I just finished building up a set of lightweight road wheels, 20Fradial and 24R2x. Trueness is near perfect, tension is even and up to the rim vendor's recommended top tension of 110 front and 120 rear drive side, dish is good. All is about as perfect as it's gonna get.

My plan is to sell this set locally on Craigslist since I surely do not need another set of wheels--I just built these for fun.

My understanding is that the best thing to do now is put the new wheels on my bike and run'em hard over 10 miles of bad road to destress them and then give them a final truing. At that point I can be fully confident that they will not go out of true.

The dilemma is that if I do this road test, this might put some customers off since the wheels will no longer be brand new. I can certainly clean off any dust/grime but there may be scratches on the freehub from the cassette, etc.

On the other hand, I would think that a knowledgeable buyer would appreciate that I have done this road test and final truing. This is a 1500g wheelset with double-butted spokes. All parts sourced from bikehubstore. I plan to ask $400 for the set.

If I do this road test, I will tell the customer about it, for better or worse.

Sooooo, what do you recommend?

"My understanding is that the best thing to do now is put the new wheels on my bike and run'em hard over 10 miles of bad road to destress them and then give them a final truing. At that point I can be fully confident that they will not go out of true."

Where did you find this information?
I wouldn't buy those after somebody used them.
I would go to Performance Bike and for the same $ buy brand new, instead of somebody purposely beating on my wheels.

While most wheel manufactures stress test wheels, I don't think they'd do it simulating bad road. More of just a short time with a bit of weight I would think.

Maybe offer a free truing service if they need it...

Bad road you could risk destroying the new wheels that you plan to sell which doesn't make sense.

I destress as taught, by putting the axle end-down on a block of wood and leaning on the rim evenly on both sides with my hands. 1/8th turn, repeat, total of 4x. Then true, destress, true, destress... until no more pinging when destressing and wheel remains true.

On new bikes for the shop floor, I will do a short, parking lot ride to check build/adjustments and destress wheels.

I would talk to your Insurance Carrier, to make sure there is sufficient Liability Coverage , if you are starting to sell hand built wheels.

Yep. That's how I was taught and it seems to work very well.

I used to twist the rim to the side
as matt gaunt and mconlonx do
but now I either
put an old crank between the spokes
and twist
as per Sheldon browns recommendation
or
put on a pair of gloves
and squeeze the bejeebers out of adjacent parallel pairs of spokes
and work my way around the wheel

I do the grab-and-squeeze when I build or retrue mine, and they are stable for a long time afterward. They hardly ever ping, too, because I generally overshoot and back off when tightening spokes. In theory, anything that you'd do by test-riding the wheels should be achievable on the stand.

Thanks, guys . . . I have already done everything mentioned above except the old crank arm twisted between the spokes (first time I've heard that--I like it!). Since I am pretty light and the wheel tension is pretty high, leaning on the wheel seemed to have zero effect. Probably since I also back off a little after every turn and also squeez'em hard every so often. I also put a Sharpie dot on the side of each spoke and I know there is no twisting. I guess I'll leave well enough alone . . . Thanks for helping me avoid a mistake!

First, find a $400.00 buyer for your wheels. Ask them what they'd prefer you do.

+1 This isn't a trivial point. If you are selling a product there is an implied fitness for use in the sale and a customer injured by a wheel failure could sue you, even if it's their fault. The defense could be very costly.

I use the "axle on the floor, press down on the rim every 45 degrees, then flip and repeat" method to distress (please note the correct spelling, FWIW) my wheels at the end of the build process, as well as squeezing paired spokes as I build up tension. Haven't had to do any post-ride touch ups in awhile. Be sure to bend the outward spokes down toward the hub flanges at the beginning when the spokes are still loose.

i think you might be mistaken

we don't want to cause any distress to the wheels
we want to stress relieve them
or less commonly
de-stress them

How about having the buyer sign a release of some kind? This is a one-off deal on Craigslist, not an ongoing commercial venture.

This is an interesting point and one reason I won't apply my amateur mechanic skills to any friend/coworker's bikes even though I've been asked by people if I could. I understand there is a liability of working on someone's bike and having work/repairs you did fail.

But when it comes to selling wheels or anything else, is the liability just because OP hand built the wheels? For example what if I'm selling used set of wheels that I didn't build or I sell a used frame or fork and then that fails and causes injury?

Personal injury lawyers take on clients with only the prospect of getting a 30% cut of the settlement. no money down.

You are quite correct, Wilfred! Stress relieve (as commonly used) or de-stress is what is happening.

Great question! Who's got an answer?

If you sell a used wheelset, there is the perception that you have at least used it, thus the buyer buys at their own risk for the most part. If you sell a newly self-built wheel, then there is some liability exposure re the fact that you built it, and also that you put it out there that it is suitable for use in the manner it is meant to. If a disaster were to occur, and provided you have substantial assets, then a competent attorney, with the help of forensic engineers can always find fault with your wheel-building job, especially as it was a first-time build. I am not a lawyer, but my first job out of college was as a trainee for the biggest all lines insurance company in the USA, and they had seminars almost every Friday on all kinds of liability exposures.

A release of any kind is not gonna help!

Sooooo, maybe my initial idea wasn't so bad . . . I'll give'm a road test and then sell them as "used--sold as is" for $390. I think the desire to try them out was always lurking in the back of my mind . . .

When you do a competent job wheels require no adjustment ever unless you bend the rims. Set the spoke heads, correct spoke lines, deal with windup, release it in case you missed a spot and nothing happens when you ride them for the first time through the four thousandth and beyond.

It depends on how you are at wheel building.

You're still on the hook for lawyers' bills when some one sues you, although your opponent may have an arrangement where they only pay when you loose.

Sure enough, nothing happened!

Look for the deepest pocket. If you're selling wheels built by Shimano, or Mavic, or Zipp, or . . . an attorney is going to be looking at them first. If you built them . . . well, I hope you have a good insurance policy.