So I recently got my stock Kilo TT and have been wanting to upgrade a few things. I realize since I just started riding I probably wont notice too much of a difference between wheels, but this is more for me to have a sweet new wheelset that I'll appreciate soon enough and learning how to work/build on bikes.

So could anyone recommend a good parts to set up for under 200ish? I'd ideally like all black. I was gonna go for FOER rims, and IRO cogs but I cant find a place that sells spokes herpderp, and I run a front bike and the FOER's aren't machined. (could I get that machined on my own?) While I like the Deep V look I dont care too much.

If building up your own wheelset is a rip off for relatively low end wheelsets someone should let me know. and if anyone wants to recommend some all black ones that would be sweet too.

I found a Bike Co-op here that lets you build up a bike for 50 bucks, so I'm hoping with all my leftover stock kilo parts I can knock that down a bit, learn how to build and take care of a bike, and maybe have a gift for a friend or something.

I realize 200 doesn't buy the best im just looking for some good solid wheels for the price

thanks guys

What is your aim with the new wheels?
"sweet new wheelset"
"all black ones that would be sweet too."
"While I like the Deep V look I don't care too much"
"I run a front brake"

All i can tell is that you want black rims with a machined front.
If all you want is a wheel-building experience, just take your wheels apart and build them back up.
If you want new wheels for some performance aspect, look around and find out what will get that for you. Low spoke count? Deep rims? Shallow light rims?

The best advice I can give you right now is to find out what will make you the most happy. Maybe it's saving up another $100 and building an even better wheelset that you will keep for longer and appreciate more

I knew I wanted black machined front wheels.

I guess I should be asking for brands and models to start with, as there are a ton of different kinds and I have no idea where to start.

I do mostly commuting and long rides (10ish miles) or so right now, no crazy wheel slamming. I really dont know the advantages between deep rims and shallow (from what Ive gathered deep are "sturdier"/while shallow are lighter), or have any idea what spoke count would effect.

I dont want to take apart and rebuild my bike because when I get new stuff I'll still have a bunch of parts and nothing to do with them.

so more directly. Black machined front wheels, for commuting/long rides/on kinda sketchy streets?

I dont know where to start on brands for rims, cogs, or anything. the prices vary so widely and theres so many different kinds it's hard to narrow down stuff simply by lurking on the forum and reading reviews and such.

If you want something between light and strong, somewhere in the middle, I'd look at building up some Kinlin xr-200 rims in 24hole front and 28hole rear. (big discount on random kinlin xr-270 rims in random colors).
For hubs look around at road hubs. Find something low profile, in the spoke count you decide to go with, and light weight. Pick any All city, Origin 8, Formula rear track hub in matching spoke count.
Match the rims and hubs to any appropriate length double butted spoke.
For cogs Dura Ace is good quality and cheap price.

Someone dropped this link in another thread, but this site has Kinlins a lot cheaper than Fairwheel (even after shipping): https://www.bikehubstore.com/Kinlin-X...im-p/xr200.htm

And of course Scrod will have them before long at Retrogression too, so there's that.

i consider the deal i got on my wheel components to be very good, cxp-22s for 25 each, iro hubs for 15 each, shipping, spokes and nipples bringing it up closer to 150 total... and that's a nice wheelset for 150, much nicer than most premade wheelsets at that price.

of course then i spent another 40 bucks on linseed oil rim tape and a nice park spoke wrench, and still had to true with my forks and brakes.

the kinlin build kit from scrod is bound to be the best value (i guess we'll see) like all of his things and kinlins are awesome wheels, but in general i'd say unless you have all the tools already you're better off buying prebuilt wheels at such a low pricepoint.

what exactly do you use the oil for? and could I use the same linseed oil used for oil painting?

holy heck bikehubstore carries kinlin now. when i posted up that link they were just carrying hubs. that's awesome, now just need them to carry spokes and it's a one stop shop.

I asked Brandon if they were going to carry track hubs and he said in time they're just trying to get the road and mtn stuff running smoothly.

I just checked with alchemy where i got my kinlin xr270 for my wife's build and they're $55 ea...Bikehub is $38 ea, that's unbelievably cheap!

the lbs people i have talked to all say it takes a really long time to build your own wheels.

The first time you build a wheel it will take 45 minutes to an hour. The more you do it the less time it takes.

they're just trying to add to the voodoo mystique of wheel building, my wheelbuilder said exactly what trafficcasauras said around 45min or less. It only takes a while when you get interrupted by people

I can read stuff on how to build wheels all I want but it will never even comes close to the learning experience of just doing it yourself. I'll be ok if it takes a long time. besides a bike is a pretty personal thing, its worth learning about so I dont have to be worthless and go to the LBS every time something goes wrong

That's because they want you to pay them to do it instead.

yeah linseed oil same as the stuff for painting. it's just to keep the threads smooth and make it easier to get the nipples on. you still have to check tension with the spokes, not through pressure of the wrench, because oiled threads still don't give you uniform feedback on tension.

Are you sure you want to build? I looked into building a set of Deep V's and they cost more than buying them as a set.

What do you need to build your own wheels besides:

• Rim
• Spokes
• Nipples
• Rim Tape
• Inner Tube
• Tire

the bare minimum as far as tools? A nipple wrench, ....?

rim, hub, spokes, nipple, rim tape, spoke wrench, truing stand, spoke tension meter.

Patient and knowledge should be on the list too.

wheel smith spoke prep ... lubricates during build, holds and keeps threads smooth after. Also 2 diff colors in the kit allow you to tell the diff between diff length and drive non drive lengths ... https://www.wheelsmith.com/ourtools.html

How necessary is a truing stand and tension meter?

I built both my front and rear on the bike without either.... First time build for me.

I checked the dish by flipping the wheel around and making sure it was even with the brake pads both ways.

that's how i built this wheelset

just a good set of hands and a bike frame goes a long way.

just be sure you don't strain your back too much sitting awkwardly by your overturned bike. a stand is definitely the way to go if you are going to be truing a wheel more than once a month, i'd say.

if you just want to build up a set of wheels, i don't even think i'd bother going more than ten minutes out of your way or spending more than five dollars to use one.

Immana tack on a question here - is it significantly more difficult to build a 24 or 28-spoke wheel than a 32? I've never built a wheel before but I have a serious yen for light wheels and I would like to build them myself.