I wasn't sure where to put this, but I know a lot of commuters consider internal hubs, so may be someone here can chime in on whether this is a good deal or not.

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a custom built wheel for my commuter and wanted to see if you guys had any thoughts...

The wheel would be coming from Alfred E. Bikes - I've ordered from them before, so feel good dealing with them.

Rim: Salsa Delgado Cross 700c36h Black $39.60
Hub: Shimano Nexus Inter-8 Premium Hub SG-8R36 36h $182.99
Rim Strip: $4.99
Wheel building (from A. E. Bikes): $63.00 - includes DT Swiss Competition double butted black spokes.
Total: $301.33.

Thing is, I was going to build it myself, except I don't have a tensiometer ($54 for the cheapest Park Tool I could find) and 72 spokes are about $57. So for $63, they build the wheel right, tension it, and make sure they use the correct length spokes. On the downside I don't get the left over 36 spokes or the cool new tool.

Alfred E. Bikes is also the cheapest I could find for the Nexus SG-8R36.

Any thoughts?

I'm all for supporting the bike shop, and regard AEBike as a good one (I've ordered from them before as well) but still, I say build your own wheel. It's fun. It's easy. It's... well, I don't know, I just like to build all my own wheels.

I did find that hub a bit cheaper; on a purchase of that magnitude I will use Google Shopping to find the lowest price / shipping, always bearing in mind that if I can get everything from one shop, the reduced shipping will often make up the difference in price.

You don't really need the tensiometer. I built dozens of wheels before I got mine. I did eventually get one, however, because I'd built a wheel that ate spokes like potato chips.

At any rate, regardless how who and how much, go for it! You're going to love the hub, just be sure to gear it low enough, like a 38T / 19T combination should be pretty good.

That's not a bad price, custom wheels aren't cheap. We should lobby Bicyclewheelwarehouse.com to add an Alfine/Nexus option to their hybrid wheelset.

I just drove down to Harris Cyclery for mine. This was before I learned to build wheels. Knowing what I know now... I'd probably still just buy a pre-built wheel. Not that building wheels is all that hard, but time consuming for sure if you don't do it regularly. Also, if I were going that route, I'd probably buy components from someone who had already spec'd it out. AEBike sells hand-built Nexus wheels that they build in-house? Email them and ask how much for a package deal--hub, spokes, rim, rim tape, etc.--but no build. Otherwise, you'll need to order rim and hub first, then measure for spokes--two orders, two different shipping costs associated with the wheel.

Where did you find it cheaper? I don't see it cheaper anywhere, at least not the latest model (R36).

Mine may well be the older model. I got it a year ago. I don't remember the name of the store, but I found them by googling just the model number-- in your case that would be SG-8R36. That brings up quite a few results. The lowest price, ebikestop, sounds familiar, that's probably where I got mine. But that's not even a dollar cheaper than aebike, hardly worth it. I vote for aebike.

Especially since ebikestop is charging shipping. Shipping free at aebike.

Also, here's some more tips for finding cheap stuffs in addition to google shopping:
www.qbike.com (bike specific price search)
www.spadout.com (sporting goods price search)
www.retailmenot.com (for coupons)
www.niagaracycle.com (doesn't show up in many searches, but generally has cheap prices and uninflated shipping)
www.universalcycles.com (instant price match)