Originally Posted by
rydabent
Most cyclist feel that having wheels built by a master wheel builder is the zenith of bike wheels. Well maybe they are, but most of us do not have a set of them.
OTOH both my bike and trike im sure has computer built wheels. My bike is 12 years old and my trike is 9 years old, and the 5 wheels on both of them are perfectly true yet. I have never had to put a spoke wrench on any of them.
What has been your experience?
You have a bicycle? I am shocked!! Based on your posting, I would have never guessed.
My experiences are...
- single wall rim machine built wheels are trash. The ones I have come across through refurbishing bikes have consistently been unimpressive. They were all machine built based on a cost avoidance strategy. Many are out of true both radially and laterally. Lateral trying is easy enough so thats usually what gets fixed.
- modern double wall rim machine built wheels can be good and can be terrible. It all depends on the rider and how much time went into tensioning and trying the wheels during the build. This is, as mentioned, the number of cycles a wheel goes through.
Some have been great for years. Some are absurdly high tensioned and true. Some are low tensioned and true.
- handbuilt wheels have been great. simple as that.