Originally Posted by
mihlbach
+1 to your +1.
Wheel building is the final frontier of home bike mechanics. If you can do it, you are basically free from the LBS for the rest of your life.
+1. this makes +3. despite all the negative voodoo warning about building wheels, it's probably been the simplest mechanical job i've done to my bike (more than overhauling hubs or bbs). and just use your bike and a fixed object to true them. feel for tension or, if you're a majour purist, proper spokes ring even with a 440hz A note (one above middle C on piano for closest match). the only reason not to, as someone here said, is that it actually ends up being more expensive usually than buying a prebuilt. but go for it. use sheldon brown's page or borrow jobst brant's "the bicycle wheel" from a shop or library. (sheldon's page is enough by itself).