Originally Posted by dutret
There is simply no way to beat the price of the hand built budget wheelsets like that formula/cxp22 that is always posted.
You can do nicer say with open pros instead of cxp22s and with butted spokes(formulas are the best hubs you're going to find anywhere near the price range) but it's going to cost substantially more even with deals and ebay.
My fixed wheelset begs to differ.
Open Pros: $30 ea (performance clearance)
Rear Miche Hub, cog/carier $35 (ebay)
Front Suzue Promax $25 (Airbomb I think)
Spokes Wheelsmith 14/15 DB ($30 ebay)
even with shipping it was "close", and the quality was a lot better.
I'm also building a road wheelset even cheaper:
Mavic Open Sport: $20ea (Nashbar)
Front 105 hub less than $13 shipped (ebay)
Rear 105 9 speed cassette hub $41 shipped (ebay)
Still need spokes
Again it will come in close to prebuilt budget wheelsets, but better quality, and I get the pleasure of building it. It takes a while to assemble all the parts from bargains, so if you're in a hurry, but a pre-built wheelset, but if you like the process, you CAN build a better wheelset for close to the same money as a budget set.
Also with my daughters wheelset I'm, embarrassed to admit I paid list price for the pink Deep V rims, and bought straight gauge spokes for $32 at my LBS. I used a new 105 front hub again around $10 on ebay, and a lightly used rear 9 speed Deore XT hub $15 from a local shop, so it STILL came in less than any other geared deep V wheelset I could find with nice hubs to boot. I didn't bargain shop on the rims or the spokes and it still came in at about $175.