Hi,
After a TON of searching, reading and research on new wheels for my Hybrid, it seems my best option is to order a set of custom wheels. I did an online build based on my needs and research and the price wasn't outrageous (although over my budget by a bit). My question is does anyone have any experience with prowheelbuilders.com? Their reviews are good. They are located in Georgia. I did comparable builds on a few other websites and they seem to have the most options and best pricing. By the way, my budget is roughly $400. (I'm not building a race bike, I use mine for commuting and some leisure rides, mostly on pavement but roads are rough in my town). My goal is to have an upgrade over the stock wheels for fair weather riding and I'm going to use the stock wheels for winter riding and mount some winter tires on them (I live in upstate NY). For reference, I own the Giant Escape City, 2016 model and am new to riding this year. I weigh 160 and am 50 years old. Also, I'm using 32c tires and the stock rims are 622-19. So, I'm looking for rims with a 17-19mm inner diameter so I can mount tires in the 28c-35c range.

In sum, can anyone recommend or not recommend prowheelbuilders.com? (I have a LBS but wouldn't trust them to build wheels)

Can anyone recommend another builder that fits my budget? (Either online or one in the upstate NY area, I'm 2 hours from Rochester, 90 minutes from Syracuse and 3.5 hours from Buffalo)

Can anyone recommend a stock set of wheels to fit my needs and budget? (I searched forever and found a couple options around $300 and even one at $200).

Lastly, I'll reply to this with my build specs in a few to get your thoughts on what I built and if its worth the cost and if you would recommend anything different keeping in mind my bike cost $600 so I'm really trying to stay at $400 or less.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
Mickey

Do tell what you're looking for in terms of an upgrade; it’s hard to imagine that you can’t find prebuilt wheels to suit with a $400 budget.

Its hard for me to say, I'm a newbie. Its been hard finding wider rims 17-19mm internal. I don't hate what I have but I live where winter tires will be required so I figured I'd have 2 sets of wheels, one for snow and ice, one for clear roads and just swap them as the weather dictates, so since I need a new set of wheels to do this, I figured I might as well upgrade meaning less weight, better hubs. Its hard to know what an upgrade is since Giant doesn't give the specs on the wheels I have other than they are 19mm internal diameter.

Email your specs to mail@yellowjersey.org for a quote. They do great builds at very competitive prices. Be sure to say that you're open to alternatives because they may be able to save you money based on what parts they have in stock.

Okay, I was just asking if you had specific ideas in mind to justify a $400 or more spend, because based on your stated needs, that seems like a lot more than you’d need to spend to meet them.

It sound to me that a reliable, handsome set of hoops is all you need, for example this $180 set: Velocity Chukker 29er Wheels Shimano Deore 36h M590 non-disc [66885] - $179.00 Velomine.com : Worldwide Bicycle Shop, fixed gear track bike wheelsets campagnolo super record vintage bike

( Other than Me, & my DIY wheel building )

Bargain shopping?
Distributors who supply Bike shops have the same automated machines that the Giant bike factory uses to make up your original wheels..

And because they are a bit further up the supply chain, they can supply a set of wheels built with component parts at their wholesale prices.

maybe not as low cost as the bike factory buying by the millions cost, but better than the retail cost you get at smaller wheelbuilders.

You have a Hybrid, not a Pro Race bike ,

ask your Giant Brand Bike Dealer to get a' just like I have' , From Their Wholesale distributors...
they hand them to you shipping included , even touch up true check them after they get them
and again after you ride on them a couple months.









...

It's been several years ago, but I bought a rear wheel from prowheelbuilder.com (it's builder not builders, BTW). No problems dealing with them, and the wheel is fine. I'd buy from them again if I needed wheels and couldn't find what I wanted with pre-built wheels.

Give Universal cycles in Portland Oregon a shot. I've had 4 sets of wheels built by them and have been really impressed with their durability, quality and price. Use their "Custom Wheel Builder to get a price.
https://www.universalcycles.com/

My wife has 19,000 of mostly fully loaded touring on a set of their wheels, and none of her wheels have ever needed truing.

Give Rob at Psimet Wheels a look, his site has the details. Long time member here, with lots of common sense offerings and if he can't offer up anything he will tell you upfront. https://www.psimet.com

Bill

I bought a dyno wheel some years ago from Longleaf; Anthony is now doing business at anthonykingwheelbuilding.com out of Massachusetts. Recommended.

I have not bought complete wheels from them but take four sets of wheels I already own to them for service.

I have been to the shop several times including in the workshop while they entirely rebuilt my old Mavics - bearings, freehub, two new spokes, stressed and trued.

After broken spokes and other poor service from the LBS, Richard and his partner are the only people I trust with my wheels.


-Tim-

x1 from Psimet. Happy with my CX disc rims so far.

Try Neugent wheels. Seems to have good reviews.

https://www.neugentcycling.com/

Hey, you guys are making life difficult (kidding!), looks like I have some more builders to check out. I did contact yellow jersey and they could not beat the price of the set I built at prowheelbuilders but did suggest a Velocity Dyad build for 399.99. They stated "That's a much higher quality rim and a much more durable hub at a great price" As compared to what you ask? Well, I can link the jpg of the build I did because of forum rules (need more posts). Once I can, I will & I'd love to hear everyones thoughts on my build compared to the velocity build. About a $50 difference all in which isn't a ton if the dyad rim and hub are truly significantly better

10 post for rules sake

OK, here's the components I chose at prowheelbuilder for comparison to the Velocity build

Rims: H Plus Son Archetype (I could switch to the Dyad's for the same price)
Hubs: Shimano XT T780 (This is what makes my build cheaper, so this is they key question, are the velocity hubs that much better)
I'm not sure if the Velocity wheels use double butted spokes, my build did. Also not sure what difference that makes? I also chose locking nipples and again, velocity doesn't say if thats what they use.
My build: $332.36+tax and shipping

Here's what yellow jersey recommended (399.99+tax & shipping):
Velocity Wheels - Hand Made in USA

Another edit: Bill, I emailed the link you provided.

BTW, Yellow Jersey was very helpful BUT they did not answer a key question I had: "Would these wheels be enough of an upgrade over my stock wheels to justify the cost". They seemed to imply they would be but I asked twice and did not receive a direct answer which makes me wonder if they just want the sale? Not sure, again, they did email me 4 times.

Thanks for your replies!

Velocity built are top shelf in my experience; I’ve had two for many trouble free years, but have just one of them currently, a Race hub/Blunt set from 6-8yrs ago.

Generally pricey, however, and if you don’t have specific needs or desires (e.g. big uppin’ MI; what up, GR!) they’re hard to recommend.

Universal Cycles Custom Wheel Builder results: Shimano XT hubs, Wheelsmith DB spokes, Velocity Dyad 36 spoke rims, Wheelsmith brass nipples; cost $342.

From the looks of it; plenty of reputable places to go for custom wheel builds.
I'll add another from personal experience/satisfaction - Custom Wheel Building

"keeping in mind my bike cost $600 so I'm really trying to stay at $400 or less"

Here's another perspective. You want to buy another set of wheels so you can swap between nice and
bad weather. US$400 can probably buy a used bike; similar if not better to what you have now. My
advice is to get another bike(used) instead. You swap bikes depending on the weather/conditions. I
would think swapping wheels would get tiresome, especially if you ride a lot.

First, thank you everyone who chimed in, between your posts and searching posts and the internet, I will be ready for winter riding in a couple weeks. Everythings been ordered and on its way. WHEW!

To respond to the last poster, the idea of buying a used bike for winter did come to mind but as I read in another post, I'd be inclined to then add stuff to it, have 2 bikes to maintain, etc. Especially when I use it to commute, what if used bike didn't have a rack or fenders or mirror, etc. Would be hard to find exactly what I need. Plus my current bike isn't that expensive, so if I ever upgrade, the new wheels would fit on my new bike and I'd automatically have a spare set.

I want to thank whomever recommended yellow jersey bike shop, they were very helpful and lead me to my ultimate purchase. PSIMET was also helpful and honest.

I ended up buying the velocity wheel set. This one: Velocity Wheels - Hand Made in USA

I also bought the Nokia studded tires, even though I'm going to have a tough time paying bills this month. I found a deal to good to pass up on ebay. 2 new ones for $67!!! these (but in 35mm size): https://www.amazon.com/Nokian-153774.../dp/B0127ATEA2

I'll post another thread to give everyone an idea what I purchased to prepare for winter in hopes someday it will help someone else in my position. I'm glad I did not buy an expensive bike considering all the expenses I've had on top of just the bike. Counting my latest purchases, I've probably got ~$1500-1700 invested (bike was $590) but should be good to go for a few years.

Mickey

FYI, new thread will be in Hybrid Bike forum. Thanks again for your help although my wallet is not happy.