Originally Posted by
Doohickie
If you buy the parts through a shop, they may prep the spokes for you. (Mine did, anyway.) Is this your first wheel build? My LBS advised against using double butted spokes on a first build, said they can be tricky to work with because they are twistier than straight gage.
And even if you can get the parts significantly cheaper online, building a wheel for the first time (assuming this is your first) is a good time to pay more and go through the LBS. They gave me a fair amount of advice that came in handy during the build and gave it a good looking over before I put it on the bike, giving me some suggestions that helped finish out the wheel. I did virtually all the work myself, but it's a better wheel due to their advice.
Fortunately, I write for the local bike shop owner (all three LBSs) here. So while I am going to buy parts probably directly from the manufacturer if I can, I intend to go to his top mechanic and have him work the prep on the spokes for me. My "part" will be on the truing wheel when we get that far. I spent last summer doing mechanic work for that shop manager. The one thing he taught me was the meticulous task of truing. Fortunately/Unfortunately, as a consequence, I'm probably one of the best at dialing in a wheel. My riding friends claim its the ADD and my ability to focus on 5 things at once.