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Have Carbon Rims Made Custom Wheels a Thing of the Past?

Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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10 or 15 years ago, if you asked about a wheelset upgrade, most experienced riders would tell you to have a well-regarded builder make you a set. Best quality, best value. Win-win. Factory-built wheels were second class citizens, with a handful of exceptions. I am not seeing that advice anymore. Why not?
 
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Tony S

Tony S

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I'll follow up with the observation that getting a best-quality rear hub was one argument for custom wheels. I don't hear hear about this either, much.
 
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Tony S

Tony S

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I just ordered some. And you get a choice of hub lube/noise level.
Okay NOW I'm sold. Because the very nice factory road wheels I bought last year are insanely loud. I hate it and everyone riding with me hates it. Whole thread right there.
 

dan ross

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I had custom wheels made years ago for my Serotta Club Special. I did a lot of riding on two lane winding roads so the builder recommended 36 spoke hubs and rims . Noticeable improvement in ride despite the slightly extra weight as they were stiffer in corners and seemed more stable on descents. They were, however, slightly harsher but it was worth it overall. If you have a good wheel builder I think it’s worth exploring.
 

scott43

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So I used to build a lot of wheels. And I've been eyeing my post retirement plans. Seems service is the word these days. Internet makes selling stuff difficult. I thought, I can do custom wheel builds. But like you @Tony S , I see many people buying mass built wheels. And they're good. So I don't really know what the market would be for custom wheels. I'm doing rebuilds for people right now but selling custom? Dunno. Listening to this discussion carefully...
 

dan ross

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Where are you located? As I recall , the good wheel builders used to be in places like Burlington Vermont, Boulder, and the Bay Area , but also Boston and NYC-places with a strong cycling culture and usually local custom builders. Don't know if the internet makes that irrelevant or not.
 

scott43

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I'm in Toronto and we have a big cycling community. Surprising amount of winter riders. And we have some great shops. I'm kinda fortunate in that I don't have to make money at this. But as Tony points out, I'm not sure there's a big market anymore for custom wheels. When I started building wheels, you didn't have any choice. Now there are great factory wheels out there. I think they can be extremely costly for what you get..but..to each their own.
 

cantunamunch

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usually local custom builders. Don't know if the internet makes that irrelevant or not.

At this stage the good wheel builders are the ones with huge parts stocks. My top reason for ordering a new wheelset was not being able to get a single freaking sealed bearing in the proper size for the old hubs.
 

Tom K.

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My vote for best, no-BS wheelbuilder in the world:


Worth a look for research purposes, @scott43.

I'm an admitted bike geek, with a few friends in the industry. I'm currently mtb-ing on some fancy Astral Serpentine carbon rims and Project 321 hubs. Cool, but I'd be lying if I said I could pass the blindfold test between them and my Bontrager Kovee Pros (and I broke a rear axle, which hasn't happened in like forever -- ancient Shimano XT).
 

cantunamunch

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I'm an admitted bike geek, with a few friends in the industry. I'm currently mtb-ing on some fancy Astral Serpentine carbon rims and Project 321 hubs. Cool, but I'd be lying if I said I could pass the blindfold test between them and my Bontrager Kovee Pros (and I broke a rear axle, which hasn't happened in like forever -- ancient Shimano XT).

Question for the true geeks: is there more custom laced market for Boost and Boost+ hubs?
 

scott43

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I think many people wouldn't be able to pass the blindfold/ear plug test quite frankly. But that's ok..some builds do make a difference, even if small. I look at it more from a reliability viewpoint. However..if people want to spend $2k on a wheelset, well, who are we to step in the way?? :ogbiggrin:
 

Tom K.

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Question for the true geeks: is there more custom laced market for Boost and Boost+ hubs?

Boost 148 I'd say no. It has become commonplace.

Boost+ (AKA Superboost) yes because adoption of this "standard" has been slow, as it should be, since it doesn't really offer enough of an improvement to justify itself.
 

Jersey Skier

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20 years ago I'd do a huge preseason order of rims from Mavic and build wheels all year. Now, I don't even keep rims in stock. The wheels I do build are much more expensive than what was imaginable back then. I'm building up a pair of Onyx hubs (silent BTW) with carbon rims for a customer this week.
 

KevinF

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I've had horrible luck with store-bought wheels -- broken spokes, wheel coming out of true, etc.

The last two sets of road wheels I've had were handbuilt by Peter White (shop in NH). I probably have 50k miles on those wheels and they've never seen a spoke wrench. Nothing fancy -- 32 spoke wheels, DuraAce (or Chorus...) hubs, Velocity rims.

I haven't tried a pair of store bought wheels in 15 years and I'm not really inclined to try again. For the type of riding I do (i.e., fitness riding) and the speed I ride at (or lack of speed in most cases...) the benefits of carbon wheels would be lost.
 

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