halfspeed

There's no shortage of incompetent hacks either.

mmmdonuts

If I were shopping for custom wheels I would try Psimet first because of his reputation on BF. Those who get wheels from him are very satisfied with the product. Those who know Rob personally say he is a good guy. And his posts on BF show that he knows his stuff. I know very little about the other wheelbuilders out there, local to me or otherwise.

Those who feel some wheelbuilders are not responsive should take some advice from Rob himself:
"I have adopted a philosophy that I should never have to chase down someone I want to give money to." - Rob Curtis (PSIMET).

Bob Ross

I emailed Psimet a year or so ago asking for a quote and he replied within ~6 hours.

jayp410

I had some wheels made by a custom builder (WMW) and he sent an itemized list of costs, down to the nipples. The labor part of it was $50 / wheel, which isn't that much as far as I'm concerned for the amount of work and skill that's required. It ended up being about 10% of the cost of the wheelset, but that was mostly my fault for choosing high end components. With lower end components it might have been 20%. If someone charged half of that for labor it would have only made a 5-10% difference. Anyway I get the impression that wheel builders aren't in it to make serious money...I think they do it because they enjoy it.

jrobe

If you want fast responce and quick shipping, use Boyd wheels. They responded to my email within a couple hours and had my wheels in a very short time. Great wheels too.

NebrVandal

This...

jdon

I would at least check out Frank's Cyclery right in your own backyard first. I have never ridden his wheels but have spoken to him at his shop several times and is a pretty bright guy.

If I lived in the Bay area, I would probably go to Gravy for some wheels. No shortage of them around.

Don't get me wrong here, I have no experience with psimet and am not bashing him. I just laugh at people that think a presence on a forum makes one the be all, end all. If you aren't getting the response you need or want, go somewhere else.

Essex

+ 1

pgjackson

Weird, I had no problems getting quotes from Psimet and several other custom builders. In fact, Psimet was very good about answering my repeated questions.

NebrVandal

I went w/PSIMET b/c Rob would use the components that I wanted & build them the way that I wanted them. I know if there are any experienced wheelbuilders in Omaha, didn't want to waste my time searching. Plus, I knew that Rob's quality would be flawless. They were!

Daytrip

Rob's prices are pretty good. I seriously doubt anyone got "as good a wheelset for half the price."

I've never had a problem getting Psimet to send me a quote or get back to me to discuss the details on a build. It's the month you have to wait for the wheels to arrive that gets old, but once the wheels come--poof!--I'm feeling the love.

bbattle

I've had good wheelsets from harriscyclery and Spinlitecycling

I had phone conversations with both places; I believe Sheldon Brown built my wheels as he was the one on the phone with me.

bowman57

It went this way with me also, great wheels with good service would not go no where else for wheels after dealing with them and riding a set of BOYDS

NathanC

I had awesome customer service from Zen.

Always replied to emails promptly, and even when I had an issue with one wheel, I sent it from Sydney to USA and back, he Zen picked up the postage.

Quel

If you can wait, Psimet is worth the wait. My wheels from him are more than 1.5 years old and still as true as the day I got them. And they had a great price, lower than any other custom wheel builder I saw. But as a one man part-time operation he can sometimes be a bit slow to respond, plus you are looking at a month wait before you get the wheels. But it's almost the Fall, so you can probably wait.

However. Best hand built deal this second right now? Competitive cyclist open pro powertap pro+ wheel with DT comp spokes...$675. It's not 100% custom, but it's cheaper than even Psimet can go, which says a lot. But that's pretty rare.

Quel

Not to go morbid...but Sheldon died 2 or 3 years ago now.

DScott

PSIMET and some guy, no doubt one of his cross buddies based on the pic:



And you wonder why it takes so long to get back to you?

revchuck 

The only set of wheels I've had built were by Excel Sports Boulder, a standard build (Ultegra hubs, RR465 rims). I ordered them on Saturday, they shipped the following Wednesday. I'm happy with them. They also make lightweight builds if you want something like that.

Scummer

https://chicago.cx/cyclocross/what-ma...locross-wheel/

Word!

grwoolf

I had a wheel built by wheelbuilder.com and they were amazingly fast and I was very happy with the work. I got a quick respose on the quote, was able to talk to a person very quickly about build options and negotiation on the price, all good. They got the wheel out same day once I gave them the go-ahead. I like customer service, so they were a good fit for me.

If I have to wait a day or so for a quote and then maybe a week or more for a wheel to be built, that's just not a company I would pick first to do business with (but is fine for others). Generally, companies are either responsive or not, it's a cultural thing. It's sometimes harder for the smaller guys. Even if they want to be responsive, they just don't scale well when it gets busy.

urbanknight

Oh if only wheel building were that lucrative, I'd never have gone into teaching.

As for the OP, I don't know what the deal is. I have tried a few times to offer my services as a moonlighting hobby job. Having built a few hundred wheels over 17 years with satisfied customers, family members, and team mates, I would have thought people would like the promise of a 1 week turnaround time. I learned that (1) it costs a lot to ship wheels, and (2) most people will complain about waiting, but they are still willing to wait, for a well-known person before going with anyone not famous in the scene. Now my wife complains any time I take on a build and the parts arriving at the door wakes the baby, or I clutter one end of the (12 foot long) dining table for an evening with my truing stand and tools, or I finish one more trip around the wheel tightening spokes before cuddling... so it's all for the better I guess.

sbxx1985 

Rob's prices are hard to beat. And he's very good to his repeat customers.

He built my wife's wheels in October 2009. In April, I sent him my Assault for a powertap rebuild. I told him I didn't want to lose the wheel for long (being the demanding ahole I am). He had everything ready. The wheel arrived, he rebuilt it that night, and it was in the mail the next morning. One day turnaround.

He'll be the first to admit he's not very good sometimes at responding. But to his credit, his business has grown quite a bit since October 2009. We're starting to see some psimet racing kits here in Colorado.

sbxx1985 

I started a psimet wheel thread earlier this year. The hope was people could post their wheels, discuss their builds, and deposit their frustration if they didn't get a response. It seemed like a good idea.

I assume someone complained. The thread was locked, merged, made a sticky, and then sent to the other side of the internet.

valygrl

I have a set of ROL wheels. There was a problem with one rim -- mfr defect in Kinlin XR-270 rim resulting in pulsy braking, it was true and round, so you'd never know it was a problem w/o riding it. I emailed Sean (ROL) about the problem. Got a phone call from him 20 minutes later. He had me a new wheel right away.

Great customer service. If his wheel components match your needs, I wouldn't hesitate.

bbattle

You did notice the past tense in my sentences? If not, then perhaps you'll notice the eagle next to my name.