wheel building

wine9555

Can a experience bike mechanic make as high a quality and light wheelset as American classic or would the materials cost make it an unwise choice.I know a guy that custom makes beautiful wheels but was checking into it before I asked him to make me a set

fossyant

The wheels made by a builder are generally better constructed than off the peg for a similar price (the builder will be slightly more expensive for a similar level wheel).

Smokin Joe

fossyant wrote:

The wheels made by a builder are generally better constructed than off the peg for a similar price (the builder will be slightly more expensive for a similar level wheel).

50% of all the wheels I had built for me by "experts" over the years have varied from poor to laughable. The other half have ranged from adequate to excellent. You have to be careful with handbuilts, for everyone who can build wheels properly there is another who merely thinks he can. I find factory built wheels to be of a far more consistant quality.

romans

Go build your own as it's not difficult once attended a course and you will never need to pay for adjustments/repairs. I build all my own wheels and it is good fun and I know how my wheels are performing and can judge from any sounds what is happening to them.

aracer

I build my own, and am completely convinced that at least my handbuilts are better than most factory built ones. I'm actually considering building my own new set using a set of AC420 rims, but onto different hubs.

Bear in mind that it is possible to get well built factory wheels, but it tends to cost more as it takes longer for them to make them. I suspect the American Classics probably fall into the "well built" category as I've never really heard any complaints about the build quality (either that or those are drowned out by all the negative comments I've heard about the AC hubs :roll: )

pliptrot

Factory built wheels are over-priced. No machine is yet good enough to build wheels properly, so at every factory that builds such wheels there are folk finishing them off in the time-honoured way. I'm pretty sure they don't get paid what a decent shop mechanic would get, so I'd plump for the LBS every time.

Also take a look around this forum for complaints about getting factory wheels serviced, getting spokes and so on. At least if you get wheels built by a local builder you have some accountability. Mavic don't give a stuff about after-sales service, I can promise you, and we know already that the big C is too cynical these days to offer support without premium cost.

nicklouse

a read of this might be informative.

Sorry it is ni the other area. But i think we covered most things.

top_bhoy

nicklouse wrote:

a read of this might be informative.

Sorry it is ni the other area. But i think we covered most things.

Sounds all very interesting but can you clarify and be a bit more specific which other area its in?

Thanks

nicklouse

Top_Bhoy wrote:

nicklouse wrote:

a read of this might be informative.

Sorry it is ni the other area. But i think we covered most things.

Sounds all very interesting but can you clarify and be a bit more specific which other area its in?

Thanks

Opps http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12536562 :oops:

Down the Road

pliptrot wrote:

Factory built wheels are over-priced. No machine is yet good enough to build wheels properly, so at every factory that builds such wheels there are folk finishing them off in the time-honoured way. I'm pretty sure they don't get paid what a decent shop mechanic would get, so I'd plump for the LBS every time.

Also take a look around this forum for complaints about getting factory wheels serviced, getting spokes and so on. At least if you get wheels built by a local builder you have some accountability. Mavic don't give a stuff about after-sales service, I can promise you, and we know already that the big C is too cynical these days to offer support without premium cost.

8 of the last 9 Tours have been won on factory built. Spent Tuesday playing with this years winner and can tell you the wheels are standard issue wheels you can buy.

Good factory wheels are now better built than 95% of hand builts.

Monty Dog

I think it's disparaging to say that the quality of factory built wheels is poorer than handbuilt wheels - perhaps you're confusing machine-built with factory built. The likes of Mavic, Campag and Easton et al have made significant investment in technology that even the best hand-builder can only dream of using things like ultrasonics and automated tension-meters that give a level of refinement that's extremely difficult to achieve by hand. With this technology it's possible to built stronger wheels with lighter components - most rims and spokes for hand-building are deliberately 'over-built' to compensate for the vagaries of hand-building. If you want to build good quality wheels, particularly with lighter rims and spokes then a tension-meter is a worthy investment - but try and find some readily-available, sub-400g rims these days. I build my own wheels too, as well as owning some factory wheels - but something like the new Mavic Tra-comp wheels look pretty special - I doubt you'd ever be able to build something as light and stiff using traditional components. Mavic also wouldn't be investing in a product that would seriously impact upon their reputation, whereas your LBS mechanic probably doesn't give a stuff.

aracer

Monty Dog wrote:

the new Mavic Tra-comp wheels look pretty special - I doubt you'd ever be able to build something as light and stiff using traditional components. Mavic also wouldn't be investing in a product that would seriously impact upon their reputation, whereas your LBS mechanic probably doesn't give a stuff.

Pretty hard to build something with as much aero drag with traditional components too :twisted:

Not sure Mavic care that much about how well their wheels perform as long as they look and are perceived to be high-tech. At least the new R-Sys wheels are competitive from a weight point of view (though Mavic seem to use scales which seriously underweigh for weighing their wheels). Previous Ksyriums are nothing special at all from any perspective - particularly given how much they cost and comparing what sort of traditionally built wheel you could get for the same money.

pliptrot

As I understand it all factory built wheels need final truing on a stand by hand. It's touching to imagine that the pros use of something is an ultimate endorsement: undoubtedly factory wheels won't slow them down, so if the money's right they'll ride them. And that's the point: if the buying public are prepared to stump up twice the cost of hand builts for factory builts, then Mavic et al can spend big money putting their factory builts under some very distinguished backsides. These guys are PAID to ride these wheels - by you!

If you say 95%, you should have figures to justify that. Are there any?