So, not a wheelbuilder at all. But my beloved LBS does not seem to be able to pull off reliable work either. One wheel they replaced a rim on fell out of true real quick. And I've had the pair off my Antares to them several times with no luck. I usually get about 2 rides and maybe 50 or so miles before they are bad off again.

These wheels don't have many miles on them and the rims looked new when I got the bike. But they are old. Is is reasonable to assume they can still be fixed or should I have them relaced with new spokes and nipples? Would this solve the problem? Over the years I don't normally have wheel issues so now it's a hassle and yet with my LBS not able to be reliable I'm at a bit of a loss. Trying to find a local guy seems impossible googling and I don't ride with other guys here so hard for word of mouth recommedations.

Anyway, guess I'm just venting a bit this morning. Sucks having a couple of my favorite bikes down and not knowing who locally can repair the wheels. Sucks doubly though to keep paying my LBS if they can't do reliable work on them. I just want to ride!!!!!!!!

This may be a good time to learn the process yourself. The tools are inexpensive and once you know it's been done right (the LBS is always a craps shoot around here) you can verify that the components of the wheel are the issue, or the incompetence of your LBS.

Depending on how much work they required, I'd suspect the LBS isn't accounting for spoke wind up, but I am far from qualified to really say.

It took me a couple of hours to understand how to build a wheel. Then it took many hours to actually accomplish the task. It has taken me years and many many wheel set to understand that what I understood is not nearly enough to accomplish the task properly. Put another way...

Do a bit of research. Use any wheel you can find and can fool with. Take it apart and put it back together. I used the instruction for this on Sheldon Brown's website and it made immediate sense to me.

Summing up, you will thank yourself for learning how to maintain wheels. And, you get better with each build and/or repair effort.

Best 12 dollar bike related purchase ever--
Wheelbuilding book for building bicycle wheels
Down load it now and get started. It is not rocket science.

Truing a wheel is half art, half science, IMO, but I also think that anyone that puts their mind and effort into it can become fairly proficient at it. Is there anybody local to you that has classes? A quick search shows that you have a non-profit (co-op?) in SLC That might be a good way to go for you.

I'll echo....

Get a Park Tool spoke wrench and start your truing adventures. I have saved rims others would have tossed. Amazing, it really is art and science.

James, just remembered you live fairly close to me.

If you really want to take it to a shop, The Bike Shoppe are great guys.

I'd also be happy to lend a hand if I can.

I'm lucky, have 3 excellent bike shops nearby, and two of those will do curb-service wheel true for $12. On 5 bikes plus spare wheels, we average less than one wheel/yr needing true.

If you don't want to tackle the job yourself, start a thread in the Mechanics forum, "Seeking Pro Wheel Builder in XYZ City Area".

Sounds like a shop that is less than very good. I can drive 40 miles to have a guy do it as a matter of production; i.e. he simply processes the task and calls it a day. Not his wheel, not his problem. I can drive 50 the other way and pay $10 more per wheel, and a guy will do it as if it's his own, and then tell me all about it, like it means something to him and I.

I spend the money. I suck at it myself. I can true a bit to keep 'em right, because that's pretty much patience, but the Zen part escapes that part of my brain that still actually works.

I am another vote for doing your won work on the wheels, it is one of the most satisfying processes you can accomplish/learn to do. Other than that, listen to the advice about who is good and who is por in your area. maybe you could ask around in the rides and clubs, also. And don't rule out a local co-op, either.

Bill

I've had decent success building wheels. My teacher was "The Bicycle Wheel" by Jobst Brandt. Remember, just about any wheel will have to be retrued after 100-200 miles & probably will need retruing occasionally. Does your LBS have a tension gauge? How heavy are you?

Sounds a bit like my road to wheel-building. Sheldon's website is all I needed to start building basic 32/36-hole 3-cross wheels. In addition to the truing stand, I did drop the dough on a tensionometer and the ridiculously-expensive-for-what-it-is spoke prep. Can't complain though, my wheels continue to hold up well under my heavy weight and ultra high wattage

.
...a few observations from an olde guy:

1. Rims start out true, get built, eventually get banged or bumped a little or a lot. Once the rim itself has some built in stresses that make it want to go in a different direction, it's still possible to pull it back straight with unevenly tensioned spokes, but eventually such wheels will work their way back out of true.

2. A whole lot of what passes for wheel truing/wheel building these days pays scant attention to evening out the spoke tensions....because that takes more time. I see a whole lot of newer wheels that are both undertensioned and unevenly tensioned. The uneven ones often go high and low, every other spoke on one side, but it varies, probably with the machine settings on the machine built ones.

3. What #2 means, is that you can have a whole different set of possible spoke tensions in one spot on a wheel and still have that spot be in the same place. The more evenly the proper (relatively high) tensions are distributed (allowing, of course, for dish in the rear wheel), the more likely that spot will stay in the same place for the life of the wheel.

4. It turns out to be easier to understand if you do it for a while, rather than reading about it.

I have no earthly idea if the guys doing your wheel work understand or care about any of this.

...that's me in spades, man. Guads like redwood trees, spinning like a whirlwind.

True enough but the statement does tend to minimize the experience required to become proficient at wheel building. I have built lots of wheel sets, over the years, and I am still learning how to get better at it. As already said...

You can understand theory in an hour, or two, of researching the topic. You can then successfully build a wheel with a few hours of patience while assembling it. But...

I will take more understanding of how to tune the wheel, once assembled.

Tuning a wheel means removing hop and wobble. Tuning a wheel means centering it to the CL (center line) of the bicycle. Tuning means ensuring proper tension for the spokes used and for the rims chosen. And none of this can be taught in a book. Your hands learn this stuff and such learning is a product of experience. You have to build wheels, lots of them, to learn how to do it properly. I am still learning.