Wheel building; Where to begin?

mattwood

So. I have decided I need to do something with my commuter bike (cube aerial) and best bike (Argon 18 Krypton).

Currently I have some knackered old Fulcrum 7s on my Cube and SRAM S30 AL sprints on my Argon. Being of a currently heavy persuasion (100kg and currently dropping) I am looking to put together some wheels that could replace my S30s on my Argon and once I'm back at my ideal weight of around 85kg they would become training wheels and the S30s could go back on the Argon.

Clearly this will involve a small budget constraint of around £200 or so. And I have the small problem of not knowing how to begin with wheel building. I am not afraid to try however.

Is there a good custom build that I could achieve with this budget or are factory wheels going to be the way forward?

I also should add that I will be running 10/11 speed SRAM and Shimano drivetrains on any wheels I buy.

Thanks for your reading and for your help.

rrsodl

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19648375#p19648375]mattwood[/url] wrote:

So. I have decided I need to do something with my commuter bike (cube aerial) and best bike (Argon 18 Krypton).

Currently I have some knackered old Fulcrum 7s on my Cube and SRAM S30 AL sprints on my Argon. Being of a currently heavy persuasion (100kg and currently dropping) I am looking to put together some wheels that could replace my S30s on my Argon and once I'm back at my ideal weight of around 85kg they would become training wheels and the S30s could go back on the Argon.

Clearly this will involve a small budget constraint of around £200 or so. And I have the small problem of not knowing how to begin with wheel building. I am not afraid to try however.

Is there a good custom build that I could achieve with this budget or are factory wheels going to be the way forward?

I also should add that I will be running 10/11 speed SRAM and Shimano drivetrains on any wheels I buy.

Thanks for your reading and for your help.

You will probably save between £50 to £70 by not going to a wheel builder and doing it yourself.

You would probably need a book to learn how to build a wheel, I recommend Roger Musson wheel building guide and that cost £9 to download.
You would need a spoke key, say £8 including postage
You could use your bike fork and bike frame as a wheel jig if you want to save the cost of a proper truing stand... the cheapest that I'd buy would cost £40 - £50.
You would need a dishing tool at a cost of around £20. You might improvise a way of using your forks and frame to check the dishing.

Using the forks and frames is doable and lots of people do it but it doesn't help make the task any easier.

I don't expect you to buy a tension meter but some people feel they need one. The Park Tolls tension meter would set you back £50+ there are others that cost £250+

So, if you want to try wheel building because you want to learn how to do it the go ahead and have fun. I fully support your desire to learn the skill to build wheels. However, if you are looking simply to save a few quids then I don't think it's worth the trouble.

Vaughan1

I have built a pair of exal rims up from eBay £27 including the spokes. I had hubs. But they are lovely I intended them for training but they are as good as my mates open sports.
Get a book. The tools are not essential but you will get addicted so you may as well have them from start. Take your time and it's very rewarding. The only wheels I own I haven't built are fulcrum quattros.
I have mavic MA2 tubulars, rigida DP18, and I have exal on my town bike with a dynamo hub.
good luck.