Buy wheels or Build wheels?
Ok. I have a fistful of questions here. I’ve been thinking about upgrading my wheelset. I “think” I want a lightweight climbing wheel. I usually ride anywhere between 25 to 60 miles per ride, and I have a lot of hills, lower grades around 6-8% with 10-12% grades spiked in there.
1. I haven’t looked around too much yet and I’m not clear on which wheels out there are suitable for what kind of riding. The Ksyrium ES certainly looks good but I won’t spend that kind of money. Then there are the more reasonably priced but still expensive Ksyrium Elites which I like (I’ll pay up to $500). Aren’t these more aerodynamic wheels though – although they may give a nice ride they don’t really seem suitable for an area with a lot of hills?
Any of you have experience or comments on these wheels. I’ve read the thread here http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...t=build+wheels
Any other recommendations to start with?
2. Well, then, I could also get some custom wheels built. Any time I hear the word “custom” I hear the cash register getting louder. Then in a post from the thread above, says how this person got some custom wheels built for much less than retail values and got exactly what she wanted. For any of you MA gals reading this – any recommendations of good wheel builders near North Central MA? I haven’t visited my favorite LBS yet to ask (which is GearWorks Cyclery in Fitchburg). I think most of the MA TE folks are mostly around the Metro-West area. I’ll certainly travel east if I need to.
3. Then, I’ve been playing around with the idea of building my own. I would be totally clueless about it. I do stuff like that a lot; teach myself something that I know nothing about. The journey is half the fun and I’d certainly learn a lot. I’ve only slightly done a bit of research on this. I’ve visited a couple of online sites including Sheldon’s. Is there a favorite site or book that someone might recommend? Is this something where I should take a class (which could potentially cost a fifth to 25% of the wheelset)? Some of the web sites on building are pretty detailed and informative. I would certainly have to be careful on choosing the appropriate parts for the kind of material for the kind of wheel and what kind of lacing pattern for the kind of ride I want and do. I haven't even come up with succinct questions to ask yet.
For people with experience, is there a more favored reputable manufacturer out there? If I buy parts, should I stay with the same vendor/manufacturer or does it matter if I mix it up?
BUT:
Is the kind of wheel I want too tech-y for a beginner? Are there enough checks and balances in the procedure to be confident the wheel is built correctly and is safe? Would I have to bring it somewhere to get my work checked (which sort of defeats the purpose)?
Is this really cost effective? I’d have to invest in some tools; trueing stand, tensiometer, a dish stick (?). This in combination with the materials I’d need to purchase – well, it may exceed the cost of a purchased wheelset.
4. Lastly, I usually put on 5 or 6 lbs during the winter. I easily whittle this off down to a "suitable for me" riding weight when the season opens up. I also usually incorporate hill interval riding (hills everywhere, I can’t avoid it) for those evenings in the summer when I only have an hour to ride. Maybe, I just drop those 6 lbs, do my intervals and bam, there’s my new lightweight set of climbing wheels that I “think” I want.
5 Attachment(s)
Finally, one wheel built & pix
Well, it’s been close to a year since my initial post. Some people had PM’d a while back asking what if anything became of this. I said I went the route of wheelbuilding, it was in progress, and that I’d post pictures when I was done. The front wheel is built. One down, one to go.
See this link for more detailed pictures and narrative. http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562286905oyplvC
Remember to scroll down under the picture if you want to read more.
This whole thing was really fun, especially since I was clueless as of last year’s first post. I did a lot of homework and it took a long time for me to decide which rims and hubs I wanted, naturally dictated by what kind of biking I did and cost. But that was part of the fun. I settled on Velocity Aerohead rims and White Industry H1 hubs with Wheelsmith double butted 2.0/1.7 spokes. I went on a couple of wheelbuilder sites and this combination as I found out halfway through my decision, is a pretty common build. I am using Veloplugs instead of rim tape based on some conversations within links of this thread. I let the project rest through the summer and didn’t order parts until November. I ended up building a homemade truing stand and dish stick (see web link photos) based on Roger Mussen’s Wheelbuilding book. The set up with building a homemade truing stand was intentionally part of the journey and half the fun. To try and come up with homemade tools that will do a sufficient job at zero dollars, and use things I already had. The fun part also was that I didn’t know how that part would play out and I just went along with it as it happened.
My friends, biking and non-biking, were enthusiastic and so that was fun too. Several of the non-biking friends didn’t understand what I was doing so I just said that I was re-creating the wheel.
I used Roger M’s and Sheldon’s guides for lacing and truing and dishing, etc. None of that was very difficult. The most important things is to pay attention to what you are doing when you are doing it. I stayed with a traditional cross pattern for my first wheel and kept away from radial spoking or bladed spokes. The 2x pattern is fine as I am not a heavy person. I was able to get lateral truing to 0.25 mm due to an insanely accurate Starrett dial gauge that I borrowed from a friend. That gauge wasn't necessary but I was just curious. I got dish to within 1 mm and radial truing to less than 1 mm, all acceptable tolerances. This is shown all on the weblink. I did invest in a tensionmeter which was essential for me at least, to get the spokes to the proper tension and evenly. I can’t play the harp on spokes like some of these guys can.
Someone mentioned that the cost of the components basically comprised the cost of the wheel. That’s true. For not much more, I could’ve let a wheelbuilder finish the job but that wasn’t the point.
Right now they might look good, but I'm very interested if they will hold true after the first 200 miles. That will be the real test of a well-built wheel.
The next thing I want to do is get a new frameset and build a bike up with the components I want.
I'm not sure how to place text between the photos so I'll list here:
1. initial construction of homemade truing stand
2. truing stand painted and with old wheel
3. wheel parts
4. the leading spokes are in
5. bringing the wheel up to tension
Buy wheels or build wheels
Congradualtions on your new wheels!
Deb, pretty intersting about the world record for wheel building... does that mean that wheel was round and true? Definitely hard to believe, but an accomplishment in itself. Like you, I have been building wheels for many years, and in reality just finished one about 15 minutes ago. Depending on the brand of rim, ( they definitely vary) it normally takes me between 45-60 minutes, Although I have to admit that I've also spent 90 minutes HA!
Thanks for the info!:)
