Mountain Biking - Mtn High Cyclery vs Colorado Cyclist

Well, I've found the pair of wheels that I want and it looks as though they're available from two different places for a really good price. WTB Laser Disc Hubs + black Mavic 717 disc rims + DT double butted spokes (black), alloy or brass nipples. Colorado Cyclist has them for $349 and Mtn High Cyclery sells them for about $370. I called and talked to Larry and he was pretty pleasant and quite knowledgeable to say the least. Which leads me to two questions. Has anyone here had any experience with his wheels? I would assume they're pretty well built, but I haven't heard anyone say yay or nay on that. He did tell me that he's pretty well covered up and I probably wouldn't see my wheels until the beginning of the year. :( I'm also planning on getting an Ultegra 12-27 road cassette to go with them as most of my riding is commuting/urban and I don't need (or even use) my granny gear. Larry gave me a price of $370 for the wheels, $15 for shipping and $45 for the Ultegra cassette... Colorado Cylist is quoting $349.99 for the wheels, $49.99 for the cassette, $24.75 for shipping. The price difference comes out to $5 more to get them from Larry. So basically, what would you guys do in this situation? Anyone had any experience with either company to give me some sort of basis on which to base my decision.

good lord.. nobody's ever ordered anything from either of them? No ideas if either of them build decent wheels? The price difference between the two for what I want is $5, so money isn't the issue.

Off topic, but are you just getting a new wheelset or are you planning on switching out wheelsets depending on what you are riding--one for urban, one for trails?

I'm keeping my old wheelset, most likely... at least for the winter when we get lots of rain, sleet, slush, and salted roads.

Larry built me a set of wheels that I am very happy with. He built me a phil wood single speed wheelset. If I had the cash, I would have Larry build me another set of wheels for my road bike.

Plus, Larry is a great guy and always pleasant to deal with.

I have no experience from ordering wheels from Colorado Cyclist.

He's backed up for a few weeks, so I think I'm going to have him build them but just wait a couple more weeks and let him get uncovered.. Plus our weather for the next couple of weeks is going to suck majorly and I was planning on riding my old wheels in the yucky stuff anyway.

Go with Larry. He's a one man shop, and a very cool guy. I've gotten a couple different wheels/forks/frames from him. And a good guy to ride with, too. He is now my LBS for larger purchases. Very in the know with current bike tech. Great customer service if you ever have a problem with something you got from him, as well.

With one of my fork purchase, we put it on at his shop, then he headed out with me on a ride at the local trail next to his shop. Very cool. He's only about 20 minutes north of me.

The wheels I've had from him have been excellent so far. I'll not hesitate to buy from him again.

If not Larry, I'd still say no to Colorado Cyclist. www.oddsandendos.com is another small guy wheelbuilder who does excellent wheel builds. Mike Garcia; I've had some wheels from him in the past, also with great results.