything like bladed or titanium spokes, low-spoke numbers, ceramic bearings and carbon fiber rims. Let's face it: carbon fiber rims are here to stay, and he's just going to be seen as to conservative if he doesn't agree with anything but the way wheels were made fifty years ago.

A lot of what you will find in this book, you will already be aware of. If you've ever really "researched" (for want of a better word) before buying a nice wheelset, you'll already know more "tricks" than this book will tell you.

I give it 2 stars, and the only reason I didn't give it one star was because it is entitled: "The bicycle Wheel" not "The ultimate bicycle wheel". Actually I've changed my mind - I'm giving it one star, because it should cover ALL aspects of the bicycle wheel and it certainly doesn't cover lightweight wheels.


The standard on wheelbuilding - but will it stay that way?   September 4, 2001
 43 out of 49 found this review helpful

After having researched cycling for several months, it appears that The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt is considered to be THE standard reference on bicycle wheel building.

This book discusses how the wheel works, forces on the wheel, materials and designs of rims, spokes and hubs, truing, repair, and wheel building.

The book itself is nicely bound and printed, with extremely clear diagrams. Space is left on pages when necessary to ensure that the text doesn't get ahead of the figures, which can be rather annoying in something like a repair book.

For the most part, I am glad to have purchased this book, but was disappointed to find that a lot of the information in the book, such as wheel truing, materials, component design, and wheel building of a conventional 3-cross wheel, can be gleaned from the internet from such sites as those of Sheldon Brown. Some of the chapters in this book, such as the results of a finite element model analysis of the forces in a wheel, seem to be more unique to this book. Moroever, it is difficult to lay the computer down on the floor next to the wheel that you're building to guide you step-by-step, and the book had better illustrations than those I've seen on the web. Also, the information I mention above seems scattered around the internet, and this book brings them together in one reference.

For those who are expecting that The Bicycle Wheel will lead them to build exotic designs with the latest materials and lacing patterns, you will be disappointed. The author is a staunch believer that the bicycle wheel has been nearly perfected in the 3-cross lacing pattern with steel, cylindrical spokes, and that any "improvements" result in very minimal performance increase at the expense of stength. Brandt states, "In most cases [sic] it is best to build standard wheels - standard wheels, but good ones - and not yield to fashion, folklore, or advertising." (Oh yeah - there are missing commas - but that seems to be par for most editing these days.) Later, he states, "They [24-spoke, radially-laced, small-flange-hub, lightweight rimmed wheels - like the Mavic Cosmoses on my bike] lack the long-term durability of road wheels..., " and in the section on Wheel Design, "Cyclists who choose to build wheels often want something more than ordinary,...It may be disappointing to discover that [sic] 'it's all been done before' [sic] and that conventional wheels are a result of a hundred years of refinement. The true contribution for the new wheel builder is to build conventional wheels exceptionally well."

Even though this book does have good figures, there are a few places where there are none, and where I wish one were included to help illustrate what's being discussed. One such place is the section on static loads in the tire and rim (pp. 14, 15).

In the final chapter, Brandt discusses the finite element computer analysis used to calculate forces in the wheel under different conditions. (Techniques with which I am familiar in electromagnetic applications). The discussion is in-depth enough that reader without experience in numerical methods will be completely lost (it even mentions details such as the method used to solve the matrix equation), but would leave someone with such knowledge (such as me) wanting. Little is lost by the one who does not have the math background, but this book could be more useful to mathematicians among readers if it had another page or two with a diagram, and the equations used to fill the matrix and vectors.

It may seem that I have a lot of complaints, but overall, I thought this was a very good book, and believe that a complete library on cycling should include it. The only other book that I've seen on wheelbuilding that seems to be gaining popularity is Shraner's The Art of Wheelbuilding: A Bench Reference for Neophytes, Pros and Wheelaholics. This book is cleverly spiral-bound to allow it to lay flat as you build your wheels. I have not seen this book in person, but plan to review it in the future.


Great instructions for beginners   June 19, 2001
 11 out of 13 found this review helpful

Although Gerd Schraner's book is a little more helpful in "wheel building" (I have his instructions laminated and hanging over my work bench), this book gives a definitive view of the history of the wheel. Great reading and great reference material.