This is a practical all-day workshop where you learn to lace, build and true wire-spoked bicycle wheels from scratch. This is a 7 hour course with refreshment breaks plus a lunch break. The day takes you methodically through the complete wheel building process of measuring, lacing, tensioning and truing. You can optionally bring your own components to build or wheels to work on.

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The course is designed so that complete beginners get the confidence, knowledge and skills necessary to build wheels which are strong, long lasting and true. The principles and skills taught are equally applicable to wheel repairs, such as spoke breakages, rim replacement, or wheel restoration. This is a fully hands-on course but the underlying theory is explained where necessary, based on the standard textbook The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt.

We concentrate on teaching you how to build strong, durable rear wheels in the standard ‘cross-3’ pattern. This instils sound wheel building techniques, the theory underpinning them, and gives you a solid foundation of knowledge and skills which can be applied to front wheels and alternative lacing patterns in future. Radial, half-radial and other exotic lacing patterns are not explicitly taught but the principles and skills you learn are transferrable to them. 

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Groups are limited to eight students so that everyone gets the attention they need in a small intimate group. Apart from being prepared to get your hands dirty, you should anticipate having a satisfying and enjoyable day, by the end of which you will have sufficient knowledge and skill to build reliable wheels.