Thanks for all the responses!

I'm just finishing reading Brandt's wheel book, and then I'll begin attempting my own wheel work. Personally, I've had really nothing but so-so/bad experiences with the lbs(S) so, I'm pretty much in the mindset of learning/(getting all the tools i need) so that I can just do all my work myself. (and maybe in the future my roommates work as well). Wheels are my last hurdle, so this is a good experience in a motivational sense. (Wheels are last until I start getting bikes with gears and all that jazz again).

I know the shop you're talking about. I bought my MASI there and it came with Alex rims they hand built and I've bashed into some potholes and the general ****ery that is bloor street for two months now and they're still perfect as the day I got em.

This is exactly why I learned to build my own. I've built 6 sets now and all of my wheels have never needed any maintenance and are far better quality than any prebuilt set I've ever owned.

I'm no expert, but:

Good quality components make a difference. Setting aside th issue of weight, which is a real concern for some people:

Nicer rims will be more round and true out of the box and hence will be easier to get perfectly even spoke tension on. Also they will be double eyeletted which means reduced stress around the spoke nipples and therefore less chance of cracking. I suspect that overall they might be able to take higher spoke tension, which would let you build a stronger wheel---could be wrong on that though.

Nicer spokes will be butted and tend to flex on impact, spreading the shock around a bit more and reducing the chance of breaking a spoke.

Nicer hubs will have bearings that last longer and take more abuse. Higher end shimano hubs have borazon treated races for example, which are harder than the lower end hubs' races and therefore harder to pit.

That said, there is no reason a wheelset built out of budget/ OEM components can't be totally reliable and dependable. The lbs guy who told you otherwise deserbes a punch in the dick. Within a reasonable range, the quality of the build makes a much bigger difference than the quality of the components. Even spoke tension, built up gradually, and up to the limit of what the rim can safely handle, is a powerful thing.

i hope that's not true (?) about the Uno wheels 'cause I just got a set. Sounds like some good sense here, though & fwiw, i thought most folks trued their own wheels...I never thought it was too terribly hard to do...but I'm sort of a gear head anyway...

sounds like you should be rolling on bare hubs... fukka rim and spokes, that was so last year :P

correct and even tension is the answer for sure...a well built wheelset with formula hubs, noname spokes and alex rims will outlast a poorly built set of wheels with phil hubs, wheelsmith spokes and open pros...Flip your bike over and pluck each spoke on you wheel...There difference in tone should be similar to the theme from Jaws...
sometimes with OEM wheels, I think it's easier and faster to detension them and start over...

It's somewhat ironic that, after making the above post two days ago, I went on a 50k country ride yesterday and a spoke broke on the budget formula hub/alex rim/whoever makes spokes with a lower case "u" on the head (or is it an "n") front wheel on my sputnik...
I was on a gravel road in between two sod farms (did I mention my grass seed allergy?) and it just popped...
And I was just thinking how reliable my inexpensive little no-frills fixed gear machine was too...

**** happens. In this case maybe a defective spoke. Of the six pairs of wheels I have hand-built for myself, I had a single spoke snap on one wheel after a few thousand miles. I replaced it and it has never happened again.

Yeah...I'm thinking it's a defective spoke as well...The wheel was tension balanced and true and there are no cracks on the rim...I'm glad it wasn't a low spoke count wheel otherwise I'd have been in for a long walk home...Gotta tape a couple of spare spokes inside my top tube protector...

"sounds like he got frustrated " and "Sounds like he wanted to scam you into buying a new wheelset." both sound pretty damn true. i worked at one of those fancyass bike shops for the past year and the head mechanic who had 11 years more experience would always get frustrated (partially because the pay is low for such an in demand skilled job) and try and tell people that upgrading wheels and other parts would really make everyones life a bit easier- this was usually BS, sorta. its true that high quality parts last longer and work the way theyre supposed to work more often, but nice bike shops always get pissed off at ****y bikes owned by unassuming customers who can be convinced that they NEED new stuff.

on the other hand, in my ~ year of shop work i expericned far too many ****ed up oem wheels an bikes from crappy hybrids to $2300 specialized roubaix's. the machines are programed to do one thing- thats build a round, true wheel . when it encounters a problem it trys to compensate and sometimes it works but in the process it tightens or looses odd pairs of spokes and sometimes even strips nipples (handbuilt you pay for the knowledge that your wheels are made perfect). moral of the story is, tell your roomate to use the wheels until they are real messed up and either get some sub $200 wheelsets (formulas laced to .....) or just invest in a truing stand (ts2) and just check up on em every 2 weeks or so and dont pay the greasey dudes at the lbs $20 to do something anyone can learn

HAHAHA... ahhhh... sooo good... maybe for a nice vegan casserole... sooo good! hehe

Good God.