Notice an awful lot of posts these days about which pre built wheels to buy.

Surely, with the prices being asked, custom, handbuilt wheels will always provide exactly what you want, better quality, backup, spares availability and significantly better value?

I can understand that people just getting into cycling like the convenience, but a good wheelbuilder will offer advice and build a compromise free set of hoops that should last for years and suit you down to the ground? (Sorry).

Is it a fashion thing?

Not having a go, just genuinely interested.

Loads of good wheelbuilders within an hour or so drive near us which will build you something repairable, offer brilliant advice and yet still come in under the price of the majority of the off the peg stuff.

Seems a bit daft not to get the best wheels you can for the price, given how important they are.

Lots more folk seem to be rolling their own. That way you get the best components you can afford, are not restricted in choice and also acquire the skills to look after them. Seems that’s a much better option than getting someone else to do it.

Nothing I have about a two year waiting list for wheel building stuff …I’d say it’s pretty alive and well

I reckon people just getting into the sport don’t realise most lbs’ can build wheels and just keep the ones their bike came with or buy off the peg online

Roger Musson mate, explains how fancy lacing is just for show and reassures you it’s not that hard to do it yourself. My missus is yet to damage the pair I made her.

For me, it’s a combination of things. I used to avoid machine built wheels because the build quality and choice was so poor. That argument doesn’t stand anymore.

Now the usual issue of price and convenience take over. Why wait several weeks and pay potentially hundreds more for a wheelset I can buy off the shelf? This is coming from someone who has built dozens of wheels. These days I can buy a built wheel cheaper than the component parts.

I reckon that as people got more used to buying everything online, they got more comfortable with taking a box of parts to their LBS and asking for a build. Why pay CRC to build a wheel when you can get steve d or someone to do it?

(I do it myself, but that’s because I like doing it… If I didn’t I’d get someone else to do it, it’s good value)

Spoke prices seem to have gone through the roof and rims aren’t cheap any more either.

I build my own because I enjoy it but an off the shelf wheel is cheaper than the sum of the parts.

Last set of wheels I bought were custom built (from eighteen bikes) because I wanted hope hubs and DT rims. Was a little bit more expensive than hope hoops (10%?) but it was what I wanted. Plus 18bikes gave me a decent price and were great to deal with even at a distance. Been more than happy with them so far.

id like to build my own but fail on all 3 of TKE… 🤣

It tailed off in our shop when Hope Hoops were introduced, at the time they were head and shoulders above anything off the shelf, cheaper then a similar hand-build, and didn’t take up workshop time. Prices have obviously risen since then, often to ridiculous levels, but people still seem to be able to justify spending on them (and other stuff, too), and if i’m honest, with the workload we’re under (and lack of good mechanics willing to work for peanuts), i’m happy for people to buy ready built.

I think it depends what you are after – and if you actually know what goes together. If you are new to the sport I imagine you’d read reviews of wheels and check weights etc. Far mor difficult to compare to custom builds with so many options.

There also used to be quite a few companies that offered custom wheel builders online (or in magazines!) which don’t offer this service today.

I’ve built 1 pair of wheels myself recently and got the bug to do another – even though I don’t need any. Found quite a lot of wtb rims on offer recently – £12 each and then £8 each. Spokes I budget about £15 a wheel for black double butted ones. It’s hubs that are the expensive bit I find.

@Onzadog yeah buying small quantities of spokes can be mega if you want a specific type.  Shopping around on the internet can normally get you something, the German on-line shops seem to be good for DT Swiss.

I guess a custom builder could buy in bulk, but I imagine large scale manufacturers of complete wheels can get bits even cheaper, not just spokes.

If you are buying custom wheels you generally know what you want so no need to ask here?

All.mine are hand built. I get the hub/rim.combo I want (last built were Tune Princes/Princess and DT XR311) No idea where you’d find them prebuilt. Also, much less faff if something goes wrong (Broken spoke on a CrossMax SLR? How easy is that to fix?)

Tried a couple of factory sets, gone back to hand built and sticking with it

All my wheels are custom build. Only bought off the peg wheels twice, not counting one with whole bike that I immediately swapped with customs.

Trustworthy wheel builder is a gem and I’m lucky to know 2 of such guys.

Simon in Albany Cycles Coventry and Mick from Tony Butterworth in Sheffield.

Cheers!

I.

All my wheels used to be handbuild / custom but as my life got more ‘complex’ with kids and stuff being a pain and wanting to eat and wear clothes and that the bits became more and more expensive.

My first custom wheels were Hope Pro 2 hubs with fancy spokes and Mavic 729 rims, oh and the slightly pricer 150mm rear hub, they cost £240, the next were Pro 2s with 521s for my trail bike, they cost £200.

Last time I looked for the same sort of thing in 650b last year LBS wanted £500 or so, I couldn’t stomach that.

Bought some Nukepoof Neutons from CRC for £200, great reviews, come in 275 and 29 and any hub standard you like, not overly light but nether are Hope Hops, if you want Light and Strong you’ll need deeper pockets.

Theyre lovely, nice clicky hubs if you like that sort of thing, seem pretty strong, bittov light DH on them and they’ve not died yet, come with a few spare spokes and CRC sell lots of spares for them.

I could get everything I wanted in a wheel cheaper and lighter in a pre-built wheel (Fulcrum Racing 3) but that was for the road bike.

MTB I would definitely still build myself.

Everytime ive looked into building wheals from parts it never appears to make economic sense. Only time I did it I sourced some cheap pacenti rims and and a couple of dirt cheap hubs for my gravel bike but they still cost 200 quid once id got spokes and paid a very reasonable 50 quid to the lbs to build them up.

For less cash and  hassle I can buy a set of prime race that weigh 200 gm less and come with tape, skewers and valves. Its a no brainer when good wheels can be bought so cheaply

All my wheels are still custom built by yours truly.

I was how ever taught by a jedi