Forum menu
He's been in business for decades mattyfez. And his wheels are legendary!
glasgowdan - it's not that this is expensive it's that your local builder is incredibly cheap.
Even doing the spokes at trade and banging out a wheel in 30mins you might just break even.
Most shops will charge you an ~hours labour + cost of parts on top.
I've been building for nearly 20 years and even doing the labour free for friends I'd struggle to build with decent spokes for under <£20
Fair play to him if he can do it that cheap and still make a living, I guess if you've got a couple of decades worth of spoke stock sitting there it brings the cost down.
£100 😯 I need to change my job. I've been building my own for the last 30 years and if this is what they charge now I'll continue doing my own thank you(tightwad Yorkshire man)
I suppose as long as the OP is happy with his wheel that's all that matters.
Just putting the rotor, cassette and tyre back on now. They even cleaned the mud off the hub too.
A lot of people seem to be missing the bit about the new bearings and stans tape....
You boys are thinking shop prices for spokes. Big UK wheelbuilders will be going direct to DT/Sapim not buying them through UK importer. £1 a spoke inc nipple for decent double butted spokes or cheaper aero's. 40 minutes to an hour to strip, lace and true. £75 is bang on, anything much over that doesn't include any other work is a pisstake. You can bet the wheel builder, if in shop, is getting nowhere near £20 PH.
https://www.merlincycles.com/front-handbuilt-hope-wheels-26-disc-49016.html
Merlin can supply all parts and build wheel as well so work it out yourselves.
£99 for rebuild including supplying new spokes/nipples would be excessive IMHO. Factoring in the cost for bearing removal and replacement and it seems fine to me. It's fine when especially as you acknowledge OP, the service is very good. Great service costs money - but is worth it.
Normally I would expect £50-£60 for a rebuild.
A bit high if you ask me, I recently paid £72 for a complete rebuild of an Ibis 941 carbon rim, so all spokes, nipples, rim strip and sealant plus labour
Why are so many people not reading that the OP actually had new bearings supplied and fitted along with a Stans rim tape to go with his spokes, nipples and wheel build for £99!!!???
Because that information was only provided after 90% of the people in the thread had responded.
spoke cutting machine helps
Yes, though the machine has to be paid for. I'm not sure how much Al paid for his, mine was about £2300 - that's a lot of spokes! I worked out I'll break even after around 8000 spokes.
Jekkyl, pop in a see kev or alex at goldtec always been way cheaper than that
OP have a go yourself then get a bikeshops to true it up/finish it.... £100 sounds like he's pricing in his lost rim-supply margin. You can source a brand new wheel for only a £100 more.
What we have here is there will always be people who can get/do things cheaper, better, quicker than whatever someone else states. 🙄
I doubt it's a regional stereotype thing either, ego has no regard for where one is born 😉
The provision of the right product or service, in the right time, at the right price and in conformance to the customer requirements. From reading the OP's posts, sounds like all those were ticked.
And then, when the next LBS goes to the wall, outrage and claims from the same people that no one is supporting LBS's anymore and we get what we deserve spewed forth.
Well done OP for supporting your LBS, appreciating and valuing their service now and in the future.
I pay £1 per spoke+brass nip
+ £30 labour
'LBS'. Just how close is your nearest bikeshop that you use?
Your preferred shop? I think for most folk the L part really isn't local anyway.
Us weegies are spoiled though, with a top class local wheelbuilder banging out wheels at £25 a build inc spokes/nipples amd a free retrue after 200 miles.
Just don't ask for black spokes... 😉
The only real way to get an idea of the VFM your LBS is providing is to get a comparative quote or two from other local shops for the exact same work/parts...
Don't expect to get many useful responses on here, half of us wouldn't pay that, do it ourselves and probably miss a ride or two as a result, the other half will take great pleasure in reeling off the huge expenditures that their cycling habbit incurs... This basically:
What we have here is there will always be people who can get/do things cheaper, better, quicker than whatever someone else states.I doubt it's a regional stereotype thing either, ego has no regard for where one is born
Another way to look at it is the value of your own time, if the next shop were £40 cheaper, but it was going to be another week or two till they could fit your job in, would you consider the first quote better value?
[i]Value [/i]is entirely up to the customer really, if it doesn't feel like good VFM based on your own measures of what value is, that's at least an indication that it may not be good VFM perhaps...
If it took two rides to get a wheel DIY rebuilt, it'd be a shop job.
Reality is that it's an hours work.
Ghill he's warming to black spokes! I think he gets asked for them often enough that he accepts he needs to do it!
He still likes to rant about them though 😀
I still can't get over the £1 per spoke charge. I usually use Sapim race double butted spokes which I get 36 of with brass nipples for £15 (and that's buying from a bike shop). Add to that a wheelbuild price of £15 per wheel which was done up until recently by the guy who builds Danny MacAskills wheels (the best wheelbuilds I've ever seen) and that would put me off paying £100 easily.
I don't think it's an hours work- you have to disemble the wheel too however a competent wheel builder (not the best paid) would be very quick. If I was quoted £100 I'd see it as a sign that that shops not for me. However it is slightly insulting to turn up with the rim and expect a competitive job. So maybe the shop was sending you a message. So I can see both sides. Would you turn up at a indie garage or main dealer and say 'fit this that I bought' and expect loyalty/competitive fit rates?
Still if you did go through with if c£150 all in versus a £200 new wheel?
If it took two rides to get a wheel DIY rebuilt, it'd be a shop jobReality is that it's an hours work.
For you maybe, I'll admit to taking my time over my own (all too infrequent) wheel builds and probably needing 2-3 hours to be happy I have a straight well tensioned wheel, but it is my own time and I enjoy it, not everyone would...
Plus there's the actual getting round to it; actually having the spare time, making sure you have any additional parts you need, waiting on deliveries...
The faffing could easily cost you a couple of rides, hence the value in paying a shop for their services... I don't think the OP made a terrible decision seeing as he's quite happily riding his bike now rather than costing up alternatives...
Yeah, I'd agree with that.
I've been doing cycling stuff a depressingly long time and now plan ahead. If a rim/wheel is starting to look poorly I'll order bits in advance, and I've been doing it long enough so i rarely order the wrong bits. Plus I've got several hundred spokes in common lengths for my wheels sat in boxes downstairs and a handful of rims bought in sales etc. And it's an hours workshop time per wheel, or two hours with a couple of beers in front of the telly.........
The exception being ambrosio rims, with their random number generating ERD. Had a dozen or so over the years, only two have had the same ERD........ at least 150 of the spare spokes were for ambrosio builds.
. However it is slightly insulting to turn up with the rim and expect a competitive job
no its not.
hora - MemberHowever it is slightly insulting to turn up with the rim and expect a competitive job.
I don't think it's insulting; you just have to understand that you're buying a different service than you would be if you bought the rim from them, so the prices aren't directly comparable.