What makes a good wheel and can I make one?

aw255

Ok, let me start at the beginning.
I have recently built a cyclo cross bike and to save cost I bought a cheap set of wheels (disc brakes) they work and do the job but but are they heavy and at some point will need replacing and that is what got me thinking.

There are thousands if not millions of reviews of bike wheels all selling the emperors new clothes.
Obviously weight is important and so is strength, but so is resistance and personal preference and brand loyalty. I'm not interested in going to carbon as it would mean a change of brakes and I'd like something I can use fairly easily all year.

Assuming we keep the same tyre to keep rolling resistance the same, surely a key area has to be the hub.
Now hubs vary hugely in cost, but I can't work out why.
They are either cup and cone or cartridge. Surely the grease and amount of friction within the hub plays a significant part in the effectiveness of a wheel and that the bearing can't vary that much and likewise spokes are don't vary too much in weight. So it's all down the the rim.
So if I can find a cheap light rim is it worth me replacing it with what I already have and therefore improving my wheels.
Linked to this I have I have campagnolo zonda road wheels.
I'm interested more in the theory /what if, not just go and buy a new pair of wheels, but if I replaced the hub on these would it make them significantly better or is it replacing the rim that will improve them?
I appreciate there are a lot of sweeping generalisations and in an evening when I've finished researching the internet I've convinced my self that I can't possibly buy anything less than a£1000 set of wheels due to reviews, but what is it that really varies between the wheels.
I suspect the main response will be just buy new wheels (and it probably will be cheaper) but I can't really see why hubs vary so much in cost and once we've thrashed all this out, would you have a go at the dark art of wheel building or just leave it to the pros?
Cheers

pilot_pete

Hubs vary in cost for numerous reasons, but predominantly quality and weight. The design, functionality and durability, free hub, seals, bearings, end caps etc etc. Add serviceability to those and you can see how a really cheap, either too heavy or too lightweight, with poor sealing from the elements and cheap bearings and free hub will not be robust and may well be troublesome. I had exactly this with the rear hub fitted to my Felt F65X cyclocross bike. I used it only as a winter bike but the free hub seized during the first winter. It was replaced under warranty but soon failed again. I had the wheel rebuilt with a Hope rear hub and 5 winters later it hasn’t even need servicing - it still spins like new. Absolutely trouble free, reliable and exceptional value for money.

Spokes vary in weight and design, either plain gauge, butted, double butted, round, bladed etc etc. It all depends what you want from your wheel and a good wheelbuilder will take you through the options including type of spokes, cross pattern, spoke count, nipple choice etc etc. Do they make that much difference? I think the answer is yes. If you want to build a light wheel, spokes do vary in weight and can have an effect of overall wheel weight. Depending on your weight and what you intend to use the wheel for, and the hub/ rim combination will dictate the best lacing pattern and spoke choice.

You mention just swapping your rim for another, maybe lighter. Well, there is a good chance you will need new spokes as your current spokes will likely not be the right length. Again, a wheelbuilder will be able to advise. A suitable pair of hand built wheels for your cyclocross bike will be significantly cheaper under £1000, possibly half that and still be robust, lighter than you have and ready to cope with the rigours of cyclocross and the associated muck, water and grime. I personally would start t(e build around a Hope hub, which I find exceptional.

Hope this helps.

PP

Nick Payne

I've been building wheels for about 40 years, and I still build them, but I also purchase factory-built wheels, as quite frequently they are cheaper than the retail price of purchasing the same hubs, rims, and spokes separately. For instance, I purchased a set of DT Swiss XM1501 MTB wheels last year - when I costed the wheels from bike24 versus the equivalent DT Swiss hubs, rims, and spokes from bike24, the factory-built wheels were about 20% cheaper than purchasing the separate components to build the wheels myself.

aw255

Thank you for your responses. Definitely alot of info there for me to think about.

cycleclinic

hubs don't change how fast you ride. grease and seals are there for a reason they do create drag but not alot and rolling resistance is an order of magnitude greater and air resistance two order greater. To be blunt hub rolling resistance on a maintained hub is irrelevant and can be ignored. If you think different I'll be blunt you might as well argue the earth is flat because physics ois not with you.

What make a good wheel. really simple. A stiff one (that normally means a stiff rim) and that means wide and properly tensioned spokes and a hub with large bearings and good enough seals.

The are a number of hub manufacturers that make good hubs., Miche, Hope, Shimano, DT Swiss (although there road hubs dont lend themselves to latterally stiff rear wheels) and a number of others.

the spoke picked needs to compliment the rim. Some spokes are stiffer than others so you pick the spoke required to make the wheel stiff enough to hold the rider reliably. given the questions you are asking you could probably build the wheel (most people can) but you will be like the people who email me I want to build a wheels can you suggest all the parts and spokes lengths I need. I do that for them but really that is also part of wheel building.

Man Of Lard

aw255 wrote:

Ok, let me start at the beginning.
I have recently built a cyclo cross bike and to save cost I bought a cheap set of wheels (disc brakes)....

.... I'm not interested in going to carbon as it would mean a change of brakes and I'd like something I can use fairly easily all year....

If they're disc wheels, why would changing the rim material lead to a change in the braking arrangement?.

Apologies for being dim here. Many other reasons for not wanting carbon rims but that's a new one to me.