alfine 8 wheelsets or lbs build?
 

Hello all,

I'm planning on building up a cross check with an alfine 8 igh. I'm wondering if anyone knows the best / cheapest way to buy the wheels. Am I best going into my local bike shop and having them build up the wheels for me, or am I best buying a full wheelset off the internet? If it's the latter, would this on eBay be a good deal http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...d=231103011863 ? It has a dynamo on the front as well, which is something I'd like.

Many thanks! Jack

Bad link to women's clothes

My bad, should be working now

A lot better deal than you would get around here - just have it checked for true and tension, and relieved, before you mount them. You would pay more than that for the rear here!

Are they disc capable? Ahhhh, I now see that they are disc compatible.

The e-bay listing says nothing about the rim make or spoke type. Also, those are disc capable hubs so be sure the rims will work with caliper brakes if that's what you have. I'd want more info from the e-bay seller before buying them.

If your LBs has a competent wheel builder (many don't) I'd find out what they would charge for the same build or if they have a good source for prebuilt wheels.

Listing indicates Mavic A319 rims and 2.00mm stainless spokes.

Thanks, I didn't scroll down far enough to see the details. The only questionable item are the spokes as I don't recognize the maker. Anyone know who they are?

Are you going to to the install or have a shop do it? If having a shop do it, have them price things out for wheel build and them sourcing parts + install vs. you providing parts + their install labor. Buying online will certainly be cheaper if you are doing the work yourself; if you are having a shop do the work, it might come out very close or close enough to go with the shop pricing.

Into what kind of bike are you installing these wheels? Vertical dropout -- "Safety eyes 8L / 8R (green / blue)" -- yes?

Will you be buying lights, too?

Once you get everything tallied up, you may find the shop as cheap or certainly competitive, vs buying online and having a shop do the install. Figure shipping into the cost of anything you are ordering, your familiarity with bike mechanics, and the decision should be more clear.

Specs say rims are CNC machined, so assumption is they are rim brake compatible, also..

Yes, I'm pretty sure those rims are compatible with canti brakes.

Mconclonx - I am planning to do the work myself. I'm somewhat of an amateur, but I've stripped and rebuilt a couple of bikes in my time, so feel fairly confident that I'll not have much issue building this.

The frame I'm going to build up is a surly cross check and has horizontal drop outs so should fit fine.

I agree that if I was to offer the whole build to my lbs I might stand to save money, but I'll be buying parts as and when they come available to me (i.e. When I find more money / stuff on eBay), so I'm almost certainly best off building it myself.

My main point was weather the wheels alone were best built by a local wheelbuilder, or ordered complete, as per the ones in the link.

Thanks again, Jack.

The only questionable item are the spokes as I don't recognize the maker. Anyone know who they are?

"Nirosta" is not a brand of spokes, it is a German acronym for NIchtROstender STAhl, meaning "non-rusting steel"; a product of ThyssenKrupp AG, it is the material of which the crown of the Chrysler Building is constructed. One might infer that it is of reasonably good quality.

Yeah, I know what the acronym means and I assume it's 304 SS like nearly every other good maker uses. But l still don't know who actually made the spokes. The metal itself is undoubtedly good but fabrication also counts.

In that case, I'd order online. Unless there's something about the built wheels you don't like which would be addressed in a custom build by a local shop -- DB spokes, rim upgrade, anodized nipples...

"Best built" depends on who built them or at least did QC for the wheels online, vs experience and skill of whoever would build them for you at a local shop.

You state that your frame has horizontal dropouts. The antirotation washers ("safety eyes" in the listing) are 8L and 8R which are for vertical dropouts. Per this document http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/te...9830638091.pdf
you will need either 5L/5R or 7L/7R. You will need to add these to your shopping list.

Having stared out the window of my office at the Chrysler building, I'd say yes as well. Did you know that at around the 40th floor there is a circle of cars made from that stainless as well? You can't really see it from the street. And here's another thing, tourists are pretty clueless. I'd be standing in front of my building across the street and they'd come up and ask "Do you know where the Chrysler building is?" I'd just look up at the top and say nothing.

As for those spokes, they're probably fine. We get Wheelsmith here and I bet nobody across the pond knows them.