Yes, Wheelbuilder.co.za is now a toddler.
It’s been a steep learning curve with some (not too many) mistakes along the way.
I’ve built or repaired a bunch of wheels. Rims used for builds include:
- WTB – KOM, Frequency Team (i19, i23 and i25) and Asym rims
- Spank – Oozy Trail 260, 295 & 345 rims
- Plenty of Roval rims, rebuilt and repaired – alloy and carbon
- Mavic road rims
- e*Thirteen TRS+ rims
- 3 Enve wheels completely built or rebuilt
- DT Swiss wheels repaired and rebuilt
- Campagnolo wheels repaired and rebuilt
- A Unicycle wheel built with a WTB Scraper rim
- Many Stan’s Crest, Arch and Flow rims
- and a few more…..
I’ve realized a few things about building wheels:
- The slower I build them, the better they turn out.
- More expensive rims don’t always mean better quality
- Wider rims definitely come together stronger and straighter
- Wheel building is therapeutic – you forget about everything else because you have to concentrate
Probably the nicest thing I’ve learned is that the guys and girls I’ve built wheels for really enjoy the benefits of a carefully hand-built wheel or wheelset – strength, durability, lighter weight, better aesthetics and increased stiffness and reliability.
I’ve fallen in love with wheel building, so here’s to many more years behind the truing stand. Cheers!
— Nick
