Confusion regins

benmitchell423

So, the hot topic is Wheels, sorry, yes wheels again!

I got wiped out by a deer on tuesday night and mashed my front wheel up beyond repair. So new wheels it is. I have a Defy 4 with 2300 so nothing special, however enjoy the riding and the sport so it will do for now. Question is on a limited budget what do i do.

Do I opt for a generic set of factory wheels that are not going to break the bank considering i may be pushing my luck to get to £200 or do i look at getting the components and build my own set? I love the idea of the build, am practical and am the person that everyone turns to to fix/build stuff for them in all walks of life. I love trying things and would be determined to get it right.

I have read through countless threads on here about the handbuilt route, plus all of those "what wheels" threads and am getting more and more confused.

I also think that it might be easier to sell matters to "the boss" if i could show her the cost of the components and the full price of a set built by someone else. The wheels would be an investment after all.....

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, with suggestions which will be most welcome on either side of the coin - just buy a set or get the bits and get my hands dirty.

Shout away people.

Ben

benmitchell423

This seems to have posted twice. Can someone delete one please? Sorry

hypster

Download Roger Musson's ebook "The Professional Guide to Wheel Building". Probably the best £9 you could ever spend on your bike.

http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/wheelbuilding/book.php

Once you have read and digested that you will have a much better idea of what is involved in building your own wheels.

You can build wheels on the cheap using only basic tools and the bike as a wheel jig but it is much easier (to get things right) if you invest in the right tools. It really depends on how many wheels you end up building but if you are handy you will find that once you manage it successfully, it gets addictive and you start offering your services to friends and family just for the practise!

lawrences

Books are long and have lots of words in but YouTube probably has some decent how to wheelbuilding videos as well.

Pretty sure it's hard to mess it up unless you're using lightweight components with high tolerances. Easy to manage hard to master I think is the sentiment with wheelbuilding.

benmitchell423

Thanks guys. I have looked at a few "How to" guides on the internet. I will get the book and have a look at that. Starting to get a little excited at the prospect of having a go at this.

B

ugo.santalucia

There is a guy selling a front wheel in the classifieds section. 105 hub on Ambrosio rim, perfect, go get it!

benmitchell423

Ugo,

Thanks for the heads up. I have literally just heard from my brother who is back from Holiday last night. He is kindly lending me his front wheel while i explore building a set. I am right in thinking the way forward is to:
- read the books previously mentioned
- scour the internet for advice (here is a good base with input from yourself and tcc the main contributors)
- select the right components
- task my very useful father with building a bespoke truing frame (will be perfect and well and truly over engineered like everything he builds for me)
- get stuck in
- if all else fails, take my bits to the lbs and ask them to sort out my hash up

b

ugo.santalucia

benmitchell423 wrote:

Ugo,

Thanks for the heads up. I have literally just heard from my brother who is back from Holiday last night. He is kindly lending me his front wheel while i explore building a set. I am right in thinking the way forward is to:
- read the books previously mentioned
- scour the internet for advice (here is a good base with input from yourself and tcc the main contributors)
- select the right components
- task my very useful father with building a bespoke truing frame (will be perfect and well and truly over engineered like everything he builds for me)
- get stuck in
- if all else fails, take my bits to the lbs and ask them to sort out my hash up

b

Just follow the book... don't ask on the internet, or you will end up with opposite advice and inevitably will follow the most optimistic and surely the wrong one

team47b

What kind of deer was it?

Wheel building info, give you something to do while waiting for your book to arrive...

http://thebiketube.com/book/export/html/39

keef66

I'm thinking Muntjac if it's only trashed the front wheel. Some of the Roe deer I encounter round here would I think put you in hospital if you hit one. Like a sideboard with hooves and antlers.

Good luck with the build. I'm feeling pretty Moneysupermarket having simply replaced a spoke and trued a wheel; must be very satisfying building a whole one!

benmitchell423

There was 3 doe Roe deer. The middle one of the three caught my front wheel and foot as I was travelling at about 17mph. spun me like a top and pushed me across the road into the bramble hedge. Took me a while to find my garmin and front light, also exploded the top off my water bottle so I had nothing to wash the blood off with!

Luckily I was on single track roads not far from home. It looked like it might be about to lash it down so went out with the intention of doing some loops of the smaller roads around home so I was never more than about 4 or 5 miles away should it rain. I was on a stretch back towards home, so only had a slow couple of miles walk dragging the bike on the back wheel! Cut my ride short though.

Quite looking forward to trying to build my own wheels, like all of my bold ideas, at least I know I can call on someone to fix my mistakes if required. I have to give it a go to see if I am successful first though.