Sauterbilt Wheels

Steve Sauter is to bike wheels as Mel Blanc is to voiceovers, Magic Johnson is to layups, and Chuck Close is to faces. He has a focus he's passionate about.

I spent a couple afternoons hanging around Steve as he built wheels in the shop. As I go over my notes, I realize that my ability to transfer what he said will not pass with clarity through my brain and back out to you. Suffice to say, he makes strong wheels. He's been doing it for over seven years. I am going to try to explain what he does and why I think his work is important.

And why should I, Mr. La-di-da Non-Technical, be interested in this subject you ask? Because wheels are primordial. We live in a universe of interesting round things: sun, moon, earth, the dirty ring around my drain, Dante's Circles of Hell, my miniature cyclical thought process, the glasses I wore in the 70s, something we can all make with our index finger and thumb that means OK, peas, pizzas, gerbil play structures, peace signs, blowfish, our mouths when we say "oh", amyloplasts, nuclei, reincarnation, hamburgers, and...wheels. More specifically in this case, bike wheels.

I like a well built bike wheel. I've had poorly built ones pop spokes on me at inopportune times. It'll ruin any good ride. Even after you true it back to a ride-able state, you'll still wobble about and worry that other spokes will follow the broken spoke's lead and pop as well. If that happens it's either a long walk to home base or a cellphone call for a pick up.

Bike wheels need to be two contradictory things: strong and light. The lighter the better, but strong still needs to be the other major player. That's why Steve isn't too thrilled with the experiments by Rolf and Bontrager to minimize spokes. He thinks that in order to accommodate fewer spokes, they had to make heavier rims, which, since that's where you experience rotational inertia, was the wrong approach. Good stainless steel spokes, he says, have been light and strong since the 70s. A balance between spoke count and rim strength is the best combination.

Generally, he likes 36 rear, though the front can be 28 or 32. And it also varies depending on the needs and weight of the rider and materials used. He's built them up to 48 rear. You can go down to 20 front. Who cares? You might when you're miles from nowhere and you hear that awful pop, then feel the brakes come on even though you aren't clamping down on them. It's not even fun when you're in the middle of somewhere.

Preferred nipples (okay, the adolescent among us can get the chuckling out of the way now) are brass. Alloys can corrode and weaken if Jupiter doesn't quite align with Mars.

His preferred rims, and this is only a general list, are Mavic, DT, Velocity, Kinlin, and American Classic.

His favorite hub is one made by a small company named Alchemy. It's a light, durable hub with good flange spacing and great lateral stiffness. I held it in my hand, and it truly is a thing of machined beauty. Other, more mainstream favorites include DT, Ritchie, and American Classic.

It's the lateral stiffness that Steve emphasizes a lot. I have a photo of him as he nears completion of a wheel he's built. He stands on each side of the wheel and walks around it, with a bounce here and there for good measure. If it can withstand that kind of lateral abuse, it will take just about anything you can bash through and it will still stay true. Can you say that about many of life's experiences? He also talks about radial stiffness. That is achieved with well chosen components for the specific use desired.

Steve can build a wheel in about an hour. The whole process takes a few hours if you include the discussions between buyer and Steve. He works to get you the exact wheel you need.

Once he's determined the most apt wheel and components for the client and all the parts are available and delivered, he first consults a chart that gives him the necessary spoke length for the project. It's filled with numbers that cross reference each other. I tried to follow along, but felt like I was in the midst of a numbers mine field ready to explode my cranial blob. Those numbers get into a lot of decimals. My eyes turned into little x's and then went to blur.

Then he grabs a fistful of spokes and cuts them to size and we're off. He lubricates the threads with linseed oil. He's done enough (about 150 per year) to chat and weave effortlessly. He does all kinds of styles upon request, but often it's the standard over 2, under 1 lacing, the one you see on most bikes. Again, it's strong and efficient. After he gets the spokes snugged the first time, he evens up the tensions by plonking at the spokes with his fingers and listening. At times he'll use his favorite FSA meter designed by Jobst Brandt, but mostly from what I saw, he just plunked away like he was in jug band. Then he brings it up to 110 kilograms tension (120 for DTs) on the drive side as he balances out the other side. There's some nice squeezing of the spokes with his hands, then he repeats. This stress relieving is what he sees as the key part of the process. Everything has to seat and the spokes need to be good and straight.

Eventually, he stands on the darned thing. It's one of those moments when your eyes bug out as he puts his entire weight on it. Then more truing, but it's almost complete at this point. A few more twists and turns and there's your wheel.

There's a lot that Steve does beyond simply the hands-on building. He studies wheel building like a nuclear physicist studies exploding atoms. He's built a machine that tests the stress levels of various types of wheel configurations, and he prints out rather elaborate result sheets that compare those results. He's also in the process of further developing his machine to more fully understand the impact of stress on wheels. Oscar Bustos, the owner of Great Lakes, is all for it. He's quite proud of the fact that he has someone of Steve's expertise to help fine tune the shop's reputation as a major wheel building hub (sorry, it was just there).

At 28, Steve's got years ahead to keep honing his skills. He's studied at the United Bicycle Institute in Portland, Oregon to learn as much as he can about this skill (as well as getting his suspension certification), but he says he's learned more just from his hands on experience in the shop. Except for a short hiatus in '99, he's worked at Great Lakes since he was fifteen years old. He says he was a brat who he would have fired immediately, but they kept him on and he's focused his talent into something he loves. He was mentored by other mechanics along the way, in particular, Dave Nordwall and Brian Route.

Bikes are his thing and have been for quite some time. His mechanical skills take precedence over riding, though he does get out on a spin now and then. He used to be a mountain biker, and he still rides the GT he's had since '97. With the increased family obligations in recent years--a new baby boy, plus a 3 year old girl--he's finding that road riding is less time consuming and highly enjoyable. He rides a CAAD 8 9-speed with stock R550 wheels. "I'm too cheap to build my own," he says with a wry smile.

That shouldn't deter anybody from having Steve lace up a nice set for themselves. Judging by his ethic and expertise, the wheels he builds will not leave anyone stranded miles from home. Of course you could still get stranded if, like I do, you flat with a mountain bike tube in your road bag. Don't do that. It's not good.

For more information go to his web page on the Great Lakes site: greatlakescycling.com/service/sauterbilt-wheels/

Wheel building books recommended by Steve:
The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt
The Art of Wheelbuilding: A Bench Reference for Neophytes, Pros & Wheelaholics by Gerd Schraner

Contact Steve at 734.668.6484
Great Lakes Cycling & Fitness
2015 W. Stadium Boulevard
Ann Arbor, MI 48103