Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - "One Step Up From Starter" wheelset

OK, I saved my pennies and hounded my slacker clients, and now I have a budget to work with for a new set of wheels.

I have $200 to spend. I am hoping to get a set that is an improvement over the basic Suzue-basic/MA3 setup. (Right now I have that on the rear, and a random front, which will move to a new build for my partner.)

I have searched this forum and looked around a lot, and it seems to me that the best deal I can get is a set of IRO's basic $184 wheels--IRO hubs on Velocity Aero Heads.

Oh, one catch: I want a fixed/fixed rear hub. I think I can get that on the IRO set but am gonna confirm first.

so, question 1: Is the IRO the best deal, or is there some other choice I should be aware of?
question 2: if I built 'em myself, could I do a significantly better wheelset for around the same price?

thanks a lot

patrick

Near as I can figure, the IRO hubs are pretty good for their price range. I am fairly certain they are rebranded formula hubs with a different axle than formulas.

It has also been my impression that for the around 200 dollar range you are not going to do much better building them yourself.

Go IRO and Tony does have them in fixed/fixed.

And Mr. Tony will have them in all black, fixed/fixed if all black is your bag.

man! i should have specified fixed/fixed on mine.

but no problems with mine. plus they're HOTT.

nashbar has their fixed/fixed on sale for $30 rear and $15 front... I've owned both IRO and nashbar and I'd say they're on par with one another, with the nashbar being a bit lighter a bit smoother and available fixed/fixed (lockrings included). This gives you a very solid amount of money to buy some nice rims and a couple cogs.

nashbar has their fixed/fixed on sale for $30 rear and $15 front... I've owned both IRO and nashbar and I'd say they're on par with one another, with the nashbar being a bit lighter a bit smoother and available fixed/fixed (lockrings included). This gives you a very solid amount of money to buy some nice rims and a couple cogs.


I went that route and rolled my own. I found an aero rim with no braking surface for the rear, which looks very sleek. The only negative to the Nashbar hug is there is a barely visible "N" logo on it. They even come with two lockrings.

There is nothing quite as satisfying as building your own wheels.

i just put the first few rides on my iro basic's with fixed/fixed hub. smooth, true outta the box, better than i expected.

thanks, everyone, for your insights.

the weirdest thing i have found is that it looks actually cheaper to buy a set from IRO than to build my own. even with Nashbar.

nashbar hubs--$45
velocity AH rims--$110
spokes--~$32
equals $187 plus shipping.

IRO wheels= $184 plus ship, though I do have to buy two lockrings in addition.

however, all the encouragement to build yer own may be sinking in. and i might just go with MA3s, which are a lot cheaper, and about which I have no complaints.

see you down the road.

pdb

This is what I was saying, unless you are trying to do something unique, there is not a huge cost advantage to building your own.

Thats not to say there is no reason to do it (since of self worth, interesting spoke patterns ect) its just that its not that much cheaper if you just want something a bit better than basic.

yup, i should have given credit where credit is due. :) thanks.

all the talk about doing it yourself makes me want to give it a go, savings or not. i could certainly do with learning how to build and adjust a wheel.

nashbar has their fixed/fixed on sale for $30 rear and $15 front... I've owned both IRO and nashbar and I'd say they're on par with one another, with the nashbar being a bit lighter a bit smoother and available fixed/fixed (lockrings included). This gives you a very solid amount of money to buy some nice rims and a couple cogs.

tim, did i mention that you are the evil nashbar temptress?

I just ordered my nashbar hubs, and will begin building my first wheelset for the F of it.

tim, did i mention that you are the evil nashbar temptress?

...you think you're saving money with those coupon codes. Hah! You're actually fattening my wallet. as an aside, you can get cheaper spokes at www.oddsandendos.com ($0.32/spoke). They have some svelte rims also. *edit* I would point you in the direction of the sun venus--durable, with eyelets, and still moderately light (lighter than a deep v anyway, and stronger than an aerohead). That would be $78 for the rims, $20.48 for spokes, for a grand total (hubs included) of ~$140+shipping after a nashbar coupon.

tl, thanks for the rim recommendation, I was just going to ask about that. a bit of an upgrade from MA3s?

ok, i get it--you're the president of nashbar! well at least the hubs will match my headset :O

the catch with ordering spokes from oddsandendos (which I have bookmarked from a previous mention by you) is that I can't have my friendly LBS do the calculation. Anyone know of a good online calculator/resource for this (or wanna PM me with wheelbuilding 101 info)?

thanks!

And once again the ubiquitous link to a sheldon brown website...

http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

Look about a third of the way down for a list of spoke length calculators.

awesome, thanks

ok, forgive me for flogging everything I can out of this thread.

spokes: will be procured from oddsandendos.com.

is there enough advantage to double-butted (or single-butted) over straight-gauge to justify the extra cost?

straight gauge .32
single butted .49
double butted .79

? thx

ok, forgive me for flogging everything I can out of this thread.

spokes: will be procured from oddsandendos.com.

is there enough advantage to double-butted (or single-butted) over straight-gauge to justify the extra cost?

straight gauge .32
single butted .49
double butted .79

? thx

bling factor increases by 15% per butt. bombproofness decreases by 10% per butt.

if you're building a wheelset for the street, straight gauge spokes are good 'nuff.

ok, forgive me for flogging everything I can out of this thread.

spokes: will be procured from oddsandendos.com.

is there enough advantage to double-butted (or single-butted) over straight-gauge to justify the extra cost?

straight gauge .32
single butted .49
double butted .79

? thx

even the bling factor is debatable, as I don't catch many people caressing my spokes or weighing my wheels. You'd be saving only ~82 grams total (both wheels) going to 2-1.7-2 butted spokes (2mm at each end, tapering to 1.7mm in the middle). You could save ~42 grams without cost by switching to alloy nipples. doesn't seem worth the cost or loss of strength to me.

*edit* some people will talk about butted spokes being more 'elastic' and because of that, better suited to take an impact gracefully without snapping. These people are crazy, maybe.

even the bling factor is debatable, as I don't catch many people caressing my spokes or weighing my wheels. You'd be saving only ~82 grams total (both wheels) going to 2-1.7-2 butted spokes (2mm at each end, tapering to 1.7mm in the middle). You could save ~42 grams without cost by switching to alloy nipples. doesn't seem worth the cost or loss of strength to me.

*edit* some people will talk about butted spokes being more 'elastic' and because of that, better suited to take an impact gracefully without snapping. These people are crazy, maybe.

I think it's generally agreed upon that butted spokes will build a more durable wheel. They can however create a wheels that isn't quite as stiff (Depends on your weight, power, spoke count, etc.).

well, bling of any stripe would clash with my color scheme. bombproof straight gauge it is. thanks folks.