DIY Wheels
 

So, I've been looking for some new wheels for a while now. I know, the question of what wheels to buy has been beaten to death around here and is honestly almost as hard to answer as saddle recommendation requests. I've looked at wheels from Campagnolo, Fulcrum, and even looked into some custom wheels. Any would likely suit me just fine.

What I keep going back to is building my own. I'm a DIY kind of guy, always have been. I enjoy the building/fixing/tinkering/hobby side of cycling very much. In my searching, I came across this prepackaged "build kit" on a website. Seems like a reasonably good deal to me. Any thoughts, opinions (plenty of those around here), or experience with what is offered here? Does this seem like a good value given the components offered?

SPECIAL OFFER! 20/24 H Plus Son Archetype Build Kit - $269.95

I say build your own.

I just finished my first wheel build this spring. It was fun.

I sourced the rims and spokes at BikeHubStore. They were good to work with and I'll use them again next time.

+1 on BYO, why not? It's fun.

That price doesn't look unreasonable to me, if you're curious, search ebay for each part listed and add up the total. I just built a set a few weeks ago, and those prices look pretty much inline with what I was finding, perhaps a touch on the high side of retail. I question the those hubs' durability however. A shimano 105 hub weighs in at around 370 g, they have to be cutting some serious weight in places, even with the sealed bearings. The low spoke count kind of turns me off too.

In my mind, for that price, 105 hubs, same rims (in 32h), same spokes (but more of them). Just my opinion.

Why go to the trouble of building your own wheels from scratch, spending several hours truing and tensioning, only to end up with an unremarkable, relatively heavy, non-aero alloy wheelset?

Get a pair of these Gigantex 50mm Tubular Rim

and a bunch of these Sapim CX-Ray - Silver - J-Bend - $2.75 (or, better yet, these Pillar-Spokes)

add a pair of hubs, and you'll have a 1400 g aero wheelset that would've cost you above $1000 if it had a brand name.

Thanks for the personal experience with that site.

The bike these will be for is equipped with Campy, so no 105 hubs for me. I could go with 6800 hubs, but I don't want to buy a new cassette.

The spoke count is higher in the rear (24) than what I have now (20).

Hub durability is a reasonable concern.

The problem with your suggestion is that I don't want to go tubular and I want to spend less than $500. Well under if possible.

See Here.

Better hubs. Spokes are Race, not Laser (better all round spoke). Rims are a wash. $400.00US.

Do you have specific bad experience with tubular? I had reservations too when I went tubular 6 months ago, but now I think that they are superior to clinchers.

Keep in mind that wheels are usually the biggest upgrade you can make for a typical store-bought bike. I don't know the details of your setup, but, assuming you have wheels to begin with, I don't see how that $269 build kit can be an upgrade to anything.

I'm running Campy 10 speed. I used Novatec Hubs-ROAD from Bdop. These rims BHS C472w Clincher Rim - 23mm wide - 28mm deep!!!. And Sapim Race spokes with brass nipples. I laced 32 rear and 28 front 3-cross, because I'm not light and the roads around here are kind of rough. The finished wheelset weighs just under 1700g and cost about $290.

I have a set of the same wheels (well the KinLin XC-279 rims...) and they have been bomb proof. Mine are 24/28 but otherwise identical.

The rims are excellent, n00b builders are better off not using Lasers and I have no idea about those hubs.

I have no experience at all with tubular tire. The idea of not being able to easily fix a flat on a ride just doesn't feel like a good idea to me.

Most anything will be an upgrade in the wheel department for me. I currently have a set of several year old Mavic Aksiums that have seen better days and weigh over 2100gr.

Curious, why not lasers?

How often do you see flats with your current wheels?

The thin butted section makes it very difficult to control spoke windup which is extremely frustrating in inexperienced hands. Here's what Sapim says: "The thin middle section of 1,5mm needs special care while building up the wheel. You may have to use a pliers to hold the spoke to prevent the spokes from winding up. Only experienced wheel builders should mount up wheels with this spoke." Laser | Sapim

Sometimes I go two or three months with no flats. Other times I've had two flats in one ride, which has happened on more than one occasion. I am very careful to avoid hazards but just have bad luck sometimes. Calling for a ride home isn't always practical. Some of my rides are quite far from home.

Interesting. As it is now, I have to hold the spokes on my current wheels to keep them from rotating when truing. I made a little aluminum tool to hold them.

I had similar experience with clinchers.

With tubulars, I went 6 months (~2000 mi) with a total of 1 flat, and even that one, as far as I could tell, happened not because I hit something, but because the valve extender got loose and started unscrewing (with rims like the one I linked, you need an extender because the valve tube on most tires is too short.) After it happened, I managed to ride 5 miles on a flat tubular till I got picked up. I wouldn't want to attempt any 7% descents on a flat tubular, but normal urban riding is not a problem.

However, in retrospect, quite a few of my clincher flats (and probably yours, too) were caused by bad installation and/or underinflation. If you take extra care to install your tubes very accurately, without pinching or bulging, and to keep them inflated to 100 psi or higher, that might cut down on the incidence of flats.

Good to know your experience.

I would estimate that 90% of my flats, or more, are from debris as I end up picking it out of the tire.

Not saying I will never try tubular, but I'm not sure if I want them as my primary wheels.

Having debris in the tire is not necessarily a sign that said debris caused the flat. You may have all sorts of stuff embedded in the rubber (staples, glass shards, etc.), but it may just be sitting there without penetrating the inner hard layers of the tire or reaching the tube. Unless you can line up the debris with a hole on the inside of the tire and a hole in the tube, it's entirely unrelated to the flat.

Having two flats in one ride is extra evidence towards installation problems. The odds of having a flat caused by road debris twice in one ride are too remote. It's more likely that the replacement tube was not put in properly or that it was not inflated to proper pressure (it's impossible to get a replacement tube to 100 psi with most hand pumps), making you vulnerable to pinch flats whenever you hit a piece of gravel.

I appreciate that your are trying to show the benefits of tubulars and I may try them some day. Heck maybe it will be sooner rather than later. However, I am quite diligent about inspecting tires and tubes when I get a flat to determine the cause. I pull plenty of debris, such as glass, bits of wire, or staples out of my tires that go all the way through and into the tube. I mount my tires exactly the same each time, in such a way that I can line up tube and tire after removal to properly inspect them.

As as for the double flats, it has never been on the same tire that I can recall. Always front and rear. My luck sucks.

I top off my tires before every ride as well, at that time, I also give the tires a once over to check for any debris embedded in them.

It's cheaper to buy wheels than to build them myself, but I still enjoy doing it, so I do. If you're considering building your own, do it. If it doesn't work out, someone can finish the job for you, and it's no shame. But chances are, we can walk you through it, and the result will be deeply satisfying.

As much as I like tubulars, I only use them for racing.

Thank you. That actually makes a lot of sense. I didn't really think about it that way.

I am begining to find that your first statement makes sense. It is probably cheaper to just buy some built up. Honestly, if it isn't this time around, I will build up some wheels eventually. I have more than one bike....

That has always been how I viewed tubulars. The idea of being miles from home and having my ride over just because of a flat is what has steered me away from them.

You are permitted to carry a spare. I hear some sealants work well for "normal" flats.