View Single Post
Old 07-30-09 | 12:18 AM
  #7  
carleton's Avatar
carleton
Elitist
 
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 15,966
Likes: 94
From: Atlanta, GA
Originally Posted by JTLB44
So I'm looking for a wheelset. I'm looking to put on 27" rims with 36h spokes and a flip flop 17/15t cog.
1. What are the pros and cons of assembling your own wheels? It's hard to find 27" wheels so I'm leaning towards building them myself, but...
2. What did you do?
This is a classic build vs buy question.

Let's see. You don't have parts, training, or proper tools. And you are gonna build one set every year or two.

Not really worth the investment in time and tools for such a limited gain (one wheelset). Unless you count the smugness of knowing how to do so (which is obvious in this thread). You won't break even with the value of your time learning and the money spent on tools till you build at least a handful of wheelsets because one must remember that off-the-rack wheels are actually CHEAPER using the exact same parts due to economies of scale. We all know that buying parts for a bike al-la-carte is expensive. Buying components for a wheelset work the same way.

For me it's not worth it. I say either buy off-the-rack or pay someone to build them for you. Yes, I'm sure someone will say, "But you can always build several more for yourself or other people and make money..." but is that actually going to happen? Seriously?

Last edited by carleton; 07-30-09 at 12:21 AM.
carleton is offline  
Reply