bobbyl1966

What is the benefit for building a wheel vs. purchasing a wheel?

cny-bikeman

Control over characteristics of the components - too many variables to mention. Other than satisfaction of that achievement there's not much other benefit, as even with a mass-produced wheel you can properly tension it after it's built.

Jeff Wills

For me, building wheels is addictive. I need to build a couple wheels every year or I get twitchy. I need my fix, man...

deacon mark

For sure it is addictive. Just built a set of Bdop's DIY wheels. Great set 24 radial and 28 2cross spin really nice and just love to ride my own wheels. I want to do another set just because I could do it much faster and less stress. I do not build enough of them simply make wheel building easy. I would love to post a pic here but these pros in the mechanics forum do this daily and probably could care less.

Retro Grouch 

+1.

If you have to ask you'll never understand.

Bandera

Wheel building used to the mark of a real bike mechanic but even "back when" there were masters whose build quality was trusted and sought after.
It takes practice, "like knitting" I was told by a colleague when I was learning the craft.

For a truly reliable wheel that meets your particular requirements find a master and spec a set, $ well spent.
Finding that master builder locally may be a challenge, ask experienced club riders.

If you want to learn the craft get Brandt's book, assemble the tools required/components and have at it.
Quality & reliability may be lacking, but it's your 1st "sweater"..... practice makes for improvements.
One will also learn the crucial elements of the truing process making you more independent in maintenance.

After building lots & lots of wheels "back when" for track, tandem, 'cross & road I bought a pre-built rear for my Soma for less than I could buy the components recently.
No shame in that (I did have to talk myself into it), it's true, dished and properly tensioned. $ well spent and no time invested.

Factory pre-built sets are all the rage since Mavic set that ball in motion. For me: Pass on vendor specific components.

-Bandera

bigfred 

I get service life from my own hand built wheels far in excess of anything I or my riding companions get from factory built options. Which equals more miles per less maintenance headaches. I have hubs that are on their second or third rim, having simply worn the previous through their brake tracks.

Dan Burkhart 

Bragging rights.

Dan Burkhart 

A couple a year would never do it for me. Done about 60 so far this year, and getting parts delivered tomorrow for 24 more. I can almost feel the euphoria coming over me now.

Drew Eckhardt 

When I build wheels they never go out of true unless I bend a rim crashing. The spokes will last hundreds of thousands of miles and it'll cost me $40-$80 to replace a rim when I finally bend it or wear out. I have spare rims so I could do that tonight if I needed to. The nipples (even alloy) will still turn when that happens (even with a decade of salty winters) because I lubricate threads and sockets with anti-seize. I can have _anything_ I want regardless of current trends - the last pair of wheels I built combined retro-reflective 25mm deep rims, NOS silver Powertap hubs, and 32 silver 2.0/1.5mm spokes with silver alloy nipples. The details will be aesthetically pleasing - valve stem opposite the hub label, mirrored spoke patterns.

It's also relaxing and keeps me out of trouble.

bobbyl1966

Thank you for all the very helpful answers

boattail71

A great question that I ask myself. Satisfaction? Probably, lemme think... No, yes!... I think... I'm building a bike/wheels from scratch now from parts I've collected over the decades. Cheap? Yes... Fun? Rewarding? Satisfying? Fer sure! Time consuming? Um... <rhetorical>. Fuzzy-feeling - repurposed/recycled/low carbon/environmentally friendly? Ya-sure-whatever.

There's always some specific part that I can't find even in our extensive co-op cache. For these funky, penurious projects, I can't bring myself to spring for new LBS or 'net prices. Now it's weird spoke lengths for drum and other wide flangished hubs (is flangished a word?). I'm decades away from calling myself a good "wheel builder" but I do find it challenging to somehow make it work. "Let's try 2-cross, or maybe 4-cross" with the scads of available spokes in my bin (and on junk wheels in the shed). That's fun - I guess. But an hour a night this last week experimenting on just one rear, I'm beginning to question again; "what's the benefit?"

boattail71

Big - Really? You have worn out multiple rims through brake tracks? That's cool! Talk about getting your money's worth outta yer bike and wheels!

Jeff Wills

Yeah, well... all of my wheels stay in my house. I'm working on three bike's worth right now, with some extras thrown in for wheels with generator hubs. 8 wheels total. My problem is that a big project at work has had me working 12+ hour days. It's finished, I just have to stop twitching. Then I start building.

chewa

Ditto.

It's very therapeutic. When I used to commute 26 miles a day I'd go through rims every year (wasn't great at keeping the bike clean), and a rim swap is a pretty easy way to learn how to build.

Other than my Cinelli, all my road bikes are on wheels I built. Love it!

guidoStow

Bill Mould has two great wheel building DVDs that really help you get the right start.

Airburst

Part of the reason I do it is the ability to lace custom wheels, i.e. I built a set of 20" wheels with Sturmey Archer drum brake hubs for a small-wheel bike, I'd never have found those pre-built.

Dan Burkhart 

How do you know mine don't all stay in the house? You've never seen my bike garage.

b dub 

The only option sometimes. It's not that you can easily find a 26" rear wheel with alu rim and SA 3 speed hub.

Looigi

I do it mainly to be able to choose components and although I do find it a bit tedious, there's always a sense of accomplishment when I'm done. It is pretty straightforward once you've got it figured and and have done it few times. Of course if you can build them you likely can also fix them, so if issues arise you can just deal with it rather than having to take it a shop, wait, pay and then go pick it up. Of course fixing might entail additional skills and tools when doing things like straightening bent brake tracks and rims, replacing bearings, etc...

mconlonx

Benefits:

- Choice of components. There's lots of hub/rim/spoke/nipple combos I've built that I would have had to have custom built by someone else if I didn't do it myself. In my neck of the woods, aluminum corrosion is an issue and most wheels built with aluminum nipples won't last past five years without a complete rebuild. So, 1) I can rebuild a wheel myself, and 2) I can use brass nipples to begin with along with an otherwise performance spec of light hubs, rims, db spokes, etc. I've also done plenty of builds with odder Sturmey Archer hubs for which there are just no pre-built wheels available.

- Second hand/NOS parts. Sometimes rims or hubs find their way into my life, which require a wheel build and again, I either build wheels myself or I'd have to find someone else to do it for me. Cheaper if I do it, better in a lot of cases, satisfying to build my own. Steal of a deal on some Phil Wood hubs combined with some NOS Mavic Open Pro rims gathering dust at the shop? Hell yeah I built those...

- Satisfaction. There is a lot of satisfaction rolling along on wheels you built yourself. And bragging rights, "Oh, these wheels? Yeah, I built them." Also, I get into a very meditative state while building wheels -- there's a lot of tedium involved, lots of repetitious movement, and the steady work definitely puts my mind in another place.

- Trust. I know I built it right... and if I didn't, I have no one to blame but myself.

Time and a place for everything, though. There are certainly bike builds I've done where I was happy to order pre-built wheels rather than build my own.

Wilfred Laurier

choice of components is the big one for me
because most of my bikes run on obsolete or uncommon parts
the type of stuff you are less likely to find in a pre built wheel

hubs can outlast rims
frames and forks can outlast hubs
properly maintained

greg3rd48 

I was given Brandt's book for free a couple of weeks ago and have been reading it religiously ever since. I am anxiously anticipating building my first wheels this fall/winter as I learn more and more. I have various old steel wheels lying around that I am contemplating practicing on. Do The experts here recommend that or should I just start with the new components?

I trued the wheelset on my current U08 rebuild for the first time with relatively positive results but I should hone my truing skills much more before wheel building rugby?

Drew Eckhardt 

Start with new components. You won't have to deal with any bends and should have no problem getting it right the first time.

Building a wheel is just more of the same. You should be fine.

Bandera

Amen!