aka Tom Reingold
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA
Posts: 40,502
Bikes: 1962 Rudge Sports, 1971 Raleigh Super Course, 1971 Raleigh Pro Track, 1974 Raleigh International, 1975 Viscount Fixie, 1982 McLean, 1996 Lemond (Ti), 2002 Burley Zydeco tandem
Mentioned: 511 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7348 Post(s)
It was 1978. I was 17 and working as a bike shop mechanic. I told my boss I wanted to build a pair of wheels for myself and was having trouble deciding what hubs to start with. He surprised me and said I should use Campagnolo Record hubs. I didn't think of myself as deserving such high-end stuff, but he pointed out that quality matters, especially in hubs. I followed his advice, and I used Super Champion Arc en Ciel rims.
Those rims left with the bike they were on when I sold the bike. Or maybe the bike was stolen. I don't remember, but the wheels did not fail. No wheel that I've built has ever failed completely. I have a pair of wheels I built in about 1983, for my commuter bike. They've been bashed on potholes, and the rear wheel has flat spots, but it's ridable. I retired those wheels last year.
I've built plenty of other wheels for myself and for other people. I now volunteer at a bike coop on Monday evenings, and I teach people how to true and build wheels. This past Monday, two people with no experience ended up truing their wheels, under my tutelage. They did fine jobs.