Originally Posted by
Pop N Wood
Road a Wheelmaster wheel for well over 30 years and never turned a spoke more than 1/4 turn in all that time. Magic MA40 rim with 36 ST Swiss straightgage spokes. This is with a 220 pound rider. Only reason I replaced it was it ate a broken chain.
A properly built wheel shouldn’t require a quarter turn at any point in it’s life. A quarter turn of a spoke nipple is a major adjustment. The problem with most machine built wheels is that they aren’t sufficiently tensioned and have a history of breaking spokes, especially for heavy riders.
Always amazed when people state categorically to always buy a hand built wheel. Not sure how much of that is factual, how much is posturing and how much is someone wanting a union card punched
Huh? I’ve never seen anyone categorically state to “always buy a hand built wheel”. They nice to have but most people don’t.
And, news flash, there is no bicycle wheel builders union. Custom wheel builders are usually individuals that build wheels through a shop or as a side job or because they just like to build wheels. I guarantee that no one is getting rich off of building wheels. The cost of parts at wholesale is expensive and, when labor and markup are included, the cost of a wheel set quickly becomes prohibitively expensive. The bike and bike wheel manufacturers buy thousands of units and get a huge price break on the parts. Some guy building 10 wheels a year on spec can’t get the same break. Add in overhead...shop rental, insurance, utilities...and the little guy isn’t going to make much on an expensive wheel set. They are almost doing you a favor.
I build my own wheels...I don’t build for others due to liability...and I also teach people how to build wheels through my local co-op. The very first thing I tell my students is
...Let me start by saying that if you are planning on building a wheel to beat the price the “Man” charges for a new wheel, stop right there. Just as with building up a bicycle, don’t do it to save money. You won’t. Machine built wheels are available at less cost than any hand built wheel. If you just need a wheel at a reasonable price, talk to a bike shop. They can find you really good wheels for very reasonable prices.
But I also tell them
Now that I’ve turned you off to the whole idea of building wheels, I’ll address some of the reasons that you should build a wheel.There are certain wheel combinations that you just won’t find in a prebuilt wheel. Seldom are you going to find butted spokes or boutique hubs. Perhaps you want wider rims or even narrower rims. Perhaps you want some combination of wheel components that will be lighter and stronger than what you can get in a prebuilt wheel. You might tour and want stronger wheels so that you don’t have to replace broken spokes. Maybe you like the idea of riding on something that you built. The list is endless.
Just don’t go building wheels to “stick it to the Man”. The House always wins.
Bottom line: if you want a wheel that is made with a Shimano hub, 2.0mm spokes and whatever rim is suitable, buy a machine built wheel. You can’t really go all that wrong...the issue with broke spokes notwithstanding. If you have special needs (see above), go custom or build your own.
But never assume anyone is getting rich off of bicycles.