At the risk of it being dismissed as blatant self promotion, anyone with a long attention span and an interest in wheelbuilding might like to read a recent article Tristram wrote on the many technical aspects of hand built wheels. Make sure you have a beer, coffee, or chai latte handy. Wheel Building | Commuter Cycles
Huw, that was a really great article, thanks for the read!
I’ve been looking at upgrading to hand built wheels for my road bike. I’d love to support local bike shops, but I when I see prices like these:
Bicyclewheels: Road Bike Wheelsets 8/9/10 Sp (700c )
and they say they’ll send them to me for US$70, I find it hard to justify donating an extra $2-300 to that bike shop.
I could buy these, take them to my LBS and have then trued and tensioned and still be way ahead. Makes me feel very conflicted…
martin
if they don’t tell you to get fucked. that’s kinda like sleeping with your best friend’s wife, then asking him to wipe your dick afterwards
Well, no actually I don’t think it is, although it’s a nice turn of phrase…and as I said, I’d be telling my best mate that I felt bad about it while I was going at it.
I mean obviously they can tell me to get fucked. If they don’t want my money, then that’s fine I guess.
It wouldn’t change my mind about buying wheels through them, given that I’m probably only lining the pockets of the distributor, not the shop owner, and $300 is a lot of money to me.
I buy all my usual consumables like pads and bar tape, cables etc. through my LBS, so it’s not like they don’t get anything from me. I guess I could buy a truing stand online and true it myself. Then they get nada…
just ride em through a few puddles and tell the LBS they’re a sweet near-new deal you got off a mate.
this is indeed a good turn of phrase. it deserves to be in my signature, but i feel it’s getting a bit unwieldy.
i agree with everything you say, except for this. i an think of many other brands i would pick before american crappic. I like bearings that roll.
i can and have built several wheels in the past, i still ride all of them and think they are pretty good. that said it takes me about a week and i would rather pay dan at shifter $55 or wheelworks to do a much better job than me.
I have to agree with your disagreement, I’m beginning to have second thoughts about AC hubs. I’ve noticed that the freehub bodies are made of a really soft alloy, and not only do the cassette splines chew out, but the ratchet on the inside also wears out extremely quickly.
if your going to get hand builts then get something special if you want to spend under $500 then get some factory wheels from wiggle…
if you wana spend 800-1200 then i’d look at alchemy hubs, exrtralites, C4s, tunes, laced up to kinlins ( even better edge 42mm clinchers not cheap though ) by some one like dan from shifter bikes ( he’s pretty cheap and builds wheels in oz for egde composites ), they will spin like crazy and be super light…
i have ligreo wheelworks customs, they are awesome, 1400g clinchers and only cost me $900 au but… troy watson takes a very long and doesn’t respond to emails once you start asking where ya wheels are… ( 1 month turned in to 3 )
if you want hand builts then throw down and get some sick wheels other wise i’d get factory built wheels from wiggle, cheap hand builts are still cheap and going to be heavy
are the freehub bodies the same as heds/powertaps? (yelowish coating with a bullshit 1.5 mm grub screw?)
if so i can’t stand them. you would think when you pay $1500 for a rear hub it could come with a free hub that isnt so bad(if i can be assed i will post pictures of their crapness)
nice hubs = shimano, campag, dt, king, phil(duh), white industries. to be honest i can’t get excited about super lightweight hubs. (zipp, tune, c4, etc) invariably the bearings are just too small, thee axles are flexy, the freehubs are crap, meh.
The problem with AC hubs and similar is that they probably all come out of the same factory. The HED freehub body looks suspiciously like the AC, and like Token etc. Oh, and aluminium as a freehub body material is the dumbest idea ever. Shimano Dura Ace/XTR titanium freehub FTW! Or, if you’re poor like me, a STEEL body actually works pretty darn well.
Surprised this damn thread is alive.
Since my first post in this thread, I have gotten another wheelset built by Mr Evan at Cyclic in Flemington. Mavic Open Pros to Ultegra hubs DT Swiss Comp spokes. Standard, classic and surprisingly light. I am a very happy camper Evan, thank you. I can’t remember his rate, but it is competitive to the other options.
Do you kiss your lady with that mouth?
I cant say that the ratchet in the cassette body has worn in my AC 420 wheelset, but there is quite noticeable wear on the cassette splines and I wouldn’t say that I’m a powerhouse of any sort… This wheelset has only done about 2500k’s.
It looks like AC has realised this design fault and the new steel face hub they offer look’s pretty decent.
But in saying that, I’m not particularly unhappy with the wheels at all, infact I’m quite happy with them considering they have never seen a truing stand or spoke wrench and I would recommend them to others… (that’s not to say there isn’t better options about)
I’d also be lying if I said the fact that the American Classic logo sharing the same typeface as the Cannondale logos on my CAAD9 didn’t also sweeten the deal hahaha.
Hey there, I have a set of 26" 24 hole Mavic cross rides and I need replacement rims for them. Can any one in this thread price on supply of rims and rebuilds please.
John
You know this isn’t a bike shop right?
Email or call your local.
Seriously cheaper to replace than getting Mavic spares.
Understood AL9000. Was just wanting recommendations
on who I can take them to for rebuilds. .05 AH