Originally Posted by
unterhausen
I bought some wheels second hand that were built by a bike mechanic. All I gotta say is that is not a good recommendation. First broken spoke, ever. They were true, but the tension was too low. Couldn't adjust them either since the aluminum nipples were stuck. I have seen decent machine-built (I think) wheels. I have also seen really horrible ones.
So you bought second hand wheels, that may or may not have been properly maintained.
I hand build most of my own wheels. I have had some machine built wheels that were crap right out of the box. But I am anal about my wheels, if I buy new ones from an unknown source I will detension them, and bring them back up by hand and destress them as I go.
I have a feeling that the lower to middle end machines will bring a wheel up to an even stress, but metal being what it is, no two spokes will necessarily be exactly the same, hence the reason for stress relieving and the necessary hand finishing.
Aaron
