Quote Originally Posted by jobob View Post
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).