As a commuter it probably really wasn’t worth me teaching myself to build wheels, but I was curious as to how difficult it would be. My bike came with a relatively heavy set of WTB i23’s, and WTB Cross Boss tyres. Naturally I wanted something a little lighter but also something that would roll a little faster on the road and also be tubeless. The easy thing here would have been to just swap tyres, but I figured having two sets of wheels with two different tyres, let’s say winter and summer means less mess and less wastage of sealant. And then this happened… We were out on our usual group ride, one impatient driver decided to overtake us straight into the path of an oncoming car. Miraculously it was only me that came off my bike with some scrapes a bent rear mech hanger, torn seat, broken wheel and scrapes and aches. I still can’t believe how lucky we were but anyway I digress, is wheel building worth it, well I did have a spare set of wheels so I could swap those over no problem, that meant I could get back on my commute the next week which was great, but also because I have a perfectly good hub still I can simply rebuild my wheel onto a new rim. Well theoretically I could anyway, the only problem being I couldn’t find a 29inch WTB ST i-23 rim anywhere, and I don’t know why but I can’t bring myself to ride with two different rims, it just doesn’t seem right, so I’ve done what any sane person would do. Buy some 650b rims and new tyres and build some Road + wheels. Is wheel building worth it, well at the time of writing eBay are selling a set of identical wheels to those I’m building for £199, my build cost reusing the hubs is coming in at £58 not factoring in time. Add another £60 if I got new hubs from Aliexpress i’d still be saving £80 which is a pretty good saving. Will my wheels be as true and as strong, well with practice they will be and I’m not under any real time constraints to complete it, and I also have the added skill to be able to true my wheels or friends wheels if I need to. But, and there is a but whilst it is a fun experience building your own wheels if you’re into that kind of thing, unless you’re willing to sacrifice your time to save money (like I am) just learning the basics of and principles of building and truing wheels should suffice that way you can repair your own wheels if you need to, and if you have a Local Bike shop you can pop in to there and discuss hand built wheels and I’m sure you could get some custom made wheels for a decent price and professionally hand built, and a preferred option for many. For those interested in changing from 700 to 650b, my first impressions after riding 40 miles on them, 650bx47c feel very different, in fact the exact opposite on my 700x30c wheels, I was much more comfortable and felt I was riding faster over the first half of my commute a muddy and lumpy old railway line, but when I hit the road and was getting out of the saddle accelerating from lights it was more effort, and I didn't like the feel of the front tyre compressing. My 700c wheels make the ride less comfortably on the first half but not slow on the second half. Overall the moving time of the commute both there and back was about the same. Once I've played with the tyre pressures I might be able to shave some time off the first half of the commute which is always a little rougher.
Whilst I like the wheels and will keep using them, there are other things to consider, if you use mudguards you'll need bigger ones, I've managed to bend mine to create clearance but the tyres are wider than my wheels so i still got a bit muddy, I think the tyres will come into their own on more gravel orientated rides, but I suspect taking them up into the Peaks is really going to prove an effort. I'm hoping though if I persevere with them they'll act a bit like training wheels and come the summer the Triathlons and Sportifs I've entered will feel easier when I put on the 700c's?
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Mike GaskellI started commuting around May 2017, mainly to save the £45 a week train fare and get ready for the Dunwich Dynamo. Archives
August 2022
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