Any experienced wheel builder in central southern England out there who could build me some wheels. Berkshire, oxon or N. hampshire ideally. I have a wheel set which I would like to have new rims fitted. I would supply rims. If not can anyone recommend a LBS with a good builder. I’d obviously pay you for this, I’m not expecting you to do it for nothing!

Not down south, but Nottingham. Dave at http://www.custom-wheels.co.uk is really good!

If you’re reasonably competent with a tool kit, why not get the wheelpro book and have a go yourself? Rim transplants are a good place to start as well. Just tape the new and old rims together and take the spokes over one at a time. Leave them slack and then tension and true the whole wheel.

Considered doing it myself but wouldn’t have a clue about spoke lengths . I’d be swapping from arch to crest so they maybe the same.

For working out spoke length, look here just input what hub, rim & spoke count you are using

Arch & Crest have an ERD of 540 & 541.

You might be able to get away with reusing the spokes, i’d go for a transplant & DIY, good to learn 🙂

At least you can build them up & put a little tension in it – then take it to a shop to finish off, that’s normally what I do & they charge ~£10 a wheel for it.

I’d be surprised if you couldn’t get away with the spoke length you have. An erd difference of 1mm is 0.5mm on each spoke. If they turn out too short, just use 14mm nipples instead (assuming you have 12mm).

But 0.5mm is nowt.

Didn’t mention theyre the 29 versions. I suppose the difference would be the same would it?

pretty much

they’ll swap over fine. give it a go using with the Sheldon brown guide or the Jobst brandt one. worst case which is unlikely you just undo it all and take it to a shop.

How far are you from Camberley?

Cycle store in Camberley will do it for you! Rob is the manager and he is fully trained at doing it, saw home building some the other day, quite a skill.

I’d 2nd the wheelpro book and DIY approach, it’ll cost you say £80 all in (including a cheap wheel jig and spoke key) and you’ll be well on your way to learning a whole new skill. A shop will just charge you £40-50 (at a guess) and you’ll have just some wheels.

I used the sheldon brown guide as i’m a cheepskate.

LBS was £25/wheel + £1/spoke

DIY cost
£40 – cheep wheelstand, I now know why expensive oens are expensive as it can be a PITA doing MTB wheels which are almost always dished and this one can’t cope with more than about 5mm dish each way).
£60 park tesnion guage – not essential, but made the job a lot simpler and less guesswork in deciding what’s even tension.
£40p/spoke for DT double butted spokes from rose bikes (or CRC are a similar price if you buy them by the box)

The wheelpro book was quite insistent on making a tool out of a bradawl or screwdriver that had a pointy end – how did you home builder chaps make one of those? Or can you happily do without?

To put the nipples onto spokes?

I used an old spoke with a ball of copper wire wrapped arround it and set with solder about a turn up the threads, then filed it flat, it kinda worked, but for all but the last 8 spokes it was easier just to thread the nipples on by hand as the spokes could be poked through the rim.

I started building wheels a couple of years ago. I’m not the best in the world and it takes me a while but I enjoy it and have had no problems so far (touch wood)

I started by getting an old wheel I had kicking about and took it apart.
I followed the instructions on Sheldon Browns site. (first attempt got the rim the wrong way round!!)
But fine the second time,

Then started on proper wheels.

If you do have a go with a proper set you could always take it to a LBS for them to check and true it, this will be considerably less than a wheel build.

There’s a small shop called Rotec in Shinfield just outside Reading (M4 J11)that’s decent. The mechanic is very helpful, opens useful hours too and will work to suit your timescale. Very good value in my experience.

tape new rim to old. Moves spokes and nipples over. ERD difference of 1mm is inconsequential. I used the guide on sheldonbrown to do my first wheel (actually a rim swap not build from loose parts) 15yrs ago and have done countless wheels since. Be methodical and follow the guide, its not the black art it’s made out to be. Very rewarding and therapeutic.

Never used a tension gauge, and you can finish it off without a jig/stand by using the frame/forks with a ziptie, lollypop stick etc etc taped to it.

I’m oxfordish and would have done it for beer but “sadly” off to verbier in the early hours of tomorrow….

Ononeorange if you CBA making a nipple driver check out the DT Swiss one on rose bikes. I bought that rather than making one as I never saw a screwdriver suitable.

Using a quickwedge type screwdriver for mine, has a split blade that effectively thickens when you slide it’s sleeve down, useful to have in any toolbox.

I second dave at customwheels. Just had some built by him – top service!

Third for Dave at Custom Wheels – great service and a great bloke to boot! Just picked a wheel up from him this evening.

Stop it, you’ll make my head so big it won’t fit through my li’l workshop door!
Feel free to get in touch though, no reason why I can’t help if you need it, although I’m away at Mayhem until Sunday evening (B&DCC team if anyone wants to say hi)

I had great success with the Wheelpro book.

My first effort used very old spokes/rim on to new Deore hubs for commuting a couple of years ago and have done about 4000 miles with no tweaks needed(pats self on back!). Sadly zero milage this year 🙁

Made the truing stand for about £2.

Top tip for nipple driver is cabling ‘basket’-wire grid used in construction for supporting cables. Off cuts or damaged bits easy to find. It already has one bend in it for the sides and is soft enough to create a second one in a vice for the cranked effect. It’s also easy to file the exact size nipple slot. Wooden handle from local hardware shop.

As has been said a rim swap is a perfect starting point.

I bought the wheelpro book. It’s excellent. I made a nipple driver out of a screwdriver that came in a cracker. If you buy a really cheap screwdriver they’re easy to bend and file into shape. Also made the wheelpro truing stand and dishing gauge. Not difficult just took a few hours and very rewarding. Really handy for truing up wheels, replacing rims or building up whole new wheels. None of it’s hard, you just need to be methodical and take your time

Thanks all