Would building wheels be cheaper than off the rack

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Zigmeister
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 8:09 pm

by Zigmeister

kgt wrote:... "sourced asian/chinese rims"


Many have had good success with some chinese/asian wheels, Farsports etc...

I also have a set of 40mm clinchers, built the same time, the rear that is, once by Alchemy. So the rear wheel was built/rebuilt when Alchemy ORC was recalled. Those rims have no issues, I looked at them real close.

Just the 56mm tubular Chinese rims have issues. They were built with Tune 70/170 hubs. Which is even more frustrating, apparently the rim/spoke bed is flawed with their layup/process, or the tension was run up too high, but it was well within specs the CXRay spokes...so just assume it is crappy rims, because they claimed a pretty high pf on the spoken tension the rims could handle. But obviously, not the case!

So yeah, a $1200 set of wheels custom built, which weighed 1280gms for 56mm deep tubulars, great for 2yrs. Now, worthless. Hubs are still perfect. So I got $500+ hubs that are good to go!!

Either just selling the hubs outright, and buying brand name set of wheels, or getting some quality name rims, and having them built with my hubs...either way, done with the Asian wheels for sure, particularly the Chinese ones.

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timoh
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:30 pm

by timoh

I was considering building wheels myself to save money but then realized that it makes sense if you want to experience that or get a build that cannot be bought off the rack.

fabriciom
Posts: 160
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 8:42 pm
Location: Madrid, España

by fabriciom

I've built some great wheels for around 400€. Chinese 50mmx25mm tubulars with sapim CX-ray spokes and Novatec hubs with hybrid ceramic bearings. Run awesome, best wheels I have ever had.

bm0p700f
in the industry
Posts: 5777
Joined: Sat May 12, 2012 7:25 pm
Location: Glermsford, Suffolk U.K
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by bm0p700f

I find it practically impossible to tell guage relative tension without a tension gauge. I could get close but the fine adjustments to get them really close are just not possible.

This is where a tension meter helps you can to +/-5% and have a wheel that is straight and one that will stay that way. The park guage is not really that useful. You are probably no better of with one than without. If you are going to buy a tension gauge one that actually give you the correct tension is the one to buy. The Park TM-1 does not do that.

bluesky6
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2016 2:40 pm

by bluesky6

Building wheels aren't cheaper than ready-built ones. At least not for low-end wheels.

But if very low weight is a primary goal or if you are looking to explore wide rims, you can probably build cheaper. For example, you can build a sub-1400g Pacenti SL23 set for less than a C24 and still have money left over in case the cheap rear hub fails... :)

However, wheelbuilding skills are useful when you do decide to buy ready built wheels. I've had to retrue, up tension or tension balance commercially built wheels esp those that come with bikes. The Syncros wheelset on a $3000 Scott Addict had bladed spokes that were not aligned (so much for reducing wind resistance!) and the tensions on the front wheel spokes were super low.

My only comments on the tensiometer-or-not debate are that it really doesn't matter how you build a wheel as long as it doesn't collapse during use, stays true and requires minimum maintenance. I can't personally use the tone method because I'm tone deaf.

lennyk
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 1:57 am

by lennyk

If technically inclined it is certainly worth it to learn to build wheels,
So far I've built 5 pacenti sl23 wheels wth no issues do far.
Happy with weight and no retruing required.

Multebear
Posts: 1395
Joined: Sat May 02, 2015 10:11 pm

by Multebear

bm0p700f wrote:I find it practically impossible to tell guage relative tension without a tension gauge. I could get close but the fine adjustments to get them really close are just not possible.

This is where a tension meter helps you can to +/-5% and have a wheel that is straight and one that will stay that way. The park guage is not really that useful. You are probably no better of with one than without. If you are going to buy a tension gauge one that actually give you the correct tension is the one to buy. The Park TM-1 does not do that.


bm0p700f, which tensiometer do you recommend?

Zigmeister
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 8:09 pm

by Zigmeister

DT Swiss...the gold standard.

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