I’ve ordered a pair of Light-Bicycle carbon rims to go on my Bronson. Went to my LBS to get a quote for building them up. Stock answer is £60 per wheel (including spokes). He then asks what the rims are so I explain and he said “ah carbon, let me double check with the mechanic” – comes back and says actually its £120 per wheel as he actually has to tension the spokes twice so it’s a lot more work. Given that the spokes will be around half the price 3 times as long seems a bit much.

Now I smell BS – what do you guys reckon? Should I find a different LBS.

that sounds like the ‘we’re really not keen to do this but if you insist it’ll cost’ price.

I guess the cost to them of it going wrong is higher although I can’t see that the rim’s any more likely to be damaged during a build than an Alu one.

Dt Swiss Competition spokes about £1 from shop
Sapim CX Ray much stronger & lighter about £2 a spoke

That does sound like a ‘bugger off’ quote.

Should take about an hour a wheel to build from scratch
so hours labour per wheel plus spokes

Spokes quoted where DT Swiss Competitions

I didn’t think of it as “bugger off” price. Does sound like it now that I think about it.

Shame really as it’s a shop I put a lot of business through. I was going to get the hubs/disks/tyres for it through them, but probably won’t now as generally I can get them cheaper on line.

I was quoted 60 standard and 80 carbon by leisure lakes

Should take about an hour a wheel to build from scratch
so hours labour per wheel plus spokes

Which is why I thought £60 was ok – in my mind I had £30 spokes and £30 labour which all seem reasonable. So £120 would make £90 labour which doesn’t feel quite so reasonable.

Wheel pro book and a stand will be cheaper

I was quoted 60 standard and 80 carbon by leisure lakes

Which Leisure Lakes?

Do it yourself. Its not black art, voodoo magic. Take your time & work methodically, its pretty easy.

I built a front wheel last year without a stand, just using the forks. I got it to within 1mm lateral movement and it has taken a battering this year and is still as straight as when I built it.

£25 per wheek from wheelcraft including spokes (DB DT or sapim race), not sure why carbon wheels would be any different though.

Wheel pro book and a stand will be cheaper

Or the sheldon broen guide is free.

I would get the cheap park tension guage as well though, I built my first wheel without one and it was fine, but needed re-truing after the first few rides, then after a year it was a little wobbly. Built my subsequent wheels with it and they were both easier to tension to start with and have stayed perfectly true. You can do them by hand/eye, but it’s a £35 way of cheating yourself through a lifetimes wheelbuilding experience for your first build.

First one took a few evenings as I made mistakes in lacing the rim right/left handed, after that they got easier once you figure out the right order for lacing the spokes withut having to refer back to the book each time. 2nd set was a lightweight road set with stans rims and radial revolution spokes, not a beginner friendly combination, it seemed to remember mistakes so even when 19/20 spokes were correctly tensioned and the wheel true, the one you tensioned last would make it wobble, in th end it took 3 complete re-builds before I even got to ride it! On the plus side I mus have learnt to get it right as it’s still true and still correctly tensioned. The stiffer the rims/spokes the easier it is as as a beginner as the whole thing bends/moves logicaly.

it just cost me 25 quid to get a wheel rebuilt with a new rim after i bent my crest one.

Thought it seemed fair.

£25 per wheek from wheelcraft including spokes (DB DT or sapim race), not sure why carbon wheels would be any different though.

Eh? Spokes would cost more than that alone?

I paid £50 at my local backstreet mechanic for a wheel rebuild including new spokes (straight pulls @£1 each) – felt an ok price, no VAT too.

£25 a wheel in the shop down the road for me, plus spokes.

They built up my Derby rims – he did mention they were a pain to tension, as were the other carbon rims he built & would probably charge more in the future, as they take a lot longer to finish off.

b r – Member

Eh? Spokes would cost more than that alone?

I paid £50 at my local backstreet mechanic for a wheel rebuild including new spokes (straight pulls @£1 each) – felt an ok price, no VAT too.

Well thats what Al charges for a basic wheelbuild. fancy spokes will obviously cost more

justridingalong.com charge £20 per wheel, and it’s the same price for carbon rims. However that’s if you order the whole wheel from them. Not sure if they’d build from stuff you give them, maybe not, however it does give you an idea of sensible prices and that carbon should be no different. They also bed in and re-tension repeatedly as part of the build process.

I’d say Build it yourself for that money, of if you’re really not totally confident, you lace ’em up and get the shop to quote for a tension and true of the “built” wheel, how much do they normally charge for truing a wheel up?

I’ll build some wheel myself, but for nice ones I get my lbs to do the final tension and true. They charge me £15 per wheel for this.

There is more to it than just lacing a wheel
Reverse Symmetric, Symmetric & Asymmetric patterns depending if front or rear wheel & for road or mountain bike Large Discs on a front wheel ie DH & Enduro will determine the way you lace the wheel….

Reverse Symmetric, Symmetric & Asymmetric patterns depending if front or rear wheel & for road or mountain bike

Hmm. I have yet to see any scientific evidence that this makes any real difference at all to the wheel.

Bigsteve – derby leisure lakes

That first quote you got OP is mental I change £25 labour plus spokes black revs are only 95p each and black DT DB are only 75p each and all I do is build wheels. Carbon wheels do take a little longer but not much probably an extra 15mins a wheel I don’t get why some shops charge so much. Ps I don’t mind customers sending me rims and hubs which some wheel builders flatly refuse and go potty if suggested by customers.

Bigsteve – derby leisure lakes

Hmmm – seems my LBS is not a million miles away.

So I wonder why they want £80 from you but £120 from me. I might have to go back in and have a chat with Andy or Wayne.

I was going to buy all the other components from them, – hubs, rotors, tyres – for the build as well.

Had mine built up at 18 Bikes. I bought the rims of the classifieds which were new and surplus to the guys needs. Had the Hope pro2s of my old bike built onto them and also the hubs converted at the same time. Matt discussed the build with me with regards to spokes and nipples and also salvaged the old rims and spokes for me. They were done in the agreed time and price and have got to say I am impressed with the wheels, the quality of the build and overall experience with them. Give them a ring, they arnt local for me but I combined the visit with a couple of rides in the Peak. Will certainly use them again.

Had mine built up at 18 Bikes

I work in Chesterfield so I might give them a bell on Monday and have a chat with them. If I finish work early I can get over quite easily.