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Wheelbuilder?
- Jean
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Wheelbuilder?
Postby Jean » Thu Nov 06, 2008 9:49 pm
I might be looking at having to rebuild a wheel soon. It's a classic 36-spoke triple cross hand built wheel (Campag hub and rims, Ritchey double butted spokes) - hasn't done a lot of miles but had some bad luck recently.
Can anyone recommend a good wheel builder round Canberra? I suppose any good LBS should be able to do it, but if there's someone good worth finding I'd like to know.
Cheers
Jean
- DavidH
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- twizzle
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Postby twizzle » Fri Nov 07, 2008 12:52 pm
I'm going to have a go at wheel building myself next time. But it's nice to know there is a real wheel builder in Canberra.
...real cyclists don't have squeaky chains...
- DavidH
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Postby DavidH » Fri Nov 07, 2008 1:15 pm
Jean wrote:Ahh, a bloke in a shed with lots of tools. Like the sound of that.
Ian is also one of the best A grade riders in the ACT Vets. There isn't much he doesn't know about riding and building bikes. He did a superb job building up an old steel frame with new Ultegra components for me. Ah, loved that bike...until I crashed and cracked the frame. The components are in a box in the shed and the frame is being repaired. Sigh.
twizzle wrote:I'm going to have a go at wheel building myself next time.
I've been seriously contemplating that as well. I'm about to setup a single speed bike using some old training wheels. The rear wheel has the usual cassette style freewheel that I'll adapt to a single cog, but it would be nice to build some custom wheels at some point. Another thing on my bike "to do" list

- Jean
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Postby Jean » Fri Nov 07, 2008 1:47 pm
twizzle wrote:I've had three wheel builds by local LBS's. In the end, it worked out cheaper and easier just to order new wheelsets from Velocity. That should tell you something about LBS wheels....
I'm going to have a go at wheel building myself next time. But it's nice to know there is a real wheel builder in Canberra.
Yeah I lucked out at my LBS in Brisbane where the mechanic was something of a wheel magician, but whilst I've found a decent LBS here in Canberra I've been wary of their wheelsmithery.
I'll give this bloke a whirl I think.
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Postby thomas_cho » Fri Nov 14, 2008 9:22 pm
You need to do your homework, and having the proper tools will make things easier to get right.
- Jean
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Postby Jean » Mon Nov 17, 2008 9:19 am
A few reasons:
1. I've been lucky enough to find over the years a couple of bike mechanics who really knew their way around a wheel (as opposed to the over confident teen grease monkeys that work in most bike workshops) and they have been able to tweak and cajole my sometimes banged up wheels back to life. I've been impressed with their skill and not convinced I could emulate it.
2. Related to this is my impression that to do wheels well takes practice, and quite a lot of it. If I was into MTBs I might get the opportunity to work on smashed wheels alot, but as a roadie the most I generally have to worry about is getting the true back (and I should work on my skills here). For those few occassions when something more is needed I'm happy to pay a few bucks to someone who can do it better.
Cheers
- psike
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Re: Wheelbuilder?
Postby psike » Fri Apr 27, 2012 11:49 am
Thanks,
Russ
Kona Jake The Snake
Scott Scale 35
Oppy Le Mauco
- twizzle
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Re: Wheelbuilder?
Postby twizzle » Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:15 pm
...real cyclists don't have squeaky chains...
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Re: Wheelbuilder?
Postby seddo » Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:54 pm

- Ross
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Re: Wheelbuilder?
Postby Ross » Sat Apr 28, 2012 8:29 pm
Twizzle - what colour is your OP rim? If it's black and in good cond I might be interested in buying it. The braking surface on my OP rims are worn out.
- twizzle
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Wheelbuilder?
Postby twizzle » Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:10 pm
Ross wrote:Just had Ian build a Zipp 404 for me, superb job.
Twizzle - what colour is your OP rim? If it's black and in good cond I might be interested in buying it. The braking surface on my OP rims are worn out.
Nah, it's silver and the valve stem hole wasn't drilled straight so it's looked dodgy since day one. I think Ian might be getting my money... when I have some.
...real cyclists don't have squeaky chains...
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