The Art of Wheelbuilding: A Bench Reference for Neophytes, Pros & Wheelaholics [Spiral-bound]

Gerd Schraner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1999

THE ART OF WHEEL BUILDING BY GERD SCHRANER

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 160 pages
• Publisher: Buonpane Pubns (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964983532
• ISBN-13: 978-0964983533
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,839 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive guide for beginners and pro builders, June 18, 2001

By 

Mark A. Schlueter (San Dimas, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Wheelbuilding: A Bench Reference for Neophytes, Pros & Wheelaholics (Spiral-bound)

With the most easy to follow directions, this book has helped a total novice become a sought after wheel builder. After building more that 30 sets in the last year, I still open the book and refer to various sections to "tighten" my technique. If you are simply a "bike freak" this makes for great reading. It helps you understand the importance of well built wheels.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Really good wheel building book, February 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Wheelbuilding: A Bench Reference for Neophytes, Pros & Wheelaholics (Spiral-bound)

There are two well know wheel building books on the market. "The Bicycle Wheel" by Jobst Brandt is one, and the other is this book. While I like the Brandt book, I think this one is my favorite. Brandt's book is full of engineering explanation of how wheels work. I think that is important to know, but I want to know more about wheel building, not just the science behind wheels. Schraner's book concentrates more on actually building wheels and the sport of cycling. Also, the books physical form is easier to lay on a bench and use while actually building a wheel.

48 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Misinformation, unspecific, fluffy and stretched, poor translation, September 9, 2007

By 

A. Laframboise (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Wheelbuilding: A Bench Reference for Neophytes, Pros & Wheelaholics (Spiral-bound)

I don't understand someone could stand to read more than five pages of this book without feeling the overwhelming disappointment associated with knowing that he has just wasted his money.

First, the book is horribly translated. It's not so bad that the book is incomprehensible, but its bad enough that most people will find the reading extremely awkward.

Secondly, the book is very poorly edited and typeset. It's obvious that this book was very rushed. While I didn't notice spelling errors, there are many minor errors related to spacing and typeface. More importantly, many of the diagrams are unclear, and the pictures, although mostly color, are often blurry or poorly composed.

The book itself is mostly filler and fluff. The author starts out by disclaiming having any actual qualifications, and it goes downhill from there. It's very obvious that the author is stretching just to meet the magical 100 page mark. Some pages are nothing but rambling, somewhat disguised by the horrible translation.

Many parts of this book are completely unclear. For example, there's a section on corked wheels that I've re-read many times, and still don't understand; it doesn't explain what the benefit of corking is, or how one would do this, or even why he's mentioning it. There's an accompanying picture of a corked rim that's so poor I can't see what is intended.

This book lacks most of the specific advice that I suspect people are buying it for. For example, the author refuses to share the ordinary method for lacing wheels, on the grounds that it is "described so often in the bicycle press [that it] does not need to be described in this book too," instead recommending a VHS videotape from DT Swiss for this purpose.

The author's association with DT Swiss, which is not explicitly stated in the text, severely undermines his credibility. Much of the information that is interesting in this text is specific to the DT product line, some apparently directly copied from DT manuals.

In addition, much of the guidance the author offers is obsolete, dubious, or just plain wrong. This author repeats many common bicycle myths that have long been proven to be fallacies. He also recommends various outdated and obsolete practices, such as soldering and tying--which he describes in more detail than is present anywhere else in the book--that have been soundly discredited for use on modern bicycles.

There is very little in this book that is worthwhile reading, and so much misinformation. The fact that much of the book is confusing, incomprehensible, or inane is really just the icing on the cake. Since there is at least one excellent, definitive, and authoritative reference on the bicycle wheel, I can see absolutely no reason anyone would want to buy this book.