Originally Posted by mycoatl
I guess I'm curious about the overall quality of their builds. For example, I've heard that folks buying the typical Performance/Nashbar Open Pro on Utlegra hubs deal usually have to true their wheels because they're machine built.
The QWH wheels I'm considering are 36h Mavic A791 laced to XT hubs w/ DT db spokes, which I'll use for daily commuting and loaded touring. I can get these wheels from a QWH retailer shipped to my door for $250. This seems like an incredible deal and about what it would cost just to buy the rims, hubs and spokes for a home build. Or, I can have them handbuilt by my local builder for about $400 (lifetime guarantee and free truings/spoke replacement).
I guess what I'm looking for is a recommendation on whether I'll be wishing I had spent the extra $150 down the road, or if I can expect the QWH wheels to perform well. In general I'd much rather support the local shop, but this is a big enough $ spread that I'll go with the QWH wheels if it will actually save money over time and not require having the wheels relaced, etc. later. Thanks.
QBP has differnt build qualities. They assemble a bunch of standard wheels that they machine build and hand finish. If the wheel you are looking for isn't available they also will build a custom wheel. The custom wheels are handbuilt. I'm not sure if the wheelset you are looking at is a custom or standard model. Even if it is a standard model you can always have someone "tension balance" it and the end result would be the same and probably still cheaper than $400. It shouldn't cost much more than $30 a wheel for a good tension balancing, that's about 30-45minutes of work per wheel. I'm not even sure QBP takes the time to tension balance their custom wheels. If they do, they should send a document of the final results which is something I've never seen them do. I good wheelbuilder should be able to give you documentation of the final spoke tensions that you can verify for yourself so that you know that you got what you paid for. This type of documentation can also be helpful in a warranty situation.