Bicycle Mechanics - Help with hub

Hey guys, this is my first post here now that i have gt my bike back. Back in June of 2001 i bought a GT I-Drive 4.0. While riding in August of 2001 in killington, the frame cracked. I sent it in for warranty in the end of that month. After 1 year and 2 months of fighting with GT and Pacific Bike i recieved my new i -drive 1.0 frame and have some questions about upgradeing.

1. After getting ready to purchase disc brakes it came to my attention that my hubs were not disc brake ready. I want to buy some new hubs and my question is this : Is it hard to put a rim and spokes onto a new hub? would i be better off taking it to the local bike shop and having them do it? Also, is it expensive?

Thanks

Other than building a frame from from scratch, wheel building is the next biggest challenge. Sure you can stick one together,but will it be right?

:confused: ok?.....so...I take it that it is hard. So then what do u think it will cost to have a bike shop do it?...or is there a better way?

I might be just as cheap or cheaper to buy a ready-made wheelset. By the time you buy new hubs, spokes and pay someone to build them, you could have just bought a new wheelset. Check with your LBS and online for wheelsets with disc hubs.

ok, so here is a real newbie question for ya, i was looking at supergo and found something that is within my price range

click here (http://www.supergo.com/itemdisplay.asp?compflag=1&parentid=20320&company=Shimano&secid=7559&subid=7567)

Now, are all rims the same size? I dont see any sizes on them? Will i need new tires and tubes or are they all the same?

Thanks

For MTB's they are all the same. Your tires, tubes will fit. Also check with Pricepoint, Jensonusa, Wheelworld and maybe some others to compare prices.

ok, one last post for you.

What is ur opinion of those rims, is there really any feature i should be looking for? and a wheelset means front and rear rims right?


Thanks for all ur help

Yes, it means for both. Be sure you look at what color the wheel and spokes are if that makes any difference to you. The Deore hubs aren't very high end, but not bad for general riding. If you're going to really abuse it, I'd look more toward spending the extra bucks and getting XT hubs. I've never had Sun rims but they've been around for a long time. You might look at MTB review and see what everyone has to say about them. For 100 bucks you can't get hurt too bad. :)

Is it hard to put a rim and spokes onto a new hub? would i be better off taking it to the local bike shop and having them do it? Also, is it expensive?

That's my first challenge. I too want to build a new front wheel that uses a 20mm thru-axle hub with a disc rotor. There is great satisfaction over the horizon if I do it right, but I'd have learnt a lot if I get it wrong. I'm going to start building a real cheapo for my wife's old road bike and then take it from there.

I read an article about one of the UKs best wheel builders who build for the top race teams. His comment summed it up: a mediocre hand built wheel will be worse than a machine built wheel, but a good hand built wheel will always be better than the best machine built wheel.

Take it from there. Go for it. Why not?

I would make sure to buy wheels with either DT or Wheelsmith spokes, particularly since the spokes must transfer the braking force from the hub out to the rim when you use disc brakes.

Think about this: with any good mountain-bike brake system, you can decelerate much harder than you can accelerate. That force has to go through the spokes, primarily on the front wheel where all the braking traction is.

I agree with the above advice, Shimano-brand disc hubs would be your best bet in the value price bracket. Ease of obtaining parts is one reason, along with very effective seals.