Wheel advice
 

Hi everyone,
I had my first accident and need to get my bike back into working order. My body got pretty lucky but I ended up bending a wheel, hanger, derailleur, and dinged up various other parts on my poor baby.

My question is: I went to get an estimate on rebuilding my rear wheel and was quoted $110 for the same rim (mavic cxp 22), silver spokes (instead of black like the front wheel), and my old stock hub (felt). Alternatively, I could order the same wheel with black spokes and a Shimano 105 hub for $170. Or I could get the same set up but with a DT Swiss r450 rim for $130 (which fits my budget the best). It seems like picking up an extra hub is a better value then just rebuilding with my old hub, but I don't know how the Felt hubs compare with Shimano and haven't heard much about the DT Swiss rim.

Any suggestions?

Scott

Felt hubs are private labeled pretty much no-name hubs, functional but nothing special. Shimano 105 hubs are very good and well worth the upgrade. DT rims are fine and would be a good choice too so the 105 hub with the DT rim would be a good replacement at moderate cost. As you have discovered, a complete wheel is close in cost and sometimes less expensive then relacing a new rim to an existing hub.

Thanks a bunch - I went ahead and ordered the wheel and a replacement hanger. Gonna see how bad the rear derailleur is when it's installed straight. It's amazing how many things I can break just by falling over.

This is moot now, but I think needs to be said. While often a complete wheel can be had for the same cost as a rebuild on the original hub, it isn't necessarily the best value. In many cases you're comparing apples to oranges.

Of course it depends on the condition and quality of the original hub, but IMO the skill builder of the builder is the bigger consideration.

Low to mid-priced production wheels cannot be compared to a quality hand build. So for near equal dollars, I'd rather service the hub to restore it to near new condition and go for a quality hand built wheel. Of course that depends on the builder.

Neither decision is right or wrong, I just wanted to clarify the considerations a bit.

That's along the lines of what I thought. I believe the wheel I ordered is still put together by hand at a bike shop; hopefully the builder does a decent job.