Winter wheels
bobones
Posts: 1,215
My current winter wheels are Ambrosio Evolution on 105 hubs. The rims are worn and needing replaced. These wheels are also heavy (2.1kg).
I have been quoted around £100 to have the wheels respoked and rimmed by the wheel builder, but would I be better off just buying a set of Shimano R500s for £68?
Another option is to attempt to re-rim the wheels myself. Planet X have a pair of Evolution rims for £50. I have never attempted a task like this, but is it worth a shot?
Anything else I should be considering? I don't really want to pay much more than £100 to get myself sorted.
I have been quoted around £100 to have the wheels respoked and rimmed by the wheel builder, but would I be better off just buying a set of Shimano R500s for £68?
Another option is to attempt to re-rim the wheels myself. Planet X have a pair of Evolution rims for £50. I have never attempted a task like this, but is it worth a shot?
Anything else I should be considering? I don't really want to pay much more than £100 to get myself sorted.
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For the sake of £68 I wouldnt even attempt to replace a spoke let alone build new wheels from your old ones!0
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The R500s for me were a great winter training wheel. Hit lots of pothole and cycled in all conditions and they were trouble free.0
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I'd go with the r500's for £68...0
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I came to the same conclusion when building up my winter bike. My R501's have done 2 winters and countless potholes during my night rides, and they are still round and true. I'm about to give the bearings their annual clean and regrease before winter sets in.0
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Impossible to say without knowing what you weigh and the spoke count on the handbuilts0
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I weigh 70kg/11st. My handbuilts are on 105 hubs which come in 32/32 only so they are a bit overbuilt for me. I like these wheels though: they are smooth and comfortable and you can tell that they have some decent qualities even if they are a bit heavy.
I've been watching videos and reading about re-rimming a wheel, and it doesn't look too hard so I might just attempt to do it myself and learn some new skills.
https://youtu.be/1kHAdW98VXA?list=PL6D2D4EB862ECE34F0 -
32/32 isn't overbuilt the R500s are underbuilt particularly if they are going to be used in winter running lights as your more prone to hitting potholes and rough patches. My advice is re rim the hand built, whether or not you can successfully do it yourself is another question entirely
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How good is the wheelbuilder? My local bike shop rebuilt my rear after a mechanical disaster, and frankly I should have got my money back - it went horribly out of true within 5 mins flat. But if you trust the wheelbuilder, get the wheel rebuilt - 105 hubs are good stuff, just get a new rim. Plus the weight difference over R501s will be negligible.
It's just a hill. Get over it.0 -
The wheelbuilder is the legendary "Big Al" Gow - http://www.wheelcraft.net/ (or more likely one of his apprentices), but I think I might just buy the rims from PX and try to do it myself. The spokes and nipples are in good nick so I think I'll be able to transfer to the new rims without much hassle and make a decent stab of getting them trued and tensioned.0
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Before you start make sure you measure the Effective Rim Diameter of the old and new rims. If they are more than a couple of mm different then you will also need new spokes.
There are a number of sites that describe how to measure the ERD eg. https://leonard.io/edd/howtomeasure0 -
They're the exact same rims - Ambrosio Evolution 32H. I've ordered them now with a couple of rim tapes for £52. I can see me regretting this, but I'll let you know how I get on!0
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OK, update as promised.
I finished the wheels yesterday. I made a major boob though as I didn't realize that my rear wheel had 36 holes and not 32 so I had to buy another rim. Doh!
I did the front first. Transferring the spokes was easy enough: I used an electric screwdriver to speed up the process once I'd detensioned all the spokes with my Cyclo spoke wrench, which quickly cracked when I tried to retension the wheel. I bought a Rixen Kaul Spokey to replace it and this is much, much better and seems to be the choice of the pros - Big Al Gow (of Wheelcraft) and Willie Bain (Commonwealth Games mechanic) both use these. A decent spoke key makes all the difference.
I also bought a Tacx Exact truing stand, which is definitely not the choice of the pros, but it is cheap and cheerful and good enough for me. It cost thirty odd quid, but should come in handy in future.
I probably spent about 2 hours on each wheel: it takes a good while just to transfer the spokes, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to get them true. I repeatedly destressed the spokes by lying the wheel flat on the carpet balanced on the axel and putting a my weight on the rim using both hands at different points along the rim then flipping the wheel over and repeating. Seems more effective than squeezing parallel spokes? The tensions are probably all over the shop, but it feels reasonable by hand so hopefully I'll get away with it.
Anyway, I've had a couple of test rides: the wheels have stayed true so I'm really happy with the results so far, and I'm glad I was brave enough to have a go and try to pick up a new skill. (Blowing own trumpet: this is on top of replacing my winter bike headset using a home made press so I can do virtually every bike maintenance tasks myself). I might try building a wheel from scratch with the spare 32H rim I now have. Perhaps the start of a new career?
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OK, update as promised.
I finished the wheels yesterday. I made a major boob though as I didn't realize that my rear wheel had 36 holes and not 32 so I had to buy another rim. Doh!
I did the front first. Transferring the spokes was easy enough: I used an electric screwdriver to speed up the process once I'd detensioned all the spokes with my Cyclo spoke wrench, which quickly cracked when I tried to retension the wheel. I bought a Rixen Kaul Spokey to replace it and this is much, much better and seems to be the choice of the pros - Big Al Gow (of Wheelcraft) and Willie Bain (Commonwealth Games mechanic) both use these. A decent spoke key makes all the difference.
I also bought a Tacx Exact truing stand, which is definitely not the choice of the pros, but it is cheap and cheerful and good enough for me. It cost thirty odd quid, but should come in handy in future.
I probably spent about 2 hours on each wheel: it takes a good while just to transfer the spokes, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to get them true. I repeatedly destressed the spokes by lying the wheel flat on the carpet balanced on the axel and putting a my weight on the rim using both hands at different points along the rim then flipping the wheel over and repeating. Seems more effective than squeezing parallel spokes? The tensions are probably all over the shop, but it feels reasonable by hand so hopefully I'll get away with it.
Anyway, I've had a couple of test rides: the wheels have stayed true so I'm really happy with the results so far, and I'm glad I was brave enough to have a go and try to pick up a new skill. (Blowing own trumpet: this is on top of replacing my winter bike headset using a home made press so I can do virtually every bike maintenance tasks myself). I might try building a wheel from scratch with the spare 32H rim I now have. Perhaps the start of a new career?
Well done. For what it's worth I think it's was the right decision. You get to learn a new skill and you get all the satisfaction and benefits from it.
It's a bit overbuilt for you really, there are people that want to put everybody on 36 spokes, regardless of how much they weight. Having said that, no harm done..... it's better to ride an overbuilt wheel than an underbuilt wheel
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