Wheelbuilding - Raleigh Sports Westrick Wheels

 Here's a nice set of wheels I built over the weekend. The rims are Raleigh Westrick (I love those old-style ones with matte centers), old stock Union straight gauge spokes, and Sturmey Archer hubs. 

 These wheels are not for the Reg Harris Lenton, but I have been building up parts in my stockpiles lately, and figured this would be a nice wheel set to have around for other projects.

The rear hub is a four speed FW from 1961 and the front is an unused old stock Raleigh with oiler port. Both hubs have been cleaned and rebuilt using Lucas green grease in the outer bearings [I'm a fan - it's not overly expensive, fairly easy to get, and the grease is slick rather than sticky]. Each hub also was given a little bit of 3-in-1 blue bottle oil in the oil port [the 20-weight stuff].

I am a fan of the FW four speed hubs, even if they are somewhat less sought after than the five speed S5 models. The FW does have its imperfections (high shifter tension in bottom gear) and does have some limitations (lacks the final gear of the S5), but they generally are smooth-running and offer a nice "bail out" bottom gear for steep climbs. With a 22 tooth cog, they offer a good gear for roads where you have to climb hills. On the downhills, I spin, and on the steep downhills, I coast.

The spoke patterns are conventional: 32 spokes, cross three in front and 40 spokes, cross four in back. The spokes are straight gauge and have the union clover on the head.

All spokes have Zipp brand oval washers at the rims. Whenever possible, I like to use a rim reinforcing washer.I use Velofuze flat washers on Endrick rims and Zipp bent ovals on Westwood and Westrick rims. [I should do a short guide to rim reinforcing washers on old bikes - it's trickier to get good washers for the purpose than one would think.]

The rear hub has Velofuze brass spoke washers at the flanges. I've found that on used, old Sturmey Archer hubs, it is helpful to use a brass spoke washer. This is especially important on used, old alloy Sturmey Archer hubs.

This should make a nice set of rider wheels, and have a little extra climbing power in them with the FW four-speed rear hub.