hoping to have a go at a first wheel build, 700 c dsic wheel for the cross bike based ona hope disc hub. thinking about an open sport rim and db spokes 32. Any advice on other suitable rims and which spokes to go for would be appreciated. i am about 68-70 kgs and hoping to make the wheel reasonably light but not at a huge cost

cheers

I used exal lx17 rims from spa cycles. Really good rims and cheap too, good width for tyres too

You might get away with Halo Aerotrack rims. No braking surface, so disc only and lighter than Open Pro’s. Can be had for ~£20 on Ebay depending on colour/drilling. Not eyelet-ed though. Been using them on my commuter for a while and seem fine.

Disc specific rims can be sexier… I built some with Halo Aerotracks which come in lots of lovely colours. They seem fairly robust and aren’t too heavy.

Spokes – I’m about to build my first wheels too & went for DT Comps from Rose bikes. Far cheaper than anything I found over here. They do Revs too if you want something lighter.

Sapim Laser’s for me from Dotbike.

Oh yeah – +1 for Rose Bikes for spokes. Cheap as chips for DT quality. Last wheel I built, went for db ACI (silver), as they were a lot cheaper than DT at UK prices…… never again 😕

I built some with Halo Aerotracks. I wondered how to get the nipples through the rims without them getting lost inside.

top tip: don’t google image search “deep rim nipple insertion”.

As above, i used ACI spokes. The aerotracks i had were about 465grams, so not quite as light as mavic open pro, but i had the white ones which might be painted rather than anodised. They look nice though as they don’t have a braking surface. i got them from winstanleys and even though they said out of stock they arrived within a few days.

I wondered how to get the nipples through the rims without them getting lost inside.

Use another spoke from the outside to transfer the nipple through the rim. That’s why some builders charge a premium when building up deep section rims.

Use another spoke from the outside to transfer the nipple through the rim. That’s why some builders charge a premium when building up deep section rims.

Took me until half way through the second wheel to work out this trick 🙄

cheers for the tip on rose bikes may use the savings to get an open pro rather than open sport

i’m assuming that a simple 2 spokes crossing will be ok fro a front wheel

i’m assuming that a simple 2 spokes crossing will be ok fro a front wheel

Depends on whether that’s allowed for the hub you intend to use. Manu should be able to tell you.