Originally Posted by
bajaking
Wow, thank you folks! So much info. I admit I was secretly hoping "build it yourself!" would be a strong suggestion, and now that I see how active these forums are, I'll poke around for wisdom on doing exactly that. And tracking down a copy of The Wheel Book.
A hypothetical, though: is there any factor which can override build quality to some extent? For example, can a 40 spoke, all carbon, double wall mountain bike wheel with fat tires on it built by an unlucky ham-fisted knuckledragger actually be stronger than say a 24 spoke Velocity something-or-other built by a true wheel professional?
Meantime, I'll have to shop for a prebuilt incorporating some of the features/specs/brands mentioned above. To be sure I get something that actually fits on the bike - design and quality aside - my first guess at the crucial overall specs is:
1. wheel diameter (I know this one! 700c)
2. width - actually I have no idea about this. Can a wheel designed for 32mm tires accommodate a wider tire, if it'll fit in the frame?
3. dropout width (distance between dropouts, whatever that is called)
4. disc (vs non-disc. Another easy one!)
5. hub that accommodates Shimano 7 (or 8, I'll have to check) speed gear set cassette.
I have no idea about these things yet, especially #5, so go easy on me...
Late to the game here but I thought I would add my 2 cents as I had a similar problem.
I can only echo many of the posts that say your wheel builder or LBS did not know what they were doing. I had a rear wheel going out often. Bought a new set of wheels and the rear kept going out of true. I finally looked around and found a real wheel builder and when to him. He made some recommendations and built me an entirely new rear wheel. That was 6 years ago and about 15k miles. It has remained true this whole time.
Now, what I do recommend is that if you find a builder, make sure they do a wheel plot or graph of your spokes and the tension. My builder did my old wheel and then the new wheel and the spoke tension plot showing all the spokes was a rear eye opener. He got all the tension almost equal and the plot of the tension looks very round. If you have one or two spokes over or under, that can cause a problem, so best to graph it.
Anyways, this was a 32 spoke rear too. Same Shimano hub, only changed the rim and then used different spokes. Cost me around 250 but like I said, it has never went out of round since the initial build. Ohh, I am strictly road and not MTB. Good luck. Find a builder though, a good builder.
john