Going back to handbuilt wheels

[jpembroke]

Well then, your wheels will be very good indeed, in fact almost exactly as good as my pair of Record hubs / Open Pro rims....

bc

p.s. which in any case only cost me £265 from my very obliging LBS

Blimey, that's cheap! When did you get those? Wheelsmith.co.uk are selling those for £345 and I doubt Harry Rowland would be any cheaper.

 

[beancounter]

Blimey, that's cheap! When did you get those? Wheelsmith.co.uk are selling those for £345 and I doubt Harry Rowland would be any cheaper.

I got them last year, it was a one off deal. To be honest I felt a bit bad about it...but I've done my best to make it up to them since.

bc

 

[jpembroke]

I got them last year, it was a one off deal. To be honest I felt a bit bad about it...but I've done my best to make it up to them since.

bc

That is a bargain. Open Pro or Excellight rim on Record hubs would probably be my first choice but is sadly out of my budget. The Ambrosio zenith hubs get excellent reviews though so I'm sure they'll be great wheels.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Open Pro or Excellight rim on Record hubs would probably be my first choice but is sadly out of my budget.

Since only the rear of the Protons has straight pull spokes that are hard to source, perhaps you can replace the rear wheel only for the time being with Open Pro on Record. With the rear wheel normally sold for 2/3 the price of a pair, it is probably within the budget you are willing to spend.

 

[Joe]

Why not have a go at building your own? It's really satisfying!

I'm not particularly profecient mechanically but had no problems. I'm about to build my 5th wheel (as a xmas present for someone) and my first two sets have have held up well and required no truing. The first set are on a my tourer and have done 1000 fully loaded miles too!

 

[PpPete]

Why not have a go at building your own? It's really satisfying!

+1
Apart from a few practices on second hand hubs & rims, I've always built with Open Pros. Those Excellight rims look nice too. Suggest downloading the Wheelpro book for the knowledge and go for it.

 

[jpembroke]

I would do if I had a truing stand but for the cost of getting the tools I can get them built. Daft thing is I did a wheelbuilding course 3 years ago and have never put the experience in to practice. Perhaps I should invest the money in the kit and just get on with it.

 

[normgow]

Have a look at the thread "Spokes" in this Forum. There are lots of suggestions here concerning wheelbuilding literature and information about making your own jigs and dishing gauges for very little outlay.
Wheelbuilding at the start is a time consuming but satisfying occupation especially in the wintertime, try doing it whilst listening to BBC radio 4 or music from Richard Thompson and don't worry about having to undo all the spokes and starting all over again until you get it right.