I recently had a wheel set built up at my LBS. I have mixed feelings about the experience and am wondering what if anything I should do.

I had a set of hubs I wanted built up. They talked me out of the rims I wanted initially (Sun Venus or Mavic CXP 22), into Mavic Open Sports. I felt like the wheel builder was just pushing what *he* likes and was not listening to what I wanted. But in the end, I didn't really feel that strongly about it and I also like the Opens. No biggie there.

A few days later he called because the supplier sent the wrong rims -Open Pros instead of Open Sports. He said not to worry and they would charge me the same -SCORE.

He called the next day to say my wheels were ready. I immediately went over to the shop and picked up the wheels. The builder was already gone for the day (it was 1:30pm). He must have left right after he talked to me as it was only about 20 minutes after his call.

The place was pretty busy and when I checked out the wheels, I was less than impressed. There is nothing functionally *wrong* with them, but it really seems like he just threw them together as fast as humanly possible. Little things that don't affect performance, but just show pride in your job were all missing. Like having the brands of the rims and hubs facing the same way and lined up. The spokes cross over the valve holes. I don't know if he didn't know what he was doing, didn't care, or didn't think I would care.

No I *know* I am being a little nit-picky. What would you do?

I wouldn't pay for them. ask them to fix it, or give the hubs back.

This shows how little the builder cares about building wheels. Its just another job for him.

i had a similar problem, i went to my shop to get a wheel straightened (it wasn't a bad bend, just enough to kiss the brake). So i call up the next day after they said it would be done before closing the day before. they tell me " yeah, we actually cant find your rim, were gonna need to get back to you on that one" they eventually found it after two days of looking in a extremely small shop, and straightened it for me and sounded like he just threw it together, the next day i was on a relaxed ride, when i was making a slight left at 16mph (no bumps, cracks in the road) when all of a sudden the rim just bent to the right hand side and i ended up walking 10miles home. I didnt bother taking it back because all the guys there are a**h****. I learned to do it myself, and swore never to go back.

i would say check out the rims see if its okay to ride, and than just try to shop around to different shops if your not happy with the quality. Or learn to lace wheels yourself.

dude, in your case, Your rim was beyond repair.

C'mon from Boston, whats the shop? (If you want give a hint and we'll know)

When it comes to wheels, specifics are a must and "interviewing" the builder. Spec'ing every detail of the wheel is needed unless you know you are working with a real pro. Things like label direction, how will they prep the nipples, how is it tensioned, truing tolerance....

I understand your disappointment. In almost any service business, you are looking for the craftsman, not just the professional; and they can be very hard to find.

no it wasn't, because i went home, fixed it, and am still riding it today.

I don't want to say which shop it is since I am friends with the owner (our dogs play together...). In their defense, they did hook me up in a pretty big way by "upgrading" the rims to Open Pros from Open Sports for free.

Lining up the labels, leaving "parallel" spokes over the valve holes, etc are things I know don't have anything to do with the functionality of the wheel. But they are things I notice on other wheels as a mark of quality. Or at least as a mark that the builder cared enough about the little details to do so -kind of like lining up tire labels with valve stems (which actually does serve a purpose...).

So, you don't think I am out of line to ask them to re-lace?

"Spokes cross over the valve holes" would be a major tip off to me.

Wheel building isn't all that hard, but it's pretty much all about attention to the details. Spokes crossed over the valve hole makes me doubt this guys skill level. That's just not a professional job and I definitely wouldn't pay a professional price for them.

Oh, and I normally do build my own wheels -which may be why this bugs me more than I rationally know it should. But a couple things have conspired to get me to hire someone else. The biggest is that because we are trying to sell our place, my wheel building tools (along with a lot of other stuff) are packed away in storage to help "de-clutter" our home. Also, I know how dead a shop can be in January, so I thought it was the good-guy thing to do by sending a little business their way.

being a wheel builder myself, you never cross over the valve hole. I have taken apart and rebuild wheel's when I see that.
I say make them do it right, friends or not it was done wrong, your not being picky, try inflating a long stem tube and see how much fun it is.

They *are* functionally wrong.

they didnt do you THAT big of a favor with the open pros, they're pretty inexpensive.

I do not really understand what you complaint is. you should have stuck to your guns and got the rims you wanted. as you point out the wheels functionally work, the label is a non issue and again as you point out nitpicky. the spokes crossing over the valve stem is a bit of a no no as it effects putting air in the tires but again is not a structual issue. but yes the builders pride should make him build them right however very few people take pride in their work these days. your dog plays with Harold's or Joes Dog?
IMHO if you can do it yourself you have little right to complain

I just had a set of wheels built and dropped off a second when I picked those up. aside for being shocked at $2 a spoke I have no issues with the quality of the wheels I had built, however the $80 is a bit hard to swallow when if I had a truing stand I could do it mysself

You should tell the owner that he has someone building wheels for him that is not doing a professional job. In fact, an unacceptable job. Actually, he should already know that if he's halfway paying attention, but whatever. You'll be doing him a favor, because he needs to know. And I'll bet he'll have your wheels re-laced correctly, because he'll want to make it right.

Take them back. You wanted/paid for a pair of hand built wheels and that's what you should get.

FWIW, I was at the bike shop recently and a guy brought a wheel in. The first thing the shop owner pointed out was that the spokes shouldn't have been crossed over the valve stem hole.

The reason I avoid shops now. I started building my own wheels but was leary about a tandem wheel that needed a rebuild so I took it to the pros at a tandem specific shop. They pulled the somewhat the same stunt. I ordered a ti grey rim but received black couple days later when they said it would be a week for the shipment to come in....Went to pick up the wheel not knowing the color was wrong. When I got there, I had a sheot fit! Shop dude said Velocity didn't stock ti grey. WTF! I just emailed Velocity the day before to find the nearest Velocity dealer and Velocity said they HAD ALL COLORS available but the shop had to order them!

I told the guy he was full of BS and that I was contacting Velocity once again to verify the BS! MOFO changed his story real quick! I got a big discount on the wheel but wasn't the end of the misery. I didn't realize it till much later but it was difficult to access the valve. Now I know that he crossed the spokes too close to the stem! But that's still not the end of the sad story!

I specifically ordered DT Swiss spokes! About 200 miles later a spoke breaks! I return to the shop and the shop is friggin' gone! WTF! SO I replace the spoke with a DT Swiss, next ride another spoke breaks 40 miles later. WTF! I take the wheel home and check it out. The shop dude substituted 4 cheap arse spokes on the wheel. First 2 to break were the cheap junk he used. So I went over the entire wheel, replaced the carp and rebuilt the wheel myself, No problems since.

Sad thing is this guy now works in another local shop. I guess his buddies are quite impressed with his work. They should be, he more than likely used the stuff I ordered on their bikes cause everytime someone asks for a good builder, his name comes up. That's cool, I got stiffed but what they don't realize is that everytime his name comes up as a rec, a PM is sent out to the person asking for a good local builder!

100% bull****.

The open pro is *significantly* more expensive than the open sport. $80 vs $50 on JensonUSA. That's a $60 for a PAIR. And that's being fairly generous. With a standard LBS markup, the rims would be nearly 2:1 at MSRP.

And if you were a wheelbuilder you'd know that the open pro is a box section rim with one of the lowest profiles of a readily available commmercial rim on the face of the planet.

With the right tubes the spokes crossing over the valve hole is an inconvenience. There is nothing functionally wrong with the wheel. I'm not defending the wheelbuild (it's clearly built by an amateur) but that just has to be said. Different customers will have different levels of what is "pro" on a wheelbuild. For some they couldn't care less that the hub label is not in the right place (if they even know to look), or wouldn't notice spokes crossing over the valve. For some they would. The OP is clearly the latter.

Absolutely not. Just have some tact/courtesy when you do it.

What kind of spokes were they?

LBS: LBS built and master wheel builder built are two different things. I've heard stories of a time when every LBS had a master wheel builder on staff, but such a time existed before I got into cycling 18 years ago.

Labels: I'm not sure about other builders, but I was taught and go by the rule that the rear hub should be read from the rear and the front hub should be read from the front. The rim labels should be read from the drive side. For this reason, a set of wheels not on the bike might look like the front hub is backwards when it makes more sense on the bike.

Crossed spokes: Although not generally a functional problem except on high spoke count wheels, this is an indicator that the builder might have cut corners or not paid attention to more important, and more transparent, aspects of the build.

You're definitely not out of line asking for a rebuild, but I fear that the only way to get them built right is to find a reputable builder elsewhere, or do it yourself.

I don't know! The DT had the symbol on the head. The other 4 had a "P" or what seemed to look like a "P". I'm thinking "Pedro Dominguez" spokes

Please tell me you are kidding. As long as the wheels are well-made and well-trued, just take them and ride them.

I am all for bike OCD, but expecting others to have the same level of OCD is something else altogether. If it was important to you, you should have told him beforehand.

V.

Could've been Pillar..https://www.pillarspoke.com/product.a...Value=2&r=2894

I'd also verify that the trailing spokes were on the inside of the drive side hub flange........although some may argue!

Labels (excuse the double use of this term), e.g master wheel builder doesn't mean much in the 'industry'. Neither do titles like service manager or any other fancy titles that denote nothing. We've had plenty of "service managers", "head mechanics" that have tried out at our old shop that sucked balls.

I don't think it matters for the front, as you can just reverse the wheel so the label is read from the front/back as you wish. Hub labels for me, always read from the riders pov.

Yeah, I really don't think there's an excuse for this other than just lazyness or lack of experience.