Why are hand-built wheels more costly than factory-built wheels?

I’m often asked this question, so let’s explore some reasons.

• Hand-built, or custom wheels, are one-off creations. In wheel factories, wheel sets are put together in their hundreds or thousands, and are built to suit an “average” rider.
• Factory wheels very often use average components – cheap spokes and nipples.
• Factory wheels often see very little human intervention and are assembled to a “good enough” standard of quality. Hand-built wheels receive the utmost care and are assembled to extremely high levels of precision.
• Factory wheels normally use a single brand for the rims and hubs. Custom wheels give you the option to mix and match hubs and rims from different brands, so that you get the best of all worlds.

In South Africa today, parts availability of rims and hubs is still patchy. For this reason, it’s good to have a choice of rims and hubs that can be assembled into wheel sets by a skilled builder.

For example, if DT Swiss hubs are not available, substitute for Hope or Industry 9, or Spank or Raceface. Same with rims – choose from your preference of what’s available and combine with the hubs of your choice.

In real life, to quote another real example, you can buy an off-the-shelf wheelset from Lyne components for R6600. If I had to source the same components (and use premium spokes and nipples, and assemble the wheels by hand), you’d pay close to R10 000.

Interesting to note!

Once you start looking at high-end carbon wheels, it’s very often possible to get a wheelset custom-built which meets or exceeds the specs of a big brand set, at a lower price.

The main benefit of opting for custom hand-built wheels is not to save money, but rather to get the best possible wheels to suit your needs, taste and budget.

By the way, Industry 9 hubs are now reliably available in South Africa.

Click here to request a quote for your next set of custom, hand-built bicycle wheels.