Originally Posted by
rekmeyata
I found it worth my time and the cost of buying the tools just to have someone else do it (typical labor to build a wheel set is about $50 at most LBS's, Peter White charges about $40 per wheel); then you need a wheel truing stand that cost about $200 depending on brand, a tensioning tool for about $60, a dishing tool about $40, a nipple driver about $25, a spoke wrench which you should have anyways for about $4, a plastic mallet is helpful for about $7; and that doesn't include tools to overhaul your hub if needed; so your going to spend roughly $350 in tools,
Hardly. A brand new Spin Doctor or Minoura truing stand can be had for $70-$80. For traditional wheels the Jobst Brandt tensioning method achieves the same uniform high tension as a tension meter (I checked the last rear wheel I built and found 110kgf and better than +/- 5% on the drive side). You can just flip the wheel to check centering. I'm a tool geek and never bothered to buy a nipple driver since a screw driver with a piece of tape to count rotations works great. That's about $70-$80 in tools.
Where a shop won't re-use spokes because you might blame them for failures due to spokes fatigued from a bad previous build, you can which saves $24.
So you save $74 in parts and labor for the first rim replacement, which is the same you spent on tools.
My time is a worth a lot more than a bike shop would charge me, but it's enjoyable, guarantees my wheels will be built correctly, and if I really needed a wheel replaced by tomorrow I could.