Originally Posted by
m7ickey
Hi,
After a TON of searching, reading and research on new wheels for my Hybrid, it seems my best option is to order a set of custom wheels. I did an online build based on my needs and research and the price wasn't outrageous (although over my budget by a bit). My question is does anyone have any experience with prowheelbuilders.com? Their reviews are good. They are located in Georgia. I did comparable builds on a few other websites and they seem to have the most options and best pricing. By the way, my budget is roughly $400. (I'm not building a race bike, I use mine for commuting and some leisure rides, mostly on pavement but roads are rough in my town). My goal is to have an upgrade over the stock wheels for fair weather riding and I'm going to use the stock wheels for winter riding and mount some winter tires on them (I live in upstate NY). For reference, I own the Giant Escape City, 2016 model and am new to riding this year. I weigh 160 and am 50 years old. Also, I'm using 32c tires and the stock rims are 622-19. So, I'm looking for rims with a 17-19mm inner diameter so I can mount tires in the 28c-35c range.
In sum, can anyone recommend or not recommend prowheelbuilders.com? (I have a LBS but wouldn't trust them to build wheels)
Can anyone recommend another builder that fits my budget? (Either online or one in the upstate NY area, I'm 2 hours from Rochester, 90 minutes from Syracuse and 3.5 hours from Buffalo)
Can anyone recommend a stock set of wheels to fit my needs and budget? (I searched forever and found a couple options around $300 and even one at $200).
Lastly, I'll reply to this with my build specs in a few to get your thoughts on what I built and if its worth the cost and if you would recommend anything different keeping in mind my bike cost $600 so I'm really trying to stay at $400 or less.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Mickey
( Other than Me, & my DIY wheel building )
Bargain shopping?
Distributors who supply Bike shops have the same automated machines that the Giant bike factory uses to make up your original wheels..
And because they are a bit further up the supply chain, they can supply a set of wheels built with component parts at their wholesale prices.
maybe not as low cost as the bike factory buying by the millions cost, but better than the retail cost you get at smaller wheelbuilders.
You have a Hybrid, not a Pro Race bike ,
ask your Giant Brand Bike Dealer to get a' just like I have' , From Their Wholesale distributors...
they hand them to you shipping included , even touch up true check them after they get them
and again after you ride on them a couple months.
...