dtrain

Any recommendations on a good wheelbuilder in Portland? I was probably going to use Sellwood Cycle Repair. Their price seems right and they offer lifetime truing. If anyone has feedback on them or had a particularly good experience somewhere else, I'm all ears. (edit: After a little searching, my second choice right now is Veloce.)

Thanks!

stevefarns

I actually just used SCR about 4 weeks ago to have a set built. Truth be told: I ran into one problem with my wheel about 150 miles into it where it pretty much felt like it was going to fall apart. I took it into the shop, they swear that they have never seen it before and then made it right. The fixed the wheel, did some work on my bike (quick tune up) and i haven't had any problems since. I'm pretty happy with the quality other than the small issue I ran into and I was even happier when they fixed it right away with no questions asked.
I'm a pretty big fan of having them built by hand, I want the warranty on parts and service for life. I'm 6-4 300lb rider and i was sick of wheels falling apart on me (which is i'm sure why these started to). I recommend sellwood for sure. I'm VERY happy with their service, and I've spent a lot of time in shops in the portland area. Most recently, i've been turned off on River City because they're charging me $100 to build a bike that is supposed to be covered under a warrenty... that's what lead me to sellwood.
Good luck.

ericbuilds

yes, sellwood cycle. they are 3 for 3 with me on wheel building.

dougfoot

I've had great success with the custom wheels I've had built. Three 24 spoke small wheels - going on 3 years with this set... Great people to work with.

https://www.footeco.com/blog

dtrain

Thanks for the replies. I went with Sellwood. I'll post a report when I get a few miles on the wheel. (It was a MTB rear for a hard-tail - and I'm a bigger guy - so the lifetime truing was huge for me.)

Chisolm

Dtrain--

Sellwood is my local shop and they have built 3 wheels for me so far. As soon as my crappy Bontrager wheel gets bad enough to justify a replacement I will go to them to build a 4th. Jeremiah built all of mine. They have been great about truing the wheels and they usually do it on the spot as I sit and try to be as cool as the rest of the shop regulars.

They have great service and generally are pretty easy to deal with. The shop does get busy on the weekends and the more people in that small space makes everyone a bit grumpy...It also gets busy during cyclocross, but I think that season is done in a few weeks.

Hope you are well--It has been a cold commute into Ptown that last couple of mornings!

ong

I have pretty mixed feelings about River City -- their prices on most products are crazy, and I don't think I could ever afford any of their bikes, many of which seem to be primarily intended as roof-rack ornaments for doctors and lawyers (do any actual racers spend $10K on a bike?!?).

BUT, I have to say, their repair shop has always really done me right. They do a ton of small tweaks for free, even when I've tried to insist they let me pay a little. They've done bigger projects for reasonable prices, always been very forthright about what they're doing and how much it will cost and when it will be done. They've never been condescending about my dopey commuter bikes. And at least the head tech seems extremely knowledgeable. So I have to give them high marks, and I always try to pick up some lube or a tool or some housing or SOMETHING, so they at least don't lose money on me when I bring in my bike with some stupid little problem.