I'm a dumbass and I cracked my rear Trek Matrix rim last night, now I need a new wheel but I'm thinking this might be a good chance to learn how to build one. I've got the Shimano Ultegra 600 hub from it and there's a dude on CL selling a new Velocity deep V for $60 (is it worth 60? I was going to try and talk him down a bit but I dunno what they cost). Only problem is, I don't have a truing stand or any experience building wheels. If I can get my hands on a stand, how hard would the build be using sheldon's article? I know the rear is harder than front but wouldn't a SS rear be easier than w/ cassette? Also, right now I have a ghetto-rigged freehub (the Shimano) w/ spacers and SS cog, how would this translate to my rebuild, would I need a new hub, cause I don't really have the cash. What about just dishing it the same as it is now? Basically, I don't know **** about wheels. Do you think the chances of me screwing up a $60 rim make it not worth trying, or would I just have to relace it if I did somehting wrong. Lastly, if I can't get the rim or want to be really cheap, I've got a Bontrager race lite front wheel that I dumpstered (it's even true!), what about taking the Trek Matrix rim off my front wheel, lacing it onto the rear freehub, and riding with the Bontrager in front so I was just throwing the hub onto the same type of rim, w/ the same spokes? Would keeping the same spokes and rims make this a lot simpler and would I be safe riding the **** out of a low spoke count front wheel (I work bike delivery so it'll get a lot of use on kind of ****ty streets)? If I just relaced the freehub on the same rim, think I could do it w/o a truing stand by just numbering each spoke or would it be impossible to get them all the right tension? Sorry for the long questions...
Thanks!

1) Use paragraphs
2) Deep V for $60 is like normal price. Not a ripoff, not a huge deal either.

Paragraphs are awesome.

You can build a wheel without a truing stand. Make sure that your hub and your rim have the same number of holes, and visit Sheldon Brown's website for a great tutorial and a list of spoke-length predicting resources. Once you lace up the wheel yourself, take it to a shop and have them true and tension it. It will probably only cost about $10-$15 to have them do that, which is much less than a full wheel build.

I'm a dumbass and I cracked my rear Trek Matrix rim last night, now I need a new wheel but I'm thinking this might be a good chance to learn how to build one. I've got the Shimano Ultegra 600 hub from it and there's a dude on CL selling a new Velocity deep V for $60 (is it worth 60? I was going to try and talk him down a bit but I dunno what they cost).
Only problem is, I don't have a truing stand or any experience building wheels. If I can get my hands on a stand, how hard would the build be using sheldon's article? I know the rear is harder than front but wouldn't a SS rear be easier than w/ cassette? Also, right now I have a ghetto-rigged freehub (the Shimano) w/ spacers and SS cog, how would this translate to my rebuild, would I need a new hub, cause I don't really have the cash. What about just dishing it the same as it is now? Basically, I don't know **** about wheels. Do you think the chances of me screwing up a $60 rim make it not worth trying, or would I just have to relace it if I did somehting wrong.
Lastly, if I can't get the rim or want to be really cheap, I've got a Bontrager race lite front wheel that I dumpstered (it's even true!), what about taking the Trek Matrix rim off my front wheel, lacing it onto the rear freehub, and riding with the Bontrager in front so I was just throwing the hub onto the same type of rim, w/ the same spokes? Would keeping the same spokes and rims make this a lot simpler and would I be safe riding the **** out of a low spoke count front wheel (I work bike delivery so it'll get a lot of use on kind of ****ty streets)? If I just relaced the freehub on the same rim, think I could do it w/o a truing stand by just numbering each spoke or would it be impossible to get them all the right tension?
Sorry for the long questions...
Thanks!
There you go, a little better but not much, it's hard to break up nicely since it's basically just a series of about 20 questions...

You know, this should have been obvious but I probably would have gone and bought the 32h deep v, without thinking about my 36h hubs... Thanks

Just counted, I guess the hubs are 32, I assumed 36 cause they're older. I think I'm going to get the deep v, build it, and keep my Trek Matrix in front. I don't really want to drop $60 to replace a stupid mistake but I'm really wary of using the race lite for my beater bike since it only has 20 spokes...