Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
I hope your LBS has a good wheel builder. It's not terribly hard to build a wheel and most shops will do it for you. Anyway, the good thing about this route is you can talk to a human being about how and where you ride your bike, what you're trying to get out of your wheels, etc, and they'll be able to recommend a setup that will be a good match for you.
Centerlock is generally preferable, but it's not a big deal, they both work. The dropouts in your bike are going to limit the skewer you can use.
My experince with hired tradesmen in general has been way less than perfect. Bike shops have not been an exception. Most shops seem to have, at best, one mechanic who knows what they are doing. The rest are learners, hired at the lowest wage the labor pool will supply. For that reason, I would prefer to go with a factory made wheelset. But I have not eliminated the option of a local wheel builder.