.

[cat6]

The Gateway District is a large open air retail, residential and office complex in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The complex is centered around the historic Union Pacific Depot in downtown Salt Lake City. It currently contains over 105 stores and restaurants.

[jlwdm]

Try RBR and you should find some info.

I would personally go with one of the great wheelbuilders mentioned here regularly and not just the cheapest.

Nothing wrong with local either.

Jeff

[Germany_chris]

i'm in the market to try out some wider wheels. thinking either HED belgium or velocity major toms laced to CK hubs.

the chepest i've been able to find either is at prowheelbuilder.com, and they are cheaper by a lot.

anyone have any experiences, good or bad?

would make me wonder how..

*edit* I agree with the above..that way when/if the wheel needs tweaking it'll probably be free

[tele]

I got 2 great A23 wheelsets from Echelon John here; he is a great guy and puts together a really nice set of wheels.

Ergott has a great rep as well.

Buy local :)

[djg21]

i'm in the market to try out some wider wheels. thinking either HED belgium or velocity major toms laced to CK hubs.

the chepest i've been able to find either is at prowheelbuilder.com, and they are cheaper by a lot.

anyone have any experiences, good or bad?


I just had a set of Belgiums built up on my Powertap and a CK front hub. The wheels are awesome. With latex tubes and 25c Conti GP 4000s tires, they are the closest thing to tubulars I've ridden. Very nice wheels. http://www.wheelbuilder.com (not Prowheelbuilder.com)was great to deal with, competitively priced, and very fast.

[cat6]

for what it's worth my first suggestion towards someone in my situation would be "you should visit your LBS".

i'm relatively new to my area and HAVE checked out several of my LBS options for a wheel build.

the result? overpriced and unhelpful. when i say "cheaper" i'm talking a complete built wheelset from the website for $700ish opposed to a set of CK R45 hubs ONLY for $600 at LBS. if i could save $400 to have a set of wheels built, why not? especially when the "local" build is by someone of no real reputation, similar to the website.

should i pay an extra $400 to support local business when given my options the local business is not a good business (in my opinion)? sure i can keep going further and further from home to find better options but why if there is a decent option online?

i try to buy local, and i support small businesses. in this case my local options aren't great, and as far as i can tell prowheelbuilder.com is a small business. so i'm 1 for 2.

if anyone here on the forum is interested in doing it, that'd be great...but really all i was looking for was feedback on whether or not anyone has used the website in the past.

as far as "would make me wonder how.." when referring to price, i'd assume it involves bulk purchasing from wheel manufactures and focus on 1 product; wheels. that's just an educated guess, and makes sense to me.

so...has anyone used prowheelbuilder.com in the past? :)

[Jason E]

BUying from one of the great wheelbuilders here is shopping locally. It is your local online cycling forum... We are a community.

[gone]

so...has anyone used prowheelbuilder.com in the past? :)
Since none of the posts so far have addressed the question you asked, I'll respond.

I've done business with PWB a couple of times. I build my own wheels so I've mainly used them for parts. On the first occasion, they weren't the cheapest but had what I wanted so I ordered from them and delivery was prompt. On the second occasion, the parts I wanted (hubs and rims) weren't in stock but they charged my credit card anyway. 30 days later, still no indication that they'd ever be delivered and the bill from my credit card company had arrived so I cancelled the order. Admittedly, I added a note that said "you charged my credit card for items you don't have and I've given you a 30 day interest free loan to purchase inventory" but I received a fairly nasty response from them.

So, if they've got it in stock (no indication of stock level on their web site) and have a decent price you're in decent shape. If they don't you'll finance their business while they order it for you.

No experience with their wheel builds however.

[cat6]

thanks!

that story is enough of a deterrent for me. appreciate the input.

end thread!

[Gummee]

Buddy of mine rides his PWB wheels pretty much every day. Seem to be holding up just fine.

If you go trolling thru the innerwebs, you'll find 'problem' stories about pretty much everyone that sells something. Just sayin

M

[cuwinbs]

i bought a wheel set from then about 2yrs ago for a ss cross bike.there prices were great and so were the wheels.

[kinofaucet]

I purchased a set of CK wheels from PWB. The hubs I wanted were out of stock, but he updated me once a week on what was going on. I finally got the wheels about 2 months later but one of the hubs were high flange when I ordered low flange. PWB let me ride the wheel I received while they built up a new wheel for me. I received my new wheel before I shipped back the old one on their dime. It was a pain waiting that long but I do appreciate the customer service :)

[11.4]

I tend to be leery about recommending local shops unless I know one that actually knows how to build a good wheel. Most shops don't nowadays and if they do, they often have to charge higher prices to make it worthwhile.

On this site, Ergott is first-rate. I also have no hesitation recommending Wheelbuilder.com. Rich Sawiris there is one of the best track wheelbuilders around and is fast and reliable. He knows how to build any wheel and I've never seen a problem in his work.

[climbgdh]

Another highly recommended wheelbuilder is Luxe Wheelworks (Justin Spinelli) from across the hall. I don't have a set of his wheels..... yet ..... but based on any comments I've seen the guys builds great wheels.

[djg21]

I tend to be leery about recommending local shops unless I know one that actually knows how to build a good wheel. Most shops don't nowadays and if they do, they often have to charge higher prices to make it worthwhile.

On this site, Ergott is first-rate. I also have no hesitation recommending Wheelbuilder.com. Rich Sawiris there is one of the best track wheelbuilders around and is fast and reliable. He knows how to build any wheel and I've never seen a problem in his work.

I somewhat agree with this. I like doing business with my LBS, but my LBS doesn't build a lot of wheels, and IMO, to build good wheels, you have to do it regularly and often.

[spamjoshua]

Ergott and Luxe Wheelworks (Justin Spinelli) will both come tailored to your weight/style/needs for a fair price above something bulk.

I have wheels fro Justin built for me, and they are awesome.

I will say, hearing 11.4 give props to the bigger guys is confidence inspiring.

Cheers,
Joshua

[Gummee]

I somewhat agree with this. I like doing business with my LBS, but my LBS doesn't build a lot of wheels, and IMO, to build good wheels, you have to do it regularly and often.If your LBS has a QBP account, have QBP build the wheels. They do LOTS of wheels up there in MN.

I've done that once or twice for customers. Worked out well.

M

[jr59]

Give Joe Young a call.

First rate wheels and a GREAT guy!

[climbgdh]

Give Joe Young a call.

First rate wheels and a GREAT guy!

+100..... forgot to mention Joe in previous post of mine. I have a set of his wheels on my Sachs. CXP33 with DT 240 hubs. Bomb proof. Awesome set of wheels.

[rePhil]

Don't forget Oldpotatoe. Not only is he generous with his knowledge and time here on the forum, he builds great wheels.

[DRZRM]

+ 1

John built me some Record to HED Belgium rims fast and priced very competitively. I liked them so much I ordered a second pair.

I got 2 great A23 wheelsets from Echelon John here; he is a great guy and puts together a really nice set of wheels.

Ergott has a great rep as well.

Buy local :)

[illuminaught]

What about DIY?

A nice stand, tensiometer, dish-check, and wrenches will cost less than 300...
if you plan on building more than 1 set of wheels in a lifetime (or like to have them trued often) it'll pay for itself.

Plus, it's awesome to ride your own wheels. :)
Good luck, HED Belgiums are awesome!

[firerescuefin]

I'll echo what many have already said.

If you spend a lot of time on this forum and benefit from the knowledge of Ergott and Old Potatoe (which accounts for a lot of us), then give them a try.

Personally, I have learned quite a bit from both and haven't paid a penny for it. The feedback from each of their many customers has been outstanding.

[xeladragon]

Another vote for Luxe Wheelworks. Justin's just across the border in NH, so I have the luxury of driving up there to do local pickup... save a few bucks on shipping. He's built me 3 wheelsets (rebuilt a 4th) over the last 2ish years... haven't had to re-true any of them yet after thousands of miles. Great guy, great service!

[11.4]

Yes, I should have included Justin and Il Vecchio. Both are very good.

Remember that twenty years ago, when wheelbuilding was still in its heyday, the rims were widely varying in performance, they were relatively soft and flexible so you could pull them well out of shape, and the rims didn't give much structural support to the wheel. Today, even alloy rims are simply much stiffer, stabler, and contribute more to wheel-build quality. And pretty much all of them come out of the box with bang-on alignment. Thus, you read these days more about how to tension perfectly rather than how to deal with funky problems in the rims. People talk about 1-3% tension balance between spokes when you used to be lucky to be within ten times that amount.

In short, wheelbuilding is easier these days, which means you can make a better wheel than you could make back then. Add in much better metallurgy in the spokes and hubs, and better hub geometries, you get better wheels. So these new builders can simply make better product than you could ever get before and with less variability. These are wheels like the peloton dreamed about twenty years ago. Nice wheels.