Most of my friends and family know I’ve recently got into bicycle wheel building. I’ve only done a couple wheel sets, but I more or less have the hang of it. My measure of success is when a wheel can support my 200lbs. for a few thousand miles, nothing too technical.
I won’t go into detail about how to wheel build as there are dozens of fantastic articles on the web and books to read. One thing I haven’t mastered is how to reliably procure materials for this craft.
Parts for wheel building include:
- rims
- hubs
- spokes
- spoke nipples
- rim tape
Rims are obvious, and the style and price range should be appropriate for the rider and application. I’m a bigger guy and have Velocity Deep Vs on both my bikes. I can get the new in the $50 range, they’re very strong and stiff. One downside besides weight is they are a bit harder to lace on account of the deep section.
Hubs are probably the easiest thing to shop for. I’ve had great success with clearance items from nashbar, jensonusa and even eBay.
The wheels on my LeMond used early 90′s Dura-Ace hubs I got for around $30 each. New these can cost over $200 each and they are made so well they last a long time.
Spokes are simple and complex at the same time. Assuming you’ve done your homework and have calculated the appropriate length(s) (rear wheels typically have 2mm shorter spokes on the drive side and disc brakes offset a bit on the opposite side), you have to consider many things: brand, thickness, construction, color and quantity.
For my purposes the DT Swiss Competition Double Butted spoke is good for anything. They aren’t terribly hard to find locally, but most shops only have a few lengths. To work around this, some shops own a Phil Wood machine which will cut spokes and roll threads to any length.
In Seattle the going rate for this is about $1.00 each, including a standard 12mm brass nipple. The challenge is this takes time. If you’re building 2x 32 hole wheels, you’ll be waiting around while these are cut.  Before you use hand cut spokes, you should wash the threads in warm soapy water to clean off any metal debris or residue. Also, the economics don’t seem much until you consider the total cost of the wheel. On my LeMond I got the new rim for $48, D.A. hub for $35, and $32 for spokes bought locally. Not to mention when you’re starting out with this hobby, you’re apt to break spokes or strip nipples, so you should be spares.
Ordering on the internet seems simple and there are cheap prices on the surface. The big retailers like performance and jenson sell some spokes, but usually only in boxes of 100 and only in a handful of lengths. Even if you get lucky and they have your length in stock, you’ll end up with enough for 3 wheels, and you probably needed 16 spokes that were 2mm shorter for your rear wheel anyhow.
I have had moderately good success with cambria bike outfitters.  The DT comp DB spokes I like are only $0.59 each, BUT you need to order nipples explicitly. Those only run $0.10 for the standard ones. Also I understand this isn’t a huge store, so they’re inventory may be somewhat limited. I was mildly annoyed when 14 of the 34 spokes I most recently ordered where on backorder.  20 spokes seems like an odd quantity of a given size to keep in stock. Some light duty front wheels use only 20 spokes, or it would cover 1/2 of a rear wheel – but I have to image the vast majority of the time people buy spokes in quantities for 2 wheels.
Rim tape is hardly difficult to score, unless you’re using something exotic like veloplugs. In any case, I’m curious to see what others do. Leave a comment or email me.
Thanks
-Sean
