chico1st

I had always planned to build wheels when i build up my bikes.. but ive been noticing that bought wheels are way cheaper than i could build them

primarily there are always decent wheel sets on sale somewhere (ie nashbar).
Like I can buy a nice 32h/36h for 140$ from nashbar but to build the same wheels i would need
~ [ 2x40$ rims + 60$ for hubs (32+36=68) 68$ for spokes ] = ~ 200$ and I have to build it.

Anybody notice this or am i crazy.

cause I know this is going to pop up, the sales on rims and hubs are never as good or plentiful.

Mainly the cost of spokes is quite high.

operator

None of what you're saying is news. Prebuilts are almost always cheaper than the cost of all their parts.

Mr. Beanz

The savings really comes when you rebuild. I have the Ultegra hub, Rim, $60 and spokes $20. $80 bucks and I get another 21000 miles out of my wheel. I only paid $50 for the 9 speed hub.

I doubt you cheap wheels would give ME 20,000. I'd go through 3 sets by then, not a saving overall.

I had a wheel wear out(brake surface). Had a rim and an Ultegra hub laying around. Spokes from a buddy at the shop and $15 for a new wheel. It pays in the end!


Biggest issue IMO is knowing the quality of the build and doing it myself, it's GREAT! I've paid high dollar to highly rec'd local builders and tandem specialists only to get trash. Substituted cheapazz spokes, bad lacing (blocked valve stmm) and one wheel failing after the first 40 miles. I don;'t get that lowend high priced quality carp when I build them myself!. That's makes building your own worth that much more!

Mr. Beanz

BTW, with the rigth friends, you can pick up hubs for free. I've had ridrs offer me wheels cause the rim was damaged (Ultegra hubs). Plus I myself have given hubs and wheels to friends in need.

AEO

best of both worlds... buy the prebuilt, and then do the destressing and tensioning yourself...

prathmann

Agreed.

Recently I've had the front rim wear out on two of my bikes. (It's always the front since that gets the most brake usage - my rear rims last for over 100 kmiles.) Got a spare rim that a friend had lying around for one of the bikes and bought a rim for $25 from the LBS for the other. In both cases the ERDs were a close enough match to reuse the spokes. So for $25 and a little time I got both bikes back on the road for another 50 kmiles or so.

operator

Assuming your labor costs nothing. Detensioning the wheel, transferring spokes over to a new rim is more time consuming than a straight up lace and factoring in that cost, is probably *not* cheaper than a prebuilt new wheel. Don't kid yourself here.

chico1st

but he said he only spent 25$... thats cheaper than a new wheel.

prathmann

I already said "and a little time" so I don't think I was kidding anyone here. But how much should I ascribe as the labor cost when I spend a couple hours rebuilding the wheels while also watching some TV shows that I would otherwise have watched anyway?

operator

Shop rate is $65 CAD an hour

operator

Thanks for reading 0% of my post.

chico1st

but you started off your post by
therefore its cheaper right?
and by using that assumption your post makes no sense to me :S

Hydrated

I don't charge me $65 an hour. Sheesh.

AEO

I charge myself a glass of wine whenever I work on my wheels.

you're totally missing out by working free for yourself.

strop

Unless you really want to learn how to build wheels then consider using that time to troll a bit on Craigslist and you can often do considerably better. I use Mavic Elites on both my bikes and they're $650 in the LBS but I picked up a set of 2 year old used silver set for $200 (sans skewers) and then more recently picked up a new 2009 black set with skewers and tires/tubes for $300. If you're going to try and build a comparable set of wheels I would seriously doubt you can even get the parts for that let alone start to factor in labor costs.

I do build my own bikes mind you but it's not only to save money, I think you can maintain a bike better yourself (assuming you aren't a pro and have a ten man team following you everywhere). I couldn't imagine having to take it to my LBS for adjustments to brakes/shifters/derailleurs etc. but for some stuff I don't have tools for (BB, headset) they do a good job.

Chombi

For a C&Ver like me, I have no option but to build my own wheels, if I'm to get the correct combination of hubs spokes and rims that I need for my classic bikes. Not too many NOS or good condition used classic wheelsets left out there, and if you find a good set, they usually cost a lot of money.

Chombi
84 Peugeot PSV
85 Vitus Plus Carbone 7