Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - fixed wheelsets

So, while building my new fixie, all has been going well as far as finding parts, until I got to the wheelset...

It seems that a fairly cheapo wheelset with a track hub is about $300. Ouch. Building it myself is also out of the question, because the hub + spokes + rim = about $150, and if i take it to the lbs to get it trued, they want $25-$40 too.

There is a LBS that specializes in fixed/track stuff, and the guy there is known for building extremely high quality wheels; their cheapest handbuilt set is $280 on Velocity Aero rims, and I don't know the brand of the hub, but the girl there mentioned that it comes with its own lockring, because it will not fit other lockrings (like a Dura Ace one). The rims on this set turn me off because the sidewalls are painted black, and it looks like after a while the brakes will destroy the paint. Also, they have no eyelets...

I am looking for any advice regarding wheels/places to buy wheels/handbuilt vs machine built and whether you have any opinions regarding the Velocity rim. Should I buy a quality rear wheel and use any old front one?

thanks.

Use an old front one, there is nothing special you need up there. I built a Sun CR18 w/ a Surly Fixed/Free hub for under $150 w/ spokes. Both the rim and hub give you good bang for the buck.

I have a rear wheel built up here for $130. Suzue hub(hand polished out and repacked with better balls), Salsa Delgado rim, 14guage spokes, brass nipples. Once I get a new solder gun, it will get tied and soldered and be $10 more. The matching front is $117.

If you are building up an old road bike to fixed, don't buy a front wheel, use the one you have. Use as much existing stuff as you can.

There are plenty of sites that will sell you just a rear wheel for fixed. I got into fixed riding about 4 years ago on a cheapo rear wheel for about $100 US.

I have trashed the cheapo hub (it lasted four years!!!) and have since gotten something better. I can not imagine not having a fixed gear bike now.

Start cheap to see if you like it. Fixed gear is not for everyone but I think everyone should try it!

I agree with the notion of starting cheap to see if you like it. That is what I am doing. I recently bought a CHEAP and new rim and hub off of Ebay for $65 + shipping. It is not a high quality piece, but it is fine for what I am going to use it for - recreational riding. I think there are a couple more on there. Uses Quando hubs for whatever that is worth - I have never heard of them, but I don't expect them to be anything special for that price.

Well, I decided that it's much more important to get it right than to focus on 'cheap' and later regret it.

I bought a pair of Mavic Open Pros laced around Miche Primato hubs. They will be handbuilt by a guy at the LBS who is famous for building high quality wheels. The coolest part about it is that he will build the rear wheel around my existing frame/crankset setup for a perfect chainline, so no need for cheesy chainring spacers. I got this deal for $280 for the rims/spokes/hubs/labor. I'm an extremely happy guy.

Thanks for all the help.

Best thing to do eventually is to learn to build your own wheels. Once learned, it's very easy to lace up and true wheels. I've found my wheels to stay truer much longer than most 'custom built' wheels I've purchased in the past. Besides I've saved hundreds of dollars. I'm currently building another fixie using a Bianchi track frame and just finished building the wheelset using new Suzue hubs (the cheap $49 set), new spokes ($25), and old Mavic rims (free).

George "no coasting allowed" Leakos

yeah, i want to learn how to do that.
i want to take apart the wheels on an old fuji i have and put them back together on new spokes. the current ones are rusted and bent... that will be good practice.