Originally Posted by Tunnelrat81

I would beg to differ here. I think lots of people here will confirm this. Wheelbuilding is a developed skill in itself, and one that doesn't just happen automatically for your average, or even experienced, mechanic. I'll agree that it's not voodoo science, and that almost anyone can do it with practice and LOTS of patience. HOWEVER...I think the monetary value of time for LBS's tend to constrain the quality of the wheels going out the door from the average mechanic's work station. I absolutely believe that I can build, given enough time, a wheel every bit as high quality as someone like Psimet or wheelbuilder.com etc.. The important point is the time taken to reach that level of quality. When I'm building myself, I'm in no rush. I can take a week or two to work at reaching the perfect balance. The final product is strong and reliable, but it took me forever to complete. Most LBS's charge around $20-30 or so for a wheel rebuild, which doesn't leave a whole lot of time for fine tuning. They have to get the tension 'high enough,' the wheel visually 'true' and 'reasonably balanced' tension during the relatively short period of time allowed for the wheelset to be profitable to the shop.

The true value of the pro wheelbuilder is that he has developed his proficiency to the point that he can reach the very high build standards in a money-making period of time. That combination escapes both the lowly home wheel builder (like myself) and in many cases the shop mechanic. Make no mistake about it. Hand built wheels can easily be as poorly built as (or worse than) machine built wheels, which is why the value of 'custom' is dependent on the skill of the builder in addition to the choice of components. Your average mechanic who despite having built a number of wheels, only does a set every month or so, is allowed ~1 hour to build each set, and doesn't have the time to stress relieve/remove spoke twist/strike the balance of tension vs. true etc. isn't going to produce nearly as reliable a wheel as a legitimate pro builder who has built a large part of his business around it. The pro builder won't take any more time than the mechanic, but difference in quality exists. When it's your business, your reputation is on the line with every set, and compromises = a huge liability.

Just my $.02

Hope I haven't offended anyone by saying this. It's not uncommon (in my area) for folks to wait weeks or months for the local wheelbuilder to "get around" to building their wheels. It's frustrating, but it's not like they didn't have the choice to buy off the shelf. This is (yet another) example of when it truly does pay to have patience, as the many reviews of Psimet wheels around here will attest to. Oh, and even the really great wheel builders aren't making their first million building wheels, chances are good that they do it because they love it, and they make just enough to justify continuing.

-Jeremy