Originally Posted by
harshbarj
It's been from 4 separate places and covers about 8 or 9 wheels, all new builds. One I simply will not go to again as I broke a total of 8 spokes in 4 weeks(with the first one happening on the way home from the shop), with them repairing the wheel 3 times in that span. The latest two at another shop I spent almost $700 on the build for a pair and it lasted all of a month. They replaced the spoke for free, but I don't expect it to last. I also inform them it's for a utility bike that regularly hauls over 300lbs (~140kg). But I have had spokes break before having a chance to do any hauling
That’s a crap run. It takes me back to something the guy who was working in my LBS and built my first custom track wheels told me. He used to work for Zipp. “Lots of people can build a wheel, but not many people can do it really well”
It may be worth your time, and from what you’ve wasted, definitely your money to seriously think about building your own wheels.
As a guy that has floated in between 110-140kg for my cycling life, and likes to ride fast, I got sick of not being able to buy what I wanted or paying way too much for a custom build. The only spoke I’ve broken was when I rolled the dice and replaced a cracked rim and re-used the 3yo spokes. My biggest test came in building my own MTB wheels which are now 6 months old and are yet to run out of true.
TBH I was kind of pooping my pants at my first build, I’ve got a reasonable amount of confidence now. The principles are actually fairly basic and there’s tons of helpful information in posts and YouTube videos.