Is there any point in building your own cheap wheels?

[Twilkes]

Not sure how I got started building my own, wheels, it was a few years ago when I damaged a rim on a pothole, but I've never since bought a pre-made wheel. But am I wasting my time and/or money?

The last one was a 32-hole Shimano Deore Front Hub HBM475 (£15), Halo White Line Classic rim (£21), and some stainless steel double butted spokes (£16). With rim tape that's £53 - what kind of wheel could I have bought for that?

For context, I don't remember ever breaking a spoke on a wheel I've built, all triple-cross patterns, although I have always broken spokes on OEM wheels but that would be on ~£300 hybrid bikes so not the best quality wheels to start with. And lacing and truing a wheel is fun.

 

[Pale Rider]

And lacing and truing a wheel is fun.

You've answered your own question.

As regards the value, my local bike shop reckons Shimano wheels are decent for the money.

Anything from about £60 upwards.

At a guess the spec of your built wheel is a little higher than the cheapest Shimano.

Viewed another way, I reckon the bike shop would build me a wheel for £25 to £30.

If I walked in with your bits, that would give me a total bill of about £80.

 

[All uphill]

I enjoy building wheels, so for me, it's not really a financial thing.

Being able to build wheels seems to impress some people, which is ok, and I like being able to help out friends who have wobbly wheels.

Enjoy it!

 

[Vantage]

I stripped down and rebuilt my back wheel last night. Haven't done anything like that since my early 20's and thoroughly enjoyed it
I get a nice feeling when I've done a good job on something.
If it's not worth doing for that on its own, I don't know what is.

 

[davidphilips]

If i had your skill i would build my own wheels, tried it a few times and now consider it a form of magic that much as i would like to i just can not.

 

[Twilkes]

If i had your skill i would build my own wheels, tried it a few times and now consider it a form of magic that much as i would like to i just can not.

If you can string and tune a guitar you can build a wheel. Having said that, some guitarists can't, so...

I found the Sheldon Brown page most helpful, although in any method you have to take your time to understand what it's telling you and make sure of each step before continuing. So maybe more like building an IKEA wardrobe.

 

[Nibor]

@Twilkes where do you but your spokes from please?

 

[Globalti]

I really enjoyed re-rimming my Ksyrium wheel, beating Mavic's policy of planned obsolescence. Once I'd found a rim (in France) and bought the spokes (old ones too rusted to the nipples) it was a breeze. Total cost was high, about £80 for the rim and the same for the 20 spokes at £4 each but the important point was that I didn't throw away a perfectly good hub and I should get another 10 years of excellent, stiff, lightweight use out of them.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

When you build your own wheels you do it with care and there’s no rush. So if you’re the patient sort you end up with a strong reliable wheel with exactly the hub rim and spokes you wanted. Since you also built it and know how it’s put together, you’re much more confident about truing or fixing it should you crash through a hole.

I haven’t bought an OEM wheel for 10 years. Like you none of my home built wheels have failed or gone out of true. The same can’t be said for oem wheels.

 

[Jody]

It's a skill I would like to have, so keep going if you know how to do it.

How do you get started and how difficult is it?

 

[Globalti]

I got started by re-rimming my worn out mountain bike rear wheels in the days before disc brakes. It's simple to tape the new rim alongside the old and transfer the spokes over, one by one. The hardest part is getting it trued up but a wheel-trueing stand makes this much easier. Once you've done that you will never fear an out-of-true wheel again.

 

[Vantage]

I got started by re-rimming my worn out mountain bike rear wheels in the days before disc brakes. It's simple to tape the new rim alongside the old and transfer the spokes over, one by one. The hardest part is getting it trued up but a wheel-trueing stand makes this much easier. Once you've done that you will never fear an out-of-true wheel again.

Exactly how I started.

 

[Twilkes]

@Twilkes where do you but your spokes from please?

Different every time, these were the last ones, so £17.50 not £16 but still a good price: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stainles...604857?hash=item594343c7b9:g:UmkAAOSwQ0teJegU

I've bought from my LBS before but unfortunately they failed the attitude test a few times so I don't go there any more.

 

[Jody]

Wheel-trueing stands look like they are £80-100+ which is a fair outlay to dip your toe in in. I have a selection of v̶i̶c̶t̶i̶m̶s̶ wheels to have a go with.

 

[Moodyman]

It doesn't save a lot of money but it's a tremendous skill to have. I was once descending a fast hill in France and hit a pothole which broke a rear wheel spoke.

This was deep in the French countryside. I carry spare spokes and was able to repair the wheel in c. 20 minutes and be off again. Otherwise, this could have ruined my tour.