Hand built wheels: what's the advantage?

[jobob]

MartianDestiny did a good job summing it up. I went the custom route because, for the money, I got a much lighter wheel, built specifically for someone my size, than I could have gotten off the shelf. I went with a build suggested by SadieKate and Jobob and have been very, very happy with them. Velocity Aerohead rims, Sapim spokes, and White Industries hubs. I love, love, love the hubs. Beyond having to true them once after they were broken in, they'be been completley maintenance free. I, personally, also liked working with the wheel builder. The whole experience felt like a "guilty pleasure," but in the end I got a great product for the fraction of what I might have otherwise paid for wheels of a similar weight.

Yep. Good wheels are wonderful. I never appreciated what a difference a reliable, sturdy, easily serviceable & reasonably lightweight set of wheels makes until I got a set. I sincerely believe that when people test-ride bikes, much of the difference they perceive between various bikes (with respect to comfort, handing and what not) might be in large part due to different wheelsets on those bikes.

White Industries hubs are excellent, and very pretty too. If you do a search on White Industries you'll find there are a lot of fans in our midst.

Here's a particularly good thread in that regard from some time ago, describing Dachshund's (then) new Seven:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ite+industries

Have fun!

[indysteel]

I think White Industries should be giving Jobob and SadieKate (and me, too, while they're at it) a kickback for as many times as we'vre recommended them!!!! My fiance has them on his road wheels, too, and loves them. Everytime someone services my bike, they drool over my wheels.

I'll give them this further plug: Right before a weeklong tour, I took my bike in for a tune up and got all freaked out when my mechanic suggested that there was too much play in my front wheel's hub. Fearing for my life, I called WI. A very helpful and knowledgeable woman answered by questions, educated me a bit on play and assured me that the wheel was just fine. WI had a table at NAHBS in Indianapolis last year and I talked to them a bit about how helpful their employee had been and how pleased I was with my hubs. They were as nice as could be.

[MartianDestiny]

Yep. Good wheels are wonderful. I never appreciated what a difference a reliable, sturdy, easily serviceable...

I forgot this part (not having too many wheel issues in my career), but it is a large advantage custom wheels have over a large majority of pre-builts now (especially the fancy prebuilts with proprietary hubs, spokes, rims).

A set of well made custom wheels can be serviced by basically ANY knowledgeable mechanic with standard tools and parts (or even yourself if you work up the nerve).

So if you DO work it out of true, loose a spoke, etc. you aren't without options or without your wheels for long.

A fair number of the factory wheels require special tools, parts, and knowledge to fix. Lots of complaints about Mavic specifically on this front. If the shop will even touch them (not just send them back to Mavic) you have to wait for the parts to come in and get charged an arm and a leg for the specialty service they require.

Also if you do manage to destroy it you can typically have it rebuilt (new rim, new spokes) for less than buying a whole new wheel. That's less likely to be the case with a proprietary wheel (they charge outrageous amounts for their replacement parts from what I have seen).

[SadieKate]

A couple of things to think about:

Hub sound - each brand has its own distinctive sound. Chris King hubs can sound like angry bees. I like WI's sound. Others may be silent.

Easily serviceable as jobob says - Check on this. Chris King hubs take a proprietary tool set which your shop may or may not have. Other hubs can be serviced by the owner (i.e., you) with standard tools.

Pawls - the pawls inside the hub are a little one way ratchet. The number and design affect not only the sound, but the response of the hub. For instance, if you ratchet (or back pedal) when mountain biking to clear an obstacle, more pawls and engagement places will mean your hub will rotate forward faster upon pedaling forward again. Yeah, I know this is a terrible oversimplification, but hopefully the concept is clear.

I've been very pleased with both White Industries (WI) and Hope. We've had several wheelsets built from each and been happy.

[MartianDestiny]

Easily serviceable as jobob says - Check on this. Chris King hubs take a proprietary tool set which your shop may or may not have. Other hubs can be serviced by the owner (i.e., you) with standard tools.

Not entirely true. Everything but a complete rebuild (which should not often be necessary barring malfunction) on a King can be accomplished with standard tools (and, with some mechanical knowledge, can be accomplished without a shop). A complete rebuild does require one specialized tool (which on the order of things is not egregiously expensive; not that I'll be buying one soon).

I'm not a King fangirl; in fact I probably would have went with HOPE hubs had I not gotten these wheels for basically what a King rear hub would cost me, but I'd still put them in the reasonably serviceable category (especially if you take care of them rather than waiting for them to break)

But, the point is valid. Make sure your shop can service what you purchase (or you can, if that's important to you) unless you are willing to send it back to the builder or manufacturer (King will service their hubs for you if you want to send them in).

[SadieKate]

A complete rebuild does require one specialized tool (which on the order of things is not egregiously expensive; not that I'll be buying one soon).

Not expensive? $160 for one tool that works on one brand component? Not in my world. Yes, they are incredibly bullet proof hubs. At one time, CK was very cranky about who could buy tools, even forcing shops to attend a course on hub mtc. It's made me swear off their hubs.

http://chrisking.com/tools/tls_hubs

Now, their headsets are another story. Excellent choice.

[Eden]

Now, their headsets are another story. Excellent choice.

a little OT.... depends I guess. I have a CK headset on one of my bikes and the darn thing comes loose rather often.... and its a bit of a butt pain when your head set comes loose. I've never had this happen on any other bike.

more on topic. Custom built wheels don't necessarily have to be expensive either. I have customs on my rain bike because it would cost just as much to get a decent set of hard wearing prebuilt wheels. My rain bike rims take a pretty good beating and need to be replaced fairly often (more than I really like...), but the hubs are perfectly fine. I think it cost me around $300 for the pair, and that was with buying a front hub (the one I had for the front had too low a spoke count to take anything but lighter weight rims - not what I wanted for this bike)

[SadieKate]

a little OT.... depends I guess. I have a CK headset on one of my bikes and the darn thing comes loose rather often.... and its a bit of a butt pain when your head set comes loose. I've never had this happen on any other bike.

DH had that happen on one headset until we found out that the mechanic had left out a race or ring or something. I don't remember the details, but I'll try to ask him when he gets home. Since the part was added, not a problem.