Cost of wheel building...

You don't even need a wheelstand to build wheels, a pair of forks for the front and the bike frame itself for the rear.

I noticed on a web review that a boutique wheel builder was effectively charging £100 to build a wheel i.e. was selling a pair of wheels for £500 where you could buy the parts retail for £300.

It's now a lot easier to source quality wheel parts from abroad which makes it even more attractive than relying on your LBS.

Not all shops charge the cost mentioned though.

A bit of a plug but Sapim race spokes at my place are £0.45 each. £1 per spoke is just silly. The price of DT spokes trade is why I don't use them. Sapim's are just as good. I think £25 for wheel building labour is fair for the time taken. If CRC are charging that then that's fair also. I am not sure ecomonies of scale work on labour as they still have to pay someone to do it.

32 spokes and labour therfore adds up to £39.40 Still doing it yourself save £25 and it not too hard once you have done it a few times. The first time is hard though but nothing easy is truely worthwhile.

if you're not sure about wheelbuilding or not too confident in your mechanical abilities, you could always buy the parts, build it yourself, then take it to your LBS for final trueing. They should charge just the same as for any other wheel trueing job. That way you get to learn about wheelbuilding (not hard - sheldon has a very good step by step explanation), and save some money at the same time.

also so long as you are no hamfisted it is diffiult to atually damage anything when tensioning a wheel. You are ver unlikey to crak a rim by tensioning alone as the nipple will fail first.

Also dip spoke threads in 3 in 1 oil or linsead oil whatever you fancy really a the lub does help when tensioing. Other wise wind up is real issue as will be the final fine tuning of the spoke tensions. All doable. It the laing that is the hardest part to learn to do as that is where the mistakes normally are.

monty dog":2rk2vb6j said:

You don't even need a wheelstand to build wheels, a pair of forks for the front and the bike frame itself for the rear.

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I have always used this method. A pair of rigid forks (Kona Project 2 are good) are easier to work with.

http://www.spokesave.co.uk/

spokes from here.

Spoke Save spokes may be spokes but not all spokes are created equal. Neither are nipples. I have tried cheap nipples and they are made of cheese and can and do distort and crack before the spoke has been brought to the desired tension. A real problem resulting in having to build to lower tensions. Not worth it really.

DT Swiss, ACI, Pillar and the one I use Sapim make the most reliable spokes and nipples. Spokesave maybe cheap and is suitable for some builds (build where cost must be kep as low as possible) but not all.

Buy spokes appropriate to your build. For example those spoke save spokes are plain gauge. Sapim make 2.0mm plain gauge, single butted and various types of double butted spokes. Plain gauge are often unnessary on many wheel builds and in fact double butted spokes can contribute to a more reliable wheel, there are other factors too.

In the end I was able to salvage my old free hub...a lot of percervance with a screwdriver and heating up of the free hub body I was able to get the remains of the collapsed bearing out. I also realised that NS Bikes have not changed their pawl design, so the kits available for the new hubs will fit mine.

At least this way I don't end up with a wheel that I didn't really want. I'll start saving for the Hope Hoops that I want now.

Although I used to build the odd wheel, I'd just feel happier knowing that it had been done by a good wheel builder, especially as its the rear one and does get a few knocks etc.

bm0p700f":2ytpufre said:

Buy spokes appropriate to your build.

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I agree with this. The last 2 pairs of wheels that I laced up were only used for bridleways & a small amount of off road riding. (both were spoke save spokes and nipples.)
I have used racing wheels built with DT revolution spokes(not sure if they still make these) before... these can make for a very light wheel. I've also used DT plain gauge for heavier duty builds.
I would still recommend using spoke save spokes for havinga go at building

monty dog":1b8e1x40 said:

You don't even need a wheelstand to build wheels, a pair of forks for the front and the bike frame itself for the rear.

I noticed on a web review that a boutique wheel builder was effectively charging £100 to build a wheel i.e. was selling a pair of wheels for £500 where you could buy the parts retail for £300.

It's now a lot easier to source quality wheel parts from abroad which makes it even more attractive than relying on your LBS.

Click to expand...

I built up several wheel sets over the last few years with the wheels in the frame upside down in the living room. Tools? - a 6" steel rule, a blob of blue tack and a byro insert. Sheldon Brown does an excellent guide, just follow it. I never had a problem with any of the finished wheels, still riding on them.