1954 English 3-speed

[DebW]

I started on the front wheel build last night. Below is a picture of the front wheel with the old rusty steel rim, and then the dynohub after I cut out the spokes. Looks like the front rim is original and the rear a later replacement, based on pictures I found of original Raleigh rims. I laced up the larger dynamo side of the hub and all was well. Then I tried lacing the other side and found out my spokes were too long. I could have laced it 4-cross, but 32-hole hubs do not like to be laced 4-cross. I took in a few old spokes when I bought new, but Elton had to round up by 1-2 mm to match a size he had. Today I found an online spoke calculator with Sturmey Archer hubs, and I need to go 6 mm shorter. So I'll head back to Harris Cyclery Thursday or Friday and swap spokes. The non-dynamo side of this hub is hard to deal with - every pair of spoke holes is linked by a hole large enough to fit the spoke head through (since the dynamo side is so large that spokes can't be inserted through). Makes it hard to hold the spoke head in place when lacing, and sometimes they fall out when you're not looking. Also you can't shift a spoke one hole since the hub allows a pull from only one direction. Since the old rim was right handed and the new one left-handed (or vice versa, anyway they are different) I may have to settle for less-than-optimum valve hole placement.