Customer Reviews

The Bicycle Wheel 3rd Edition

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Unlike some reviewers who would like to see Brandt describe and bless novel spoking patterns, I concur with his recommendation of traditional spoking. The traditional tangent tension-spoked wheel is one of the most elegant and efficient structures ever devised. A wheelbuilder may choose a rim, hub and spokes at will and so, construct wheels of many kinds that are not available commercially. With skill and care, an amateur may build wheels of professional quality. The traditional wheel may be built to the desired degree of ruggedness vs. weight, and if damaged, can often be made usable with an emergency repair or adjustment.

Brandt's advice faces challenges from within the bicycle industry, which is always looking for a new selling point. Wheels with low spoke counts, trendy now (2006) are more tolerable with deep-section aero rims than with shallow rims and can make sense for racers, who are willing to sacrifice reliability for a very slight increase in performance -- but for most bicyclists, it is much more important not to get stranded or crash than to increase speed by half a percent.

Some of the newer types of wheels may sell because they look different, but provide little actual advantage. Wheels with thick aluminum or polycarbonate spokes decrease weight slightly but at a major expense in air drag. Carbon-fiber spokes have a very poor record of reliability and safety, though carbon-fiber-epoxy composite material has been used successfully in rims and in single-piece formed wheels. Still, brake shoes wear carbon-fiber-epoxy quickly, so a metal braking surface is preferable. Don't get me talking about paired spokes, which make a wheel look as if it has fewer spokes -- but require a heavier rim, because longer rim segments are unsupported. The inward pull of the spokes is, after all, about 10 times the lateral pull.

I have built some wheels with radial spokes, but I caught one with a cracked hub flange quite by chance shortly before it would have caused a nasty crash. Since that time I have been very careful which hubs I will spoke radially. As usual, Brandt is correct with his warning on this topic.

There is one serious error in Brandt's book, and I am astonished that it has not been corrected through 3 editions. A graph, on page 39 in the 3rd edition, shows the change in spoke tension with lateral loading of the rim. The left spokes are shown to go into compression. They can't, as they simply flex once they are slack. It might also be asked whether this graph reflects the influence of spokes that are differently stressed as the load is applied at the bottom of the wheel. To do so would require a more complicated mathematical model than I think Brandt was able to command.

I also disagree with Brandt's advice to tension spokes until the rim begins to deform. It can then deform further due to increased stresses during riding, and loosen the spokes. I have seen a new wheel which failed after a few miles for this reason. Spokes should be tight, but should leave a margin of safety. If the rim deforms before the spokes reach their optimum range of tension, then they are too thick for it, or it is too weak for them.

I would really like to see this book updated with today's more sophisticated finite-element analysis, including analysis of stresses in the novel low spoke-count wheels. But for people who are willing to build conventional wheels -- the better choice anyway for most cyclists -- this book is a valuable and fairly comprehensive reference.

Jobst Brandt is an engineer who has been a consultant to the bicycle industry for many years, having been involved in the creation of Avocet's line of road tires, among other products. Those who have corresponded with him or read his posts on rec.bicycling know him as an opinionated, seemingly gruff fellow who does not suffer fools lightly. Quite a reputation.

But what Jobst is probably best known for is this book, The Bicycle Wheel. In it, he demolishes myths, and gives actual engineering data to support his contentions about bicycle wheels materials and construction. He tells you why butted spokes are better and longer lasting than straight gauge spokes, and why tying and soldering spokes doesn't make a wheel any stronger (and why it was nonetheless a useful thing for track racers to do). He explains why radial spoking doesn't really make for a rougher ride, as some claim, and he gives actual figures on elongation and strain to back up his claims And he teaches you how to build good bicycle wheels, too.

This is a book for any serious bicycle rider. If you choose to build your own wheels, Brandt will teach you to that. If you buy your wheels, Brandt will teach you to spec and maintain them. And if you're simply interested in better understanding the function and physics of bicycle wheels, he'll teach you that as well. Not a bad deal for one small volume.

I have been using Mr. Brandt's book for 19 years now (since its first edition in 1981). It is invaluable. Concise, clearly written. It debunks myths and makes the seemingly complicated matter of the bicycle wheel easy to understand and not intimidating at all. Maintain, repair, rebuild or build new wheels. The results are perfect. Ride without fear. Have pride in what you have done and show it off to others.

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.

This is the book if you even have a remote interest in building your own wheels. You will not be intimidated by this book. Use the easy to follow instructions and you will have the intense satisfaction of riding on wheels you have done yourself.

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.

I built my first pair of wheels six months ago using Jobst's book. I had no prior wheel building experience, and no assistance or any other guidance. The wheels have been reliable and remain true after several thousand miles.

Jobst explodes the 'myth and lore' surrounding bicycle wheels and provides a straightforward, practical handbook. If you follow the directions exactly, you will be rewarded with durable, true bicycle wheels.

Having taken apart my mountain bikes wheel thinking it would be easy to fix, clean, and put back together, I found it an impossible task. This book solved that problem almost instantly, two attempts and the wheel has been rebuilt and it's working perfectly. That said, if you only need like I did to build/repair a wheel, thats only one chapter. The amount of technical detail contained is way over the top, and probably unneccessary for most people, not to mention the pages at the back of pure numbers, which I readily admit to having no clue what they relate to.

Years ago, I disassembled my father's front wheel and rebuilt it, just to see if I could. Then I noticed that I'd made some mistakes, so I did it again. And again. Days later, when I gave up, it still wasn't right.

I bought a copy of this book, and promptly built myself some wheels that I just retired at around 10 years old.

Wheels are *complicated* structures. But this book makes it possible for the moderately competent tinkerer to learn to build the most beautiful, efficient, functional structure s/he'll ever put together. And that's pretty cool.

Jobst Brandt may be an extremely cranky on-line persona, but this book is the best guide to how bicycle wheels work. The section on theory is clear and easy to read. I was able to lace, true and ride a wheel based on the instructions found here.