New Wheels - factory or Custom?

[apsilon]

Don't know how they're viewed in road circles but Chris King will have hubs in those drillings and based upon my MTB ones, I wouldn't even consider any others if I was having custom wheels built.

[warthog1]

In regards to breaking spokes on the lower spoke count wheels I have to ask how often is this really happening? Without a foreign object causing the damage cases of broken spokes seam to be extremely rare amoungst the people I know and ride with. I'm yet to see a broken front spoke that wasn't caused by something jamming between the spoke and fork and of the group I ride with regularly the only person with a rear spoke issue was on a custom built 32 spoke wheel. The rest, who mostly ride on 20 front, 24 rear (or less) factory wheels have not had an issue.

Broke the hub where the spokes mount on my 18? spoke AC420 front wheel.
1 x spoke on a 16 spoke shimano whr 550 front.
Able to finish the ride both times but the rim was still rubbing the pads with the brakes opened up, such was the buckle in the wheels.

[Duck!]

I think it depends a lot on the rider, not just their build, but style as well in regard to one's propensity for spoke breakage. I'm a flyweight, and also not particularly hard on gear, so my spoke attrition is minimal. In fact I can't recall the last time I had one break for no apparent reason. I broke two in a Shimano Deore XT 20-spoke MTB front wheel last year when I stuffed an obstacle & shoved a foot into the wheel, and I bent two in a R-550 rear many years ago when a drink bottle fell into it. My commuter bike has 18/20 spoke Mavic Ksyrium Elites (which have never been touched with a spoke key in 7 years!), and my other roadie has a set of 20/24 spoke Gravity Zeros (which I built myself), and have also never needed tweaking. Prior to the XTs on the MTB, I had a set of Mavic rims/Shimano SLX hubs, 32 each end, also built personally, and never had a problem with. So Iv'e had a good run with both factory-spec and hand-built wheels (technically, the Gravity Zero are factory-spec, but I used to work for them as a builder - I can guarantee they are all handbuilt. )

[biker jk]

Have fun trying to find 16/20H hubs....

http://www.planet-x-bikes.fr/i/q/HUPXPR ... _x_pro_hub" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No 20h rear though.

[toolonglegs]

Have fun trying to find 16/20H hubs....

http://www.planet-x-bikes.fr/i/q/HUPXPR ... _x_pro_hub" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No 20h rear though.

Oh you want matching hubs

[warthog1]

I think it depends a lot on the rider, not just their build, but style as well in regard to one's propensity for spoke breakage. I'm a flyweight, and also not particularly hard on gear, so my spoke attrition is minimal.

I agree with the weight component of your statement and type of use. I'm now 74 kgs and do a fair bit of bunch riding. I always unweight the bike over bumps I cant avoid but in a bunch the vision is not there and you can't swerve if a pot hole or rock is not called out you just hit them unfortunately.
I also run my tyres at fairly high pressure, can't remeber the last pinch flat but have broken a few spokes.
Both those front wheels that failed had a fair few kms on them. The spokes being limited in number are under higher stress than if there were more of them. Over time the more use, the higher the likelihood of failure.
There is not really any option to change my style of use so they are what they are.

I bent two in a R-550 rear many years ago when a drink bottle fell into it.

That drink bottle sacrificed itself to further your enjoyment of cycling and should go "straight to the pool room"


Those rear wheels are a POS, mine broke multiple spokes and flexed so much it was fortunate to have the brake pads in place to stop it hitting the chain stays.
They are not light and don't even have the saving grace of being strong to compensate the weight penalty. In the bin and long gone.

[Velo13]

Wow, it seems I am last on this bus ...

Bought custom / hand made wheels about 2 months ago. During that time some rear spokes lost all tension. Fortunately, I had the tools, research and an interest in wheel building, otherwise I would have regretted purchase.

Wheelbuilders are like accountants, politicians, doctors, and bike shops - there are good ones and bad ones.

The supposed local wheelbuilding guru who is, incidentally, the principal of the LBS closest to where I live, got the dishing wrong by 5mm. To be fair, has been good since then - and I have given it some abuse over some terrible pavement.

The proof is in the pudding. Just because someone works in a bike shop, does not mean they know how to build wheels. Conversely, just because someone calls themselves a wheelbuilder, does not mean they will build you a reliable wheel.

I was thinking of using Zen or Ergott in New York, any problems with these guys?

Both the Zen guys and Eric know their stuff. They are certainly professionals.

At the end of the day wheel building requires passion and you either need to find a builder with this passion or a robot in factory that only does what the computer program allows. Mass produced "hand built" wheels are subject to the typically lowly paid factory worker having a bad day, poor training, pressure to get a product finished etc and therefore at are too hit and miss for me ...

I understand. I build no more than about 6-8 wheels in a day. I do recall seeing a video of a happy little Taiwanese man who was very proud of his 60 wheels in a day. Lacing, tensioning, stress relieving, etc - but to be fair he doesn't spend any time talking to the customer about how they ride, where, what frame the wheels will go on, their aspirations, tyre choices, longer term plans for the wheels, etc.

The reality is that the obsession with low weight means that factory wheelsets are usually 16 or 20 spokes front, 20-24 spokes rear, which results in a under built wheelset for many riders.

.... and overbuilt for some as well. These low spoke counts are usually paired with heavier rims to preserve some stiffness and strength. Sure you can buy something off the shelf that will be solid for a rider of 120kgs, but if you weigh 70kgs you are carrying around a whole heap of weight and additional stiffness that you don't need.

Mass production really does have it's price benefits, but there will be compromises you make as a result. The wheel is designed for a certain demographic, which may not be you. That's okay with me, if it is okay with you.

Get a pair of DA hubs and lace em with a standard rim. Any shop can now work on them and it won't cost you 50$ to replace a broken spoke...

Ive had lots of wheels. Problems with all of them but the standard set up is the easiest to fix when problems eventually arise.

Yep, err on the side of reliability and easy to get parts, and you will never be off the road for long (or on the side of the road for long).

Don't know how they're viewed in road circles but Chris King will have hubs in those drillings and based upon my MTB ones, I wouldn't even consider any others if I was having custom wheels built.

Both White Industries and Royce will do 16f/20r if you need it, but there might be a wait.

There are lots of posts here about White Industries hubs being a good choice. I do agree. Reliable, quite light and beautifully made. The Ti freehub body is a bonus. I have several pairs that have been used on several sets of rims, over the last 10-20 years.

I can say the same for Campag hubs (as that's what I ran for nearly 20 years) and I rebuild wheels with lots of DA and Ultegra/600/XTR hubs as well.

Most of the higher end hubs from the small component makers, Campag, and Shimano are designed to last a very long time, so your investment can be spread over several wheelsets. I have found that many lower end factory wheelsets are built to a more limited lifespan.

[jacks1071]

Jack your Braccianos are great wheels, I have a pair - but petal665 makes a good point, if one of the front spokes gave out I would be toast.

It'll go out of true and the brakes may or may not rub. Not sure how that'd make you "toast" - as long as you don't panic and abandon ship you'll be fine...