nick_the_wheelbuilder

I'm able to offer a few nice deals on wheel builds, because my suppliers have some discounted prices. I've put together some combos.. https://wheelbuilder.co.za/black-friday-2023/

You've just confirmed something everyone has been led to believe. More aero wheels make you faster on the road, which also means you'll save energy at the same speed. THE best upgrade for your bike is wheels. As a wheel builder this makes me very happy

I normally never do Black Friday deals on the wheels I build, but this year my suppliers have come to the party. I can offer SOME builds at prices I haven't been able to manage since 2018. I never discount what I charge to build wheels though - you don't want me reducing the attention and care that goes into the process Need wheels, let me know. Some combos on my website now: wheelbuilder dot coza

This is a bit of a cheeky post, so please remove if I'm over-stepping the boundaries, Admin. Some of my suppliers have offered discounts on rims and hubs and I can pass on some savings. More details on my website. wheelbuilder dot coza

There are two guys I'd go to in Jhb (Kyalami area) Dave Marshall of Spoke and Spanner. Michael Maine of Bicycle Supply Chain. Both exceptional wheel builders.

South Industries carbon rims, new Hope Pro5 hubs, Hope floating rotors and Maxxis Aspen tyres. This wheelset enjoyed a 160km maiden voyage and performed with aplomb. (Prince George gravel race from Prince Albert to George)

Agreed, with everything everyone's mentioned above. You just need strong wheels, and there are quite a few nice options available. My most popular heavy duty build for big guys and / or high-performance e-bikes is the following: Hope Pro4 or Pro5 hubs Stan's Flow EX3 rims (32h) Double butted spokes and brass nipples. Other great options are: AMP HD rims and Hi-Per hubs from Lyne, Spank Vibrocore rims with their Hex Drive hubs. Here's a set I built last week - R14 400 excluding tyres, for reference.

Sometimes bearings are pressed in a bit too tight and this can cause the dragging you describe. I see this most of the time in freehubs, which have a hollow spacer tube between the inner and outer bearing inside races.

My only gripe about not using Garmin devices is the lack of integration with Discovery Vitality. I have a Lezyne Mega XL GPS and it's incredible, with incredible service from their agents to boot. And the Lezyne devices are very well priced. My device has a 48hr run time battery life.

I followed your link in the first post, and if it's the drive side rear spoke you need, Dragons has in stock.

Your wheels have a barcode sticker on the rim. Input that code into the Mavic service website and it will tell you which spares part number you require. https://technicalmanual.mavic.com/tech-mavic/technical_manual/data/mavic_tech.php?&fil=2&co=UK Then we check with Dragons, the Mavic agents, if they have stock on hand. Get someone who knows what they're doing to install the new spoke. Special nipple wrench needed, obviously.

I'm in Wilderness, near George. That would be so cool, but I don't keep stock. I only build wheels that I'm commissioned to build by paying customers.

If you're spending $4000 on wheels, you're unlikely to be fazed by the warranty - lifetime or not. For half the money you can get wheels every bit as light, fast and sexy. With hubs that are actually good I'd pair a set of DT Swiss 240S hubs with some Nextie (or any other premium quality aftermarket rims) using Sapim CX-Ray or Pillar PSR Xtra1420 spokes and quality nipples. Matt UD rims with matt or glossy black graphics like the Zipps will look great. Or get them with some chameleon chrome stickers to match the bike Or spend the same money as a set of 454's and get an aero 60mm set and a 30mm climbing set. Some 45mm deep Nexties on DT350's I built recently.

I'll be the chop voting "none of the above". A custom wheelset with DT Swiss 240 or 180 hubs and some custom rims will be better quality, lighter and cheaper.

I know... back when petrol was under R20/l In 2017/8 I used to be able to build a set of wheels with Stan's rims and Hope hubs for under R10k - now it's closer to R15k.

Which DT Swiss wheels are you referring to? Fulcrum wheels tend to be very good value for money to buy. The main difference is that many Fulcrum (and Mavic, Shimano, Campy) wheels use proprietary parts, making repairs and servicing potentially difficult in a few years. The rims, hubs and spokes that DT Swiss uses are much more "standard", meaning you can get parts like replacement rims, spokes and nipples anywhere, anytime. Here are the Fulcrum specs: https://www.fulcrumwheels.com/en/wheels/road-bike-wheels/racing-5 South African retail price is about R9000 for a set of Racing 5's, if you can find stock. Approx 1650g for the set. At the moment you can't buy new factory-built DT Swiss alloy rim-brake road wheels in SA as nobody has imported any. You could have a set built by someone like myself. - DT 350 hub set: R7500 - DT RR411 rims: R2250 each - Bladed Spokes & brass nipples: R1800 - Labour: R750 per wheel Total: R15 300 excluding delivery. Approx 1500g for the set. (Add R10k and you can get an incredible set of carbon aero wheels) The DT Swiss set, while being hand-built and lighter, also uses widely available spokes and nipples, in common lengths, and can be serviced by any decent bike shop.

I almost only use Pillar spokes. Very similar to DT anyways, if not identical. Yes, the new Pro5 hubs are sweet-sounding for sure!

I was lucky enough to have been commissioned to build these wheels this week. I don't always have the opportunity to add tyres and brake discs but I had a very cooperative customer These new Hope Pro5 hubs are really nice - the main improvement, for me, over the Pro4's is the reduced friction in the freehub mechanism. Lekker né?

I'd selfishly love to see a similar survey done on wheels. - Do you ride alloy or carbon wheels? - Have you upgraded or replaced the wheels that came on your bike? - If so, what brands of rims and hubs did you choose? - What did you pay? The results would be fascinating, I'm sure.

I agree we're the majority. Those of us on R20-40k bikes who have no inclination to spend the same on a set of wheels That said, it's sure interesting seeing how many guys are out and about on R150k+ e-bikes and S-Works superbikes. I sell more R20k+ wheelsets than R10k ones - I guess the economy is driving how we spend....

There are thousands of riders who have R50-100k bikes these days. What is the average price of bikes at any of the big multi-day stage races? Well over R50k... (these events cost R10k+ easy, just to enter) These R20-40k carbon wheelsets are becoming very common, even if you or I can't justify the cost. It's like any hobby - people pay big money to enjoy it to the fullest. A set of golf clubs can easily cost R20-40k. Don't even ask about the cost of camera lenses for people who like wildlife photography. My point is that there's a huge market for wheels like these

I love seeing big brands try something new and sensible at the same time. The outer wall design of the Zipp 1Zero Hitop rims will certainly reduce pinch-flats and damaged tyres. Their prices on the Zipp website are $1350 for the Hitop S wheelset (1495g) and $1950 for the SW (1325g). Roughly translated to ZAR 27 000 and ZAR39 000 respectively. (Local SA price may or may not be the same, who knows?) What I find very interesting is that Chinese rim maker, Nextie, has had these similar shape rims available for about a year already, and look to be very similar indeed. For comparison, using the Nextie Vista Omega rims, Pillar PSR Xtra1420 bladed spokes and brass nipples, and DT Swiss 350 straightpull hubs, one could build a 1325g wheelset for around R10k less than buying a set of Zipps. I've used these rims with i9 1/1 hubs and the set came to 1420g and cost the customer R27k. (same as the Zipp Hitop S option, but with arguably better hubs) In conclusion, nice to see sensible innovation in the carbon rim market.

I must give a shout-out to Mike from Bicycle Supply Chain in Kyalami - such a superb mechanic and always goes to great lengths to get everything just right. Another worthy mention is Albert from Vincent Bikes (here in the Garden Route) in Sedgefield.

These would be worth at least R1500

On their way to their new owner - someone's going to be a very happy mountain biker in a couple of days! - Boost 29er MTB wheels - 1210g - Nextie carbon rims: 30mm inner width - DT Swiss 180 hubs - Pillar PSR Xtra1420 bladed spokes and black brass DSN nipples