What exactly should you be expecting for the build quality associated with custom built wheels? Don’t all hand built wheels have an exceptional build quality?
In all honesty they certainly should be built to the highest standards, but unfortunately that’s not always the case.
Let me explain.
Anyone can claim to be a professional wheel builder and they might have a website and a business card but what does that guarantee? One would hope that they would be able to offer wheels built to the highest standards, but that’s simply not always the case.
So how does one know if the person that you are thinking of hiring is in fact a knowledgeable and experienced builder worthy of your hard earned money and trust.
You would do yourself a favour by asking a number of questions to that wheel builder.
Questions like, “do you build wheels for a living” and is this your sole source of income?
“How many years have you been building wheels as your sole source of income?
If for instance you are planning on getting a set of carbon wheels you might ask how extensive their experience is with carbon rims as an example.
If you are getting custom wheels built for a specific cycling discipline you might ask the wheel builder how much experience he/she has building wheels for that cycling discipline. Are they conversant with road wheels, gravel wheels, MTB wheels, touring wheels? etc…
You also might enquire about whether or not they have genuine relationships with the suppliers and distributors of the companies they purport to sell. Can they prove that?
This will effect what kind of warranty they can offer should any of those products you buy turn out to be defective.
Lastly you can ask about what tools they own. These days a professional wheel builder should be in possession of some pretty sophisticated tools. If they lack these tools that’s an immediate red flag. Tools don’t replace experience but they do facilitate a proper job. Wheels can’t be built to the highest standards without those tools. It’s just that simple.
Cognoscenti Cycles is always adding new tools to our already impressive arsenal of specialised wheel building tools.
These are a few of the things you can ask a prospective wheel builder to see if they are really up to the task. Its not just a matter of getting a good deal on the price of the components that will make up your finished wheel set. If the build quality is suspect that can even invite safety issues. I wouldn’t want to be hurtling down a hill on my new MTB wheels only to find out that they weren’t built at an optimum spoke tension which resulted in a catastrophic failure and a terrible accident. That thought is quite sobering.
All of this advice can be applied to large companies as well as small sole proprietor owned business’s. Huge name-brand companies also are guilty of pumping out sub standard wheel builds everyday of the week. I won’t name any names for fear of some sort of legal reprisal but trust me when I tell you that I work on wheels built by the biggest names in the business all the time and I am never shocked to see just how bad, bad can get. So just because a company is large, been around for decades or promises a super fine build means absolutely nothing. People have to take pride in their work and care about what they are doing, and shouldn’t be working under strict time quota’s that seriously compromise quality.
Seek out your local pro wheel builder who is truly a specialist.
I hope this helps in seeing the sound reasons for vetting your wheel builder. Find the person with the greatest amount of experience possible. It will serve you well.
I take spoke tension very seriously and therefore Cognoscenti Cycles has developed its own highly accurate spoke tension meter. We feel this is the most accurate meter currently available.