We are going to be moving to Australia in a few months and will be going car free.

My wife has a nice custom Jamis Aurora Elite (105 components, dynamo hub, etc.)

We are going to be upgrading a Civia Hyland frame for my commuter and building an Xtracycle Edgerunner to ship over.

This requires two reliable wheelsets.

Here in Tucson, AZ I got quotes for the following wheelset builds :

Edgerunner wheelset

Rear wheel:

Sun RhynoLite XL BMX 20" rim 36H in Black
Shimano XT 36H centerlock rear hub in Black
DT Swiss 2.0 Champion Black spokes and black brass nipples

Front wheel:

DT Swiss FR 600 26" 36h rim in Black
Shimano Alfine DHS501 36H hub in Black
DT Swiss 2.0 Champion Black spokes and black brass nipples


Hyland Commuter Wheelset

Front wheel:

DT Swiss TK 540 36h rim in Black
Shimano Alfine DHS501 36H hub in Black
DT Swiss 2.0/1.8/2.0 butted Competition Black spokes and black brass nipples

Rear wheel:

DT Swiss TK 540 36h rim in Black
Shimano XT 36H centerlock rear hub in Black
DT Swiss 2.0/1.8/2.0 Competition Black spokes and black brass nipples

If I price everything out online I get the following costs

• Edgerunner Wheelset - $400 including shipping costs
• Hyland Wheelset - $460, including shipping costs

and the quotes from the LBS (NOT including taxes) are

• Edgerunner Wheelset - $555
• Hyland Wheelset - $585

Are these reasonable prices for a reputable wheelset?

Edit : Prices from Universal Cycles Site

I got the prices from the Universal Cycles Site (no shipping)

• Edgerunner Wheelset - $480
• Hyland Wheelset - $545

If you want an easy second opinion you could use Universal Cycles wheel builder app to get a quote. Universal Cycles -- Custom Wheelset Builder

how do people get the idea that cyclists are pinchpenny's?

Are these spare wheels?
Why not source them in Australia, and skip the second shipping.

The wheelbuild prices appear to be within reason for 4 wheels. Are you sourcing all the parts, or your wheel builder? A good bike shop will likely pay less for the parts than you unless you are heavily scrounging on E-Bay.

Well, I do some contracting so know how much fully burdened costs can be.

Since the LBS likely gets better than retail component prices, and I've heard that a single wheel should take an experienced builder about 1 hour to build, this results in an hourly charge rate of at least $70. Honestly, this seems fine to me.

I suppose I just want to make sure that this is in range for a reputable shop/wheel build, I have no idea what the typical rate is.

FYI, a different shop wanted nearly $1000 for the second wheelset, and I did think that was too high.

Note that I don't want to go too low either, I want my wheels to last! However, I don't want to be taken advantage of, and I think $1000 for a build with $460 (retail) of components was a bit high...

BTW, i build mine for about 250USD a set, and would pay (at the point of a knife ) an LBS to build them for about 100 more, but i've seen some perfectly suitable wheelsets that would last just as long, at about a 200-300 gram penalty, for 150, built.

something like this: https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...0052_566766_-1

Can you build your own wheels? A stand, tensionmeter and nipple wrench should be less than the difference between your costs and the shop costs and you'll then be set up to true/fix your own wheels.

While searching and googling I never came across this site, a big THANKS! Awesome site (even though I'll probably go with an LBS).

I'm an engineer, so probably could, but with the Australia move, finishing graduate school, and kids, I just don't have the time.

The difference between shop build cost and just the parts is right at what a decent wheel stand, nipple wrench, and tension meter cost, and I'll have to resell those tools before I move to Australia, taking them over there isn't worth the time cost, and we won't have a lot of storage space when we arrive (no bike shops allowed in the living room...).

They are not spare wheels, I can build an Xtracycle EdgeRunner (and my commuter) with better parts and for a bit less than the standard full package options available to buy. I also have bike parts laying around already, like new Road BB7s for example. Also, you cannot even get the EdgeRunner in Australia...

We have to ship much of our stuff in a container anyway, so this won't be that much extra. Australian prices are very, very high compared with the US, so it is better to buy and build the bikes here prior to shipping in a container with the other stuff...

A spoke wrench is easier to ship than a fully built wheel.
You don't need a tension meter.
And a truing stand can be quite simple (even truing on a bike).

Spending $1000 on a set of "spare" wheels is ambitious.

I realize that being "car free" means you need a robust plan to commute. However, for that same $1000, you could buy 10 used MTBs.

Learning to fix your own problems can be worth 10x paying someone to repair them for you. My nearest LBS is about 10 miles away.

I do like to have some "spares" on hand, but I am always on the prowl for below market value parts. I typically pay less than $5 for a 26" wheel.

The one wheel that is hard to replace might be a quality 20" wheel, so that might be worth spending some cash to get right.

If this car-free thing is new, you may also expect to make some radical changes over the next year or so. I have a home-built cargo bike which I use at times, but I also like pulling kid's trailers, usually using a skinny tire "road" bike. You have kids? Tandem? Afterburner? lots of things might come up.

I ordered a hybrid 36 hole rear wheel build that cost a little over a hundred (including shipping)... the lbs quoted me over 300.00... I did this due to spoke breakage and haven't had a problem since... you might google for "the bikesmiths". they are located in Milwaukee.

Ok.

I had misread the 2 new sets as spares.

I realize that costs do add up.

Some of the Australian prices I've seen aren't too bad, but shipping between the USA and Australia always seems to be a hassle (either direction).

Velocity does make rims both in the USA and Australia, and the rims seem to get shipped back and forth to some extent.

As an engineer, yes you do need a tension meter, otherwise you will be far more likely to have spoke or rim failure.

You have a point about shipping the parts, the problem is we need transportation pretty quickly after we move, my wife won't be happy if I'm trying to build wheels right when we arrive (something I haven't ever done)...

They aren't spare, they are the wheels for the commuter bikes and the Edgerunner (a cargo bike). We will have 1 commuter bike for my wife (already built), 1 commuter bike for myself, and 1 cargo bike for hauling the kids and groceries, etc.

I've built a lot of bikes and done a lot of commuting over the years (haven't built my own wheels but done pretty much everything else), and much of the time you get what you pay for.

If I had a lot of free time I might be willing to put more work into maintenance on cheaper parts, but I don't have that time at the moment, and definitely won't have it after the move...

For example, on my current commuter (which I'm going to sell), I have a set of inexpensive machine built 26" wheels, and have had to constantly (every couple of months) replace broken spokes and retrue the wheels...