Wheels, build or buy?

[richiebozza]

Evening all!?

I need some new school wheels for street and park riding, and am not sure whether to buy pre-built, or part the separate elements and build them up?

I could just buy say this Cult front wheel:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/cult-front-bmx-wheel-female/rp-prod83073
and this Eclat rear wheel:
http://www.sourcebmx.com/en/Eclat-Kolibri-Bondi-Custom-One-Off/m-32709.aspx
...and be done for £210, are they decent wheels you think?

Or I could buy Alienation rims, Total tech hubs, and spokes separately for about £230 all in, but then of course have to build them...how easy is it to build them?

What do you think folks?

Yours wheel-less,
Rich.

[deeman]

They both look like decent choices at a decent price...I would just buy them but I am lazy! Depends if you want the satisfaction of building your own...,

[pickle]

I've got Cult hubs on one of mine and Eclat on another and they're both superb wheels.

[richiebozza]

I just watched a youtube video on putting yourown together, I don't have a jig but could fashion something from forks.

So what's the maintenance deal with new school wheels...do you need to re-tighten up all the nipples every now and again?

[pickle]

never touched mine but i depends how heavy you ride??

[oldtired]

a decent pre built new set of wheels may need a little tweek after a couple of hours of riding but after that should need very little attention ,   

if you build your own  wheels well to start with , pre stress and tension all the spokes properly prior to riding on them , then you will have next to no problems , i've got wheels i built years ago i would happily ride in a skate park today,

modern rims are a lot stronger and more rigid than old style rims and a lot of the internet videos ive seen are done relying on this fact,  and although the basic wheel build is there , most show as the final outcome a wheel that is built badly and will need constant adjustment or more likely fail completely.

The   thing is, kids aren't bothered about wobbly wheels and most of the pro's will just put a new wheel on if they bend one which we'd all love to be able to do

  wheel building  is a skill that is worth putting the effort in to learn though,  you can always buy the parts on sale and build up spare sets of wheels , once your capable of building them 

[richiebozza]

Thanks oldtired!

So do you think it will take me a couple of goes (or more) until I get the hang of putting together my own wheel?

[oldtired]

may do,   or may not  ,  only real way to know is have a go

 have you got an old wheel,  even a crappy steel one will do , take it apart and rebuild that ,  i would suggest using a 20" bmx wheel, front or rear,  as that is the size you will be building,  plus  the dishing (offset) on the rear will be small if any ,   worrie about that later once you've got to grips with the initial lacing

if you get it wrong then all good , try to figure out where you've gone wrong , strip it down and  start all over again , tbh most people will build a wheel up then drop it into their local bike shop to have it trued

 i know i've said some of the inernet vids are bad , but the basic spoke lacing ones are ok and a good starting point at least ,   

[richiebozza]

Good knowledge, thanks!

The only thing that wasn't clear from the youtube vids was how tight the nipples should be done up, should they be done up as hard as I can turn them, or just a certain amount?

[oldtired]

this is where the skill and experience comes in , spoke tension is the crucial part of wheel building,   and the main part of wheel truing,  tension will effect the way the rim sits in relation to the hub   , and where most people go wrong , an overtensioned or unevenly tensioned wheel can be worse than an under tensioned  one , spokes will break and  the rim can fail severly usually leading to a chin/floor incident  , i can only suggest read as much as you can on wheel building.

 Sheldon Browns pages are a good starting point, amongst others, will mainly be road bike wheels but the basics are sound and easily translated to bmx wheels .
 
there are a few posts in the tech section on here again sound advice and good starting points


  G Sport has an excelent wheel building guide done by the man himself including correct bru placement and slurping technique