RustyJames 

I have a MTB frame that needs the dropouts filled and I have been poking around the interwebz to see my hub/spoke/rim options for rim brakes and things ain’t great. Almost everything is disc brake and the cost adds up quickly. I want to go all new since most of the 26” used stuff I have found seems to be in rough condition.

I was poking around Universal Cycles website and I can get a set of decent machine built wheels for ~$200. Anyone have any experience with machine built wheels? All new stuff for $200 (assembled!) seems like a win.

Thanks for the feedback!

AngryScientist 

The low cost machine built wheels usually use boat anchor hubs and straight gauge spokes which make for heavy riding, sluggish wheels in my experience. What hubs, spoked and rims is this $200 set using? What are you planning on using this bike for?

gugie 

Yeah, but it's $200. I bought a set like that several years ago that worked out just fine. Honestly, tires make a much bigger difference on ride than wheels. Also note that this is a mountain bike, not a fast racer. 26" rims will have a minimum 1.5" width, maybe wider - @RustyJames, what size tires do you expect to use?

And machine built wheels can be built with quality components. Wheelsmith was pretty famous for high quality, machine built wheels BITD, no one complained about them back then. The fact that they're $200 for a set tells me the components are pretty cheap, which you alluded to.

daverup 

I bought a set of DT Swiss 700c wheels with Shimano Disc Thru axle hubs that were machine built a couple of years ago.
They were true when I received them, but I went through checking the spoke tension anyway.
I think the machine does the tensioning the fastest way it can, keeping the wheel true and round. This resulted in uneven tension in a couple of spots. By taking my time, I re-tensioned and got it much more consistent. I haven't had any real problems with the set.

Repack Rider

I built all the wheels for the MountainBikes company, until I couldn't keep up.

We visited Wheelsmith in Palo Alto, and I saw that the machine did a better job than I did, in seconds.

We supplied the hubs, spokes and rims, and they did a great job for us. The wheel will reflect the components used.

RustyJames 

Here is one example;




Plain Deore hubs not listed above but in the general description. Like I said, decent but not WOW! Weekend put-around rider, I’m not trying to smash downhill records.

RustyJames 

gugie Sorry, didn’t address your question. Tires in the 2 inch range but that is still undecided.

gugie 

Yeah, with that size tire I highly doubt you'd notice a difference in the ride between a $200 and a $800 set of wheels. Longevity would be the only difference.

icemilkcoffee 

If you are buying new MTB rims, do yourself a favor and get tubeless or tubeless ready rims. You'll have to pay more than $200 but you won't regret it. BTW I got used Mavic CrossMax and CrossRoc tubeless 26" wheelsets for both my sons' MTB's. These are true tubeless rims with no spoke holes in the rim bed. I paid $100 for one set and $200 for the other. So they are out there. Keep your eyes peeled.

zandoval 

If machine built wheels MBW is what I can afford to keep ridding then bring um on! Yep... I am one of those cheap bastard machine built wheel set guys. I have been quite satisfied with all sets considering the money I saved.

Now days when I get a new Machine Buildt Wheel set I go through a close inspection. I check the quality of the spokes and their installation first. Gauge, length, depth of the nipples, neck, tension and positioning on the hub first. If all that is good then I am ready to go. Often they are not.

So I end up loosening everything up and then retrueing the wheels. Not a rebuild but just a reset.

You can definitely find a set of machine built wheels costing less then it would to buy all the components and build it yourself.

There are many that would recommend a professionally made custom built wheel set. If ya got the money that's thats the way to go...

himespau 

Bought a set of machine built wheels from velomine a decade or so ago for less than it would have cost me to buy the same hubs for a bike I was building for my wife. Checked the spoke tension and it was all right on and the wheels were true. A decade later, they're still true.

Schweinhund

I was poking around the innertubes in your area and found a few options I would consider.
for 50 bucks, the wheels on this thing are decent enough. I've flipped a few of this bike and I've been impressed.
Plus you get parts to trade or flip.
.4]https://offerup.com/item/detail/f9b2219c-10e9-36f4-a3bc-e1c3955b2e00?cid=l].4

Or this set of wheels, with machined brake track and disks, + 9 speed cassette + tires and tubes.
Look to be pretty decent and they've been listed long enough where he'll come down.[/url]
https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/...590302217.html
I'm just a cheapskate.

RustyJames 

Slight derailment - when did through axles become a thing? I am totally ignorant on those but I think they went hand-in-hand with disk brakes?

Jeff Neese

I was skeptical until I bought a set of Wheelmaster wheels from Velomine. They were well under $200 and they're great. Tension was checked and tweaked but they were very close right out of the box. The rims were Sun CR18 which I have used on a few custom builds, and the Origin 8 hubs are surprisingly nice.

Andy_K 

I think it probably depends on the machine, but my rule of thumb for automation is "if you can explain, step-by-step, how you do something, it can be automated." From there it's just a matter of refining the process until you get the results you want. Wheel building is a very mechanical process, so apart from choosing the components, I can't see any reason it wouldn't be possible to make a machine that builds better wheels than a human. John Henry won't like it, but this is reality. Humans are obsolete technology.

I've bought some cheap machine-built wheels from VeloMine and then did basic stress-relieving an re-tensioning before using them. I've also bought a similar set from the same source and just ridden it. It needed re-truing in a short time, but it wasn't bad. I'm still using both of those wheelsets quite happily.


You're right that thru axles go hand-in-hand with disc brakes, but thru axles are much more recent. They solve the problem of not being able to mount the wheel without getting rub on the rotors. I want to say they came into common usage around 2012, but I could be off by a few years either way.

gugie 

If this were a CR list thread, someone would jump in and say "that's off-topic." If we're talking thru axle, that's not C&V.

RustyJames 

Wow, I have missed out. First time I have heard of Velomine. They will definitely be getting a few $$ from me. Thx Jeff!

nlerner

I bought a basic set of 26” wheels for my mtb commuter from Velomine and have been very pleased: Sun CR18 rims, basic Shimano non-disc hubs, likely 14g spokes. True out of the box and holding up well through the rigors of winter urban commuting.

daverup 

I don't see it mentioned here, but through axles are not backward compatible with your C&V frame and fork dropouts.

gugie 

Well, the Bike Butcher of Portland could...

wait, what the heck am I talking about?

daverup 

I'm sure you could, but that might be that "bridge too far"

gugie 

Yep. I've done some crazy stuff, but that's a no-no.

C9H13N 

I have a set of Velo Mine / Wheel Master machine built wheels. Mine are HED Belgium to 105 hubs with butted DT spokes. They were cheaper pre-built than I could have bought as parts and built myself.

I weigh over 200 lbs and they have survived an STP double century and a couple seasons of commuting just fine. I did nothing to them out of the box and I’ve never had to true them since.

zandoval 

Hey!!! That's the ticket... Gonna nab me a set of Sun CR18s today... Thanks