leadheadnc

I'm looking into building my own wheels and wondered, what is everyone else riding?

Hand-built or factory-built?

If you built them or had them built, what did you look for or specify?

a2psyklnut

I have a hand-built set (by me) that are a set of Mavic D321's laced to some Profile Racing hubs with DT swiss 14 gauge spokes and aluminum nipples.

They are getting kinda old, but they are still round and true and better than any wheelset I can afford at the moment.

I prefer Mavic rims for a build up, because they are straighter and rounder than Sun or even Velocity rims and are easier to build w/o having to compensate for an ovalized rim. IOW, their tolerances are tighter than other manuf. I used. (in general, not everytime)

If I had the money, I'd consider a new wheelset, A set of Chris King hubs laced to ?, I dunno. Not an issue right now.

A good set of machine built wheels that are "medium" duty are some Sun Rhyno's. I ran a set of these for a couple years with only minor truing. Well, I did have to replace the front, but that was a big crash and burn and had nothing to do with the quality of the rim/wheel.

ranger5oh

Mavic Crossland.. great and a great price.

euroford

factory built, Azonic Outlaws.

dminor 

I looked for: strong and economical. I had the Formula disc hubs already; so I just neeeded spokes and rims. I use straight-gauge 14s and old-school Sun Mammoths are a bit heavy but have a great strength-to-price ratio for my needs.

I enjoy lacing wheels so like building my own. I'm not good at truing them, though, and I don't have a truing stand; so when I get done lacing and getting things snugged up, I take it to the shop for truing.

RIC0

I"m picking up my Hope Pro II hubes laced to Mavic 717 rims today. Hand built by the small bike shop I go to. Black hubs and black rims, they gonna be sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

CaptMatt15

I hand built my XT hubs on Salsa Delgado Disc rims - so far they've been great for my first wheel build. Due to school and just being busy i've not gotten to ride them a ton, but they have held up well on everything i've throw at them

fwiw, the head tech at the shop i work at runs king hubs on delgado rims on his Yeti 575 (he built) and he's had virtually no issues with them either

mirona

I have some handbuilt wheels. I wanted something relatively light and strong for cross country use but also with good engagement in the hub for when I wanted to stop and play around on logs and rock formations. I also wanted the mechanic who works with me to do it since he builds sweet wheels. I have a set of Mavic 717 rims (silver) laced to Chris King hubs (silver) with DT Swiss supercomp spokes (unfortunately not made in silver) and aluminum nips.

ghettocruiser

A factory spec that was lying around. Hand-built.

FreeRidin'

I'm running Double Track hoops on Specialized Stout hubs laced with straight DT Swiss 14 guage spokes and brass nipples. Handbuilt by a lbs.
Super heavy, but super strong!

joeprim

I don't know how to respond to this poll. My front wheel is factory, but I replaced the rear with a hand made one after I had spokes break a couple of times.

Joe

rbrsddn

DT Hugi Hubs with 217 Ceramic and Wheelsmith double butted.

santiago

Pink Chris King ISO hubs with Bontrager Mustang rims handbuilt by Dave Thomas @ Speed Dream Wheels.

jimblairo

AC 350 disk. Super light and super strong.

cachehiker

I voted for my favorite, but I have several:

Mavic Ksyrium Elites (factory built, front rebuilt by LBS after a crash)
Mavic Cosmos (factory built)
28/32h Open Pros on Ultegra, DT Comp butted spokes (built them myself)
700c 36h Bontrager Mavericks on Ultegra, DT Comp butted spokes (built them myself)
700c 32h Sun CR-18's on LX, DT Champ straight spokes (built them myself)
32h Mavic 517's on XTR, DT Revo/Comp butted spokes (built them myself)
32h Sun 0-degree XC on XT, DT Comp butted spokes (built them myself)
32h WTB Dual Duty XC on LX, DT Comp butted spokes (built them myself)
32h Mavic 317's on Stout/Deore, straight 15g spokes (factory spec)

The last factory spec wheelset has been a big disappointment. The rear wheel is either machine or moron built and doesn't stay true for long. If I'm going to go through the trouble of detensioning and retensioning I would just as soon do a complete rebuild with DT Comp 14/15 butted spokes for better durability since that is my aggressive XC bike.

IMHO, the Ksyrium Elites don't offer that much bang for the buck either. The Open Pros on Ultegras seem much better for centuries and they're about $300 cheaper. I also love the stealth factor of riding standard 3X wheels amongst all the boutique setups and finishing just as strong.

My old road bike also had a wheelset built by the LBS, good but not great. They're in business to make a profit and aren't about to invest an extra afternoon of work to achieve absolutely ideal spoke tension. I don't always invest that much time myself but it took 4 hours before I was satisfied with the spoke tension on the 517/XTR rear wheel.

Blazinall91

lets see, currently on my bike WTB Dual Duty factory build, arriving Monday Bontrager King Earl, to hold me over and get me riding on my new fork until I drop the dough for custom wheels, also gives me time to absolutely decide what I want.

RIC0

jst0076

On one of my old bikes I used to have some Mavic Crossrides. I don't know if they're still made but they were the cheapest full mavic build at the time, and they have put me off factory build. They were a pain to tru, as when turning the spoke key the whole spoke seemed to twist rather than tighten or loosen. They also looked like it would be a pain to replace spokes but I never had to try.

Since those I have always ran XT hubs with DT spokes and Mavic Rims (521 or 517).

My two new bikes which are hopefully arriving early next year will both have mavic rims (321 & 717) on Hope Pro II hubs with DT spokes. I have no doubts that I will be happy with those combinations...

ed 

Both, I have XT/Rhyno Lite's built by a shop and a set of CrossRide's.

I like them both, but I feel like the Mavics are slightly fragile. I don't push them as hard as the XT/Sun's.


I hope my next set will be:
DT 240 front hub
Rohloff Rear hub
Sun EX 5.1d rims

Hand built by my shop.

mtnbiker66

Mavic 321Ds laced to DT Swiss hubs.

AfterThisNap

DIY. I chose my current build because the parts were basically free through swaps. Mavic 317s disks on DMR hubs. Black DT swiss 15g spokes. They've held up well, but I suspect I'll be needing some heavier duty rims in the near future with all the urbanish stuff I've been trying out lately.
It's hard to go wrong with XT hubs, as long as you know how to repack bearings once a season or so.

Falanx

Mavic 717 silver on Hope Ultralight with 32 DT Swiss DB
Mavic 719 black on Hope XC with 36 DT Swiss DB

Go figure...

Minesbroken

cheap bontrager select disc...havent broken them...havent bent them....not too heavy...hubs are garbage...but like I said...cheap

the wonginator

faktory Alex DH20 rims. they aren't the ****, but good enough.

scrublover

Hope Bulb 20mm fronts on both bikes; one with Syncros DP-25 rim, one with a Mavic disc specific something or other. 15/16 DB spokes and alloy nips.

Rear #1 is a Chris King ISO disc with a Mavic 717 something or other, 15ga spokes, alloy nips.

Rear #2 is a Hadley disc with a DT EX 5.1, 14/15 DB spokes, alloy nips. Brand new, unridden. Just picked it up yesterday to replace the Hope Bulb rear that I managed to mangle the internals of somehow, in just over a year. Was working beautifully up until the last minute..... Hope is sending me a new hub; selling that to help defray the cost of the Hadley.

Each bike's pair had matching rims to start with, but with both rear wheels needing rebuilds in the last couple months, I just had the builder use what he had handy that was comparable to the original rim in size and weight.