Going rate for a wheel rebuild

[Bodhbh]

Just wondered what the going rate for a wheel rebuild at teh LBS is?

It's just an 6-7yr old MTB wheel, not sure of spec exactly, deore hubs but can't remember rims. When it was in use it kept breaking spokes and has done several times.

Is the normal approach in this situation to completely relace it with new spokes or just slack off the old ones and retension the lot? In anycase, what can I expect pricewise? I need to assess whether it's worth bothering with, or just getting a new wheel.

 

[brockers]

A bike shop near me quoted me £20 labour to replace a road rim which had a developed a sizeable hop and wobble. On inspection, the mechanic told me the rim was fine (I thought it was on its last legs), so he just slackened off the spokes and trued it. £10. Job done. And that was in London. I've since picked up a meaty trueing stand and do my own tweaking now.

 

[andytheflyer]

A bike shop near me quoted me £20 labour to replace a road rim which had a developed a sizeable hop and wobble. On inspection, the mechanic told me the rim was fine (I thought it was on its last legs), so he just slackened off the spokes and trued it. £10. Job done. And that was in London. I've since picked up a meaty trueing stand and do my own tweaking now.

Recently paid £50 for my LBS to re-spoke (with stainless) a 26" hydrid wheel (Alexrim).

 

[Moodyman]

I paid £46 to my LBS for rebuilding my wheel.

They used their own spokes (heavy duty), nipples and rim tape on my Bontrager rim and Deore hubs - 32 spokes. My wheel was less than 10 months old and disc braked so had a virtually infinite life.

Depends on the conditon of your wheel and hub. If it's rim brake and been ridden for 6-7 years, might not be much life left in it.

New wheels on Deore Hubs can be bought for either side of £50 and most good shops will even the tension before giving it to you.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Those prices sound about right. I was quoted £46 for a rebuild of an OEM Sunringle or for the same money a DT Swiss Shomano Deore hubed rear wheel.

 

[Tynan]

just paid £70 for a front 36h Mavic Open Pro rebuild in my slgihtly pricey London LBS

yes I have left it so will be putting tube and tyre onto it tomorrow morning

yes, I'm drinking now so will be slightly bad tempered tomorrow morning

 

[brockers]

^^To your hungover self - that doesn't sound too bad! £45 retail for a rim, and £25 for a re-lace, true, and tension.

 

[albion]

I had two spokes go pop last weekend.Its the first time spokes have ko'd my ride. This being down to the silly 24 spoke wheels.Its done a good few thousand miles so with another one going recent I bought 36 pack of 2mm stainless steel spokes.Swiss Alpines were only in 72 packs at my size so these are unbranded but seem quite decent.I've now rebuilt the drive side rear and am left with the thought that just maybe I don't need to do the non drive side. A first ever wheel build for me and doing them one by one was not that daunting.

 

[Red Light]

To your hungover self - that doesn't sound too bad! £45 retail for a rim, and £25 for a re-lace, true, and tension.

What is more important is who you get to do it. A cheap new wheel will probably exhibit the same problem fairly soon due to poor build quality*. A redone old wheel may or may not depending on whether the wheelbuilder knows what they are doing - a lot don't.

Maybe an opportunity to instead buy yourself a copy of The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt, a spoke key and some new spokes and have a go a building it yourself. Its a useful cycle maintenance skill to have.

* I don't know what they are like now as I haven't bought a ready built wheel for years now but the hand built ones from Merlin Cycles used to be pretty good and were not expensive.

 

[Bodhbh]

Forgot I posted this. Cheers all anyway, by the sounds of it a rebuild would not be economical on what is a fairly low spec wheel.

I've been putting off learning how to do my own, but maybe I do as Red Light suggests and use it as a practice wheel for rebuilding myself.

 

[Red Light]

Forgot I posted this. Cheers all anyway, by the sounds of it a rebuild would not be economical on what is a fairly low spec wheel.

I've been putting off learning how to do my own, but maybe I do as Red Light suggests and use it as a practice wheel for rebuilding myself.

If you are going to do that, Sheldon Brown's wheelbuilding web page is very helpful.

 

[biggs682]

my local shop quoted me £16 incl spokes to re spoke a wheel , didnt think that was to bad

 

[Alembicbassman]

My LBS quoted £25 to re-spoke a cheap 700c wheel, I just bought a new one for £30 instead.