On 01/08/2010 19:14, Jim K wrote:
Rear 12" wheel lost a spoke somehow and the rest are variously loose,
bent etc. Wheel wobbles side to side quite badly but they still manage
to ride it! good practice for something!!

So is it worth messing to fix it and how? or can you e.g. buy a
replacement for a £reasonable amount?

Bike is a Raleigh bought new -- can't say I'm impressed.....I reckon
it's only done 2 or 3 miles ever

What's the rim made of - Al or steel? Steel is harder to straighten.
Sounds like the wheel was crap to start with though - it's quite hard to
make a 12" wheel fail.

I've built a few wheels (front and rear). Sheldon Brown's instructions
are pretty good for that (as with so many things bicycle related).

http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

In the past I've used the stamped spoke keys, and the ones machined from
a bit of hex. The former were crap, the latter hurt my fingers. Best by
a long way IMHO are the red plastic disk based ones - they grip the
spoke better than the others, and they're comfortable to use.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/M...?ModelID=19098

(dang, out of stock of the red one - though I don't know what size your
nipples are)

Most important is to get the spokes tight and even - loose spokes will fail.

I've never used a jig - the bike serves for that, with
fingers/pencil/brakes for truing pointers. Obviously a jig will be nicer
to work with, but it's not a necessity.

Not sure where to get tiny spokes though - smallest wheel I've built is
16" Brompton.

Re replacement - if it's done bugger all, got to be worth a visit to the
vendor. It shouldn't fail in that time unless it's been jumped with flat
tyres. If you get a replacement, might be worth tightening + stress
relieving the spokes. But a 12" kids bike wheel is probably a good thing
to learn on - ought to be very forgiving.

(do your changes in groups and taper the ends, and keep the changes
small - eg +1/4, -1/4 or +1/4 -1/2 +1/4 or +1/4 -1/2 +1/2 -1/4. Don't
worry too much about hop (vertical true) - unless you've screwed up
big-time, it'll be about right.)