Eggplant Jeff

...and was it even vaguely economical?

I need a new wheelset and I can't come up with any way of buying one that's significantly less than about $150-$180. So I'm wondering if building my own would be worthwhile.

I've never done it and have none of the tools (spoke wrench, truing stand, etc). Thoughts?

marcelinyc

3 hours but I didn't have a clue when i started

concernicus

very economical

tvphobic

Maybe like marcelinyc, I was so ignorant I didn't even know it was supposed to be hard. I had tacoed a front wheel in a collision with a car and just bought the rim and spokes, laced up and trued the wheel almost entirely by sound. I've come a long way since then, and I have gotten pretty quick at it. Wheelbuilding is really fun and may take some time to learn but really saves money in the long run.

jur

Economies are different in Oz. My case was a complete rebuild after I had 2 broken spokes replaced by the LBS at $20 a pop. At the 3rd spoke, I replaced it myself. At the 4th one I rebuilt the whole wheel. The cost of spokes was approx 60% of the LBS doing the whole job but I wanted to learn.

If I bought quality parts and built the wheel it would be vastly less than buying such a wheel where madness seems to reigh.

Retro Grouch 

I'm going to disagree with that. I can buy a whole new preassembled wheelset for less than I have to pay for new hubs, rims, and spokes.

Eggplant Jeff

See, that's my concern... At like $0.90 a spoke, a pair of 32-spoke wheels is almost 60 bucks, I found a pair of reasonably-decent-looking rims on ebay for $40, I'm up to $100 without hubs or a truing stand!

genericbikedude

The only correct answer to "who built those wheels for you?" is: "I did."

jur

This is IF I bought on ebay. At the LBS, just get the wheelset.

Spokes are a dollar a piece, so for a 32 spoke wheelset you are looking at $60+ just for the spokes.

I do not have any tools except a spoke wrench on my Crank Bros minitool. I thought it was relatively easy. I used Barnetts manual chapter 17 on wheel truing, you can download that very useful chapter for free (unfortunately I forgot where, but just google it).

r-dub

If all you want is a rideable wheel at a low cost, buy them prebuilt from nashbar or chucks or some other discounter. You will likely have to pay to have them professionally trued or spend some time truing them yourself.

If, on the other hand, you want to dictate what rim, spokes, nipples, hub you use, you're left with either building it yourself or contracting it to a builder...in that case, diy is far more economical (though expert built wheels are almost always worth the price.)

Anders K

I build my own wheels because it´s fun and a great feeling rolling on wheels I built myself. I work with Gerd Schraner´s method of lacing the wheel. I have only built four wheels so far but I think it is a relaxing work. Just don´t stress the process.
It is probably not cheeper to build your own wheels, not compared to machinebuilt wheels anyway, but the feeling of satisfaction when rolling on your homebuilt wheelset is great. And if you need to fix a wheel in a sunday when LBS is cloesed you can do it yourself. The wheels you build will with some practice be far more better built than machinebuilt wheels. Or so I hope

motorhommmer

Disagree, the only reason to build wheels is that you enjoy it. Always cheaper to buy full wheels. However:

1) Replacing rims, when reusing spokes and hub cheaper
2) Replacing spoke which breaks cheaper
3) Truing wheels cheaper
4) Not having to run to LBS easier time wise

If you have the interest good skill to learn, but if it is simply buy 2 wheels and when rim wear chuck and replace with 2 new wheels - not cheaper

cruentus

I learned wheel building on motorcycles, and came "back" to bicycles. I've never used a tension guage, and all the wheels came out OK. If you have to buy parts at retail, it usually doesn't pay to DIY. If I find deals on FleaBay, or on-line retailers, then I'll build up a set. I recently found a NIB set of Campy Veloce hubs (front 32, rear 36) on FleaBay for $65 for the pair. If I can find a decent pair of rims for $40-$50, I'll be able to build up a set of wheels for much less than they would cost pre-built.

chewa

I've built 8 wheels now, and commute on a pair. First one took me about 5 hours and I'm probably down to a couple of hours for a back wheel and slightly less for a front, but I do try to get them as near perfect as possible.

My last good set of touring wheels cost the best part of £300 ($500+) to buy as they had Hope hubs mavic rims and DT spokes and were handbuilt. I've since rebuilt them when they wore out after about 18months (10000 miles) for just the cost of the rims.

I'm commuting on a winter set of wheels I've built. The main joy I get from the process is that "I built them", and I love the fact that it's a combination of art and science, stressing the components to produce a strong wheel.

simplify

Agreed. It's a point of pride, and marks you as a skilled mechanic.

And economically, I don't think it's fair to compare a wheelset that you build, with a machine-built wheelset that you order from the catalog. Doing your own build, you choose better spokes (double-butted instead of the ubiquitous straight-gauge) and you can properly seat the heads and stress relieve the spokes as you build. Machines don't do that. You end up with a better wheel, if you take your time and do it right, and more importantly, you end up with a much better understanding of *why* it's a better wheel.

And the feeling you get when you ride the wheels you built for the first time? Priceless.

TallRider

For building wheels the first time, Sheldon Brown's guide is extremely helpful, walks you through all of the important points. Many of us have started building wheels with his guide.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

If you want to get deeper into the theory and some finer technical points, Jobst Brandt's book The Bicycle Wheel is very good. I had it as bedtime reading for a couple of weeks when I first bought it. Really.

Al1943

I don't see any way you can build your own for less than what the larger professional shops do it for, in fact I would expect it to cost quite a bit more. The only economic relief is that in the process you will probably learn enough about wheel construction to maintain your wheels in the future and possibly save some money down the road. I build my own because I enjoy it and I can take all the time I need to do the fine tuning and maintenance.

Al

concernicus

i feel it is economical in that when you pay an lbs to build a wheel, you get a wheel. however, when you build your own wheel, you pay for the parts, and the knowledge of how to do so and, like someone said earlier, how to maintain your wheels throughout their life.

cascade168

I think in most cases, this is true. I just bought a set of wheels (Sun CR18 rims, DT 14ga spokes, and Deore hubs/w QRs) for $99, on sale at Nashbar. 10% off that yields $90. There is usually no way you can purchase those components for $90 at retail prices. These were to put slicks on a MTB for city/beater use. I spent an hour on each wheel re-truing, re-tensioning, and stress relieving, as, out of the box, they were what you'd expect of a $99 wheelset (i.e. mediocre build). But, now they are decent and should last a long time.

I love building wheels a la carte, but I know it's not the economically smart way to do it. So, I only do it that way if I have my heart set on specific components and then go for sale prices when I am willing to compromise here and there.

Tel

I just completed the advanced wheel building and suspension course at the United Bicycle Institute in Oregon and can say that I really enjoyed it. The main tools you will need are a decent truing stand (Park $160+), a dishing tool ($30+), spoke wrench, spoke tension meter and Boiled Linseed Oil (to lubricate the spoke threads). There are some good books eg: "the art of wheelbuilding" Gerd Schraner and there are various tools online for estimating spoke lengths (see the DT Swiss web site) Spoke lengths and tension are critical. The key to success is to strictly follow the prescribed process.

With regard to whether it's worth it, it really depends on what you have to pay for the components: rim, spokes and hubs. If you have to pay full retail it's hard to compete with ready made wheels. You do, of course, get the satisfaction (and worry) of riding wheels you built yourself!

Scooper

I spent 45 minutes lacing the rim to the hub, then about an hour truing the wheel and tensioning the spokes. I had bought a 1972 Schwinn Paramount that had the Campagnolo high flange hubs and tubular rims, and I wanted to use clincher tires. I bought Mavic Open Pro rims and DT-Swiss stainless double butted spokes to use with the Campy hubs. A big consideration in my case is that the newer off-the-shelf wheelsets have rear hubs set up for 7 - 9 cog cassettes and have wider spacing than the Campy hub with Regina 5 cog freewheel I wanted to use, so I really didn't have much choice. It was either build the wheels myself or pay someone else to do it.

For me, economics were secondary as I wanted to experience wheelbuilding anyway as a personal goal. Now that I have the tools (truing stand, tensiometer, dishing tool, etc.) and have done a couple of wheels, I have confidence that it's a skill I can use for future projects.

There are lots of resources available on wheelbuilding. Personally, I found Sheldon Brown's instructions very useful and the Barnett's Manual chapters on wheelbuilding and truing and repair extremely helpful and virtually idiot proof.

Tel

I just completed the advanced wheel building and suspension course at the United Bicycle Institute in Oregon and can say that I really enjoyed it. The main tools you will need are a decent truing stand (Park $160+), a dishing tool ($30+), spoke wrench, spoke tension meter and Boiled Linseed Oil (to lubricate the spoke threads). There are some good books eg: "the art of wheelbuilding" Gerd Schraner and there are various tools online for estimating spoke lengths (see the DT Swiss web site) Spoke lengths and tension are critical. The key to success is to strictly follow the prescribed process.

With regard to whether it's worth it, it really depends on what you have to pay for the components: rim, spokes and hubs. If you have to pay full retail it's hard to compete with ready made wheels. You do, of course, get the satisfaction (and worry) of riding wheels you built yourself!

DannoXYZ 

I'll back up what Scooper said. In addition to this build, you'll reap benefits in teh future as well. You'll know how to fix and true wheels, saving yourself even more down the line.

roadfix

I used to do it because it was fun....but in those cases, they involved aftermarket hubs which required a custom build anyway. But the last few wheelsets I bought were, cheap, stock, machine laced wheelsets which were more than adequate for my riding style. Of course, I retensioned all spokes after using them for a few miles. Cost was not a factor but these wheelsets were much cheaper than buying the components to build them.
Just last week I *had* to build a rear wheel myself from scratch because it involved using an eccentric fixed gear hub. Since I don't do this often, I had to refer to my old white wheel building book for the intial rim/hub orientation for the first set of spokes. Doing this over a glass of wine made this project fun.

Eggplant Jeff

Well, there don't seem to be any particularly inexpensive fixed wheelsets. Harris has 'em about as cheap as anywhere else, for $170. The thing is I am replacing crappy steel 27" rims so there are no parts I can reuse really... theoretically I could reuse the hubs I guess but they don't feel very smooth and they're generally pretty skuzzy. It seems kinda dumb to rebuild nice wheels on crappy hubs. I wouldn't mind learning to build 'em up, but it seems like the best bet is to start with buying a wheelset just to get the parts (things like the 64 spokes and the hubs) and then next time I need to do something (like rebuild it with a new rim) then I'll DIY.