Describe your handbuilts. Bonus points for covering likes/dislikes, reason for the build, alternatives you looked at, ease of mounting tubeless, etc. \n\n\nI was on DT Swiss R23 Splines which have been a really capable and solid wheel (and came with the bike). I weigh about 180 with bike and gear, I don't ride single track but I ride some pretty rough jeep trails and B roads. Rides can go from 100% dirt/gravel to 100% pavement, but usually about 20-40% off-road. Rides can be up to 200+ miles and far from support, but most are 40-90 miles. Lots of climbing, extended climbs but also rollers. \n\nI wanted to get another wheel set to have an alternate set of tires ready to roll. Wanted quicker engagement on rear hub. Also wanted a little more width in the rim. I thought hard about Pacenti SL 25s but went with HED Belgium + (28 hole f/r) since I've had really good experience abusing those rims on my road bike with no issues. I run tires 35-40c, not super fat.\n\nHubs are DT240s partly because choices are limited for 15/100 and 12/142. Sapim spokes, alloy nipples (I don't ride salted winter roads), 3x.\n\nNot the lightest but sweet over first 500 miles. No flex for sprints or sharp climbs., but fat tires will flex long before the wheels. Easy to mount tubeless Compass BJP and Clement MSO.
I am pretty happy with my Nox wheel set. Here are the specifics: Nox A36D, 28 hole rim (not listed on their website anymore. tubeless, Road/CX) Industry 9 Torch Classic Road Disc, Lime Green, 28 hole, 6 bolt hubs (15x100, 142x12) Sapim Double Butted spokes Lime Green aluminum nipples
The wheels are reasonably light, stiff and look great. They set up tubeless easily with a floor pump. I am running Maxxis Rambler 40c tires.
I am also having a second set built for 27.5 mountain bike tires (bike accommodates both.) I will be using the same hubs, Sapim CX Ray spokes, Brass nipples and Nox Skyline 27.5 rims. I will use Schwalbe Thunder Burt 27.5x2.1 Snake Skin tubeless.
My only set of hand built wheels (so far - looking forward to more) was built for durability and cost, weight was a secondary (if that) consideration.
These are a set of rim brake road/gravel/cx wheels. I went with HED Belgium+ rims (28 front and rear, I'm a big dude) somewhat beefy double butted spokes (don't recall what brand or guage, but nothing special), and velo orange touring hubs. I wish the Belgium+ had been available in a 32 at the time of building because I would have gone 28/32 with the rear being 3 cross...
The hubs were chosen because their cost is reasonable for a cartridge bearing hub and I have a tendency to break spokes (did I mention I was a big guy?) and the rear hub is field serviceable. I can remove the freehub and cassette without tools to access the spokes head in an emergency!
The wheels have been pretty bomb proof. I've used them for gravel and cyclocross, single speed (with spacers) and geared, pavement to dirt single track. At 260+ lbs I've never gone so long between truings and I have yet to break a spoke (front or rear) so the VO hub feature hasn't been utilized except to service the freehub.
In three years I've only had to true them up once. I toss them on a truing stand twice a year just to check spoke tensions (out of curiosity more than anything) and more often than not end up just cleaning them up with a rag and calling it good.
fbhidy wrote:My only set of hand built wheels (so far - looking forward to more) was built for durability and cost, weight was a secondary (if that) consideration.
These are a set of rim brake road/gravel/cx wheels. I went with HED Belgium+ rims (28 front and rear, I'm a big dude) somewhat beefy double butted spokes (don't recall what brand or guage, but nothing special), and velo orange touring hubs. I wish the Belgium+ had been available in a 32 at the time of building because I would have gone 28/32 with the rear being 3 cross...
The hubs were chosen because their cost is reasonable for a cartridge bearing hub and I have a tendency to break spokes (did I mention I was a big guy?) and the rear hub is field serviceable. I can remove the freehub and cassette without tools to access the spokes head in an emergency!
The wheels have been pretty bomb proof. I've used them for gravel and cyclocross, single speed (with spacers) and geared, pavement to dirt single track. At 260+ lbs I've never gone so long between truings and I have yet to break a spoke (front or rear) so the VO hub feature hasn't been utilized except to service the freehub.
In three years I've only had to true them up once. I toss them on a truing stand twice a year just to check spoke tensions (out of curiosity more than anything) and more often than not end up just cleaning them up with a rag and calling it good.
I have a 2017 Specialized Sequoia Expert and the stock Cruzero wheels are bomb-proof but quite heavy. I wanted to get a lighter wheelset in order to ride this bike in the DK200. I settled on Pacenti TL28 rims as they have a 23mm internal width (fitting a 700x40 or 700x42 tire nicely) and 444g weight. They'll be laced to SRAM 900 front & rear through-axle hubs (lightish and inexpensive) via Sapim Race spokes. I'm looking forward to picking them up and hoping to shed somewhere between 500-600g of rotating weight at a minimum.
I've had several. Two current hand built wheelsets that I have are:
WTB Frenquecy i23 rims (32h) laced to Hope Pro 4 hubs with DT Swiss Comp. spokes (2.0/1.8) and brass nips. Got these because I really like the WTB rims and wanted something a bit wider than the 19mm rims that I had stock on my bike, they are light and strong and cheap. Hope hubs because Hope hubs. Look great, work great, built great, customer service great, price great, easy to service. 44 POE. Spokes because I'm heavy and these are strong. No dislikes.
Mountain bike is running Stans Flow EX rims (36h), Hope Pro2 EVO rear hub, Pro4 front. Pretty much same reasons as above. No problems. I kinda wish the rims were wider but that's my fault in poor planning, not the fault of the build or components. For what they are...it's a great wheelset.
Next wheelset will likely be another WTB/Hope build. Don't have a need for another set at the moment though. I would like to replace the wheels on my Renegade. I can use the new WTB set on there...but that requires too much swapping over of parts and it s PITA...but in a pinch I can do it.
Set 1 has DT240 CL Disc hubs, CXRay spokes 28/28, alloy nipps, on Pacenti SL25 rim, Kenda Happy Mediums tires set up Tubeless. It was my primary Gravel wheels, prolly my lightest.
Set 2 has White Industry CLD hubs, Laser Spokes, 24/28, Alloy nipps, on Pacenti SL 25 rims, Conti 4000s tires in 28c. Primary use is for road riding.
Set 3 has Hope CL hubs, Laser spokes, 28/28, Alloy Nipps, on Stans Arch mk rims, WTB Riddler 45c tire set up tubeless. This was a expirement to see just how BIG I could go on my gravel wheels and tires.
Most of my gravel ride are in the NC mtns. THe gravel can be rough with fast choppy downhills. I occasionaly do some light single track also. Really liking the wide rims and wide tires for these conditions. They really round all the sharpe edges. Running about 35 lbs in them.
SL 25 rim has been awesome in all aspects. You probably want find any complaints anywhere on these rims. I just wanted to try something wider.
I bought handbuilt FSA wheels from Universal Cycles online a month ago. Sub 1700 grams, wide tubeless rims, QR or thru axle, alloy freehub, 24 spokes. I'm a big guy, 225 lbs, and have been beating on them for a month with rooty singletrack, logpiles, rutted dirt roads and rail trail. They are still true and roll smoothly. And they were only $400.
I'll be getting my wheels built up this week and hopefully be able to have some feedback on what I think of them by next weekend. Build details are:
H Plus Son The Hydra 28/28, DT 240 Straight Pull (XD Driver), Sapim Laser and Alloy nips. Really hoping to find a set of Compass Bon Jon Pass' around but no one local is a dealer and Compass will be out for another month of the standard casing so not quite sure of what I'll run for tires yet.
Will let you all know my impression of how they ride
I'm currently rolling on a pair of WTB Frequency Team i23s with XT hubs and DT Swiss spokes. It's been a no-frills, bomber wheelset that I've abused more than I probably should have and put a ton of miles on. I'm completely sold on the WTB TCS system - hands down the easiest tubeless setups I've ever dealt with. In fact, there's really nothing to deal with at all - just put them on and pump them up. The XT hubs are while simple and durable. But the rear leaves a fair bit to be desired in the 'engagement' dept.
I just placed an order for some WTB KOM i23s with Hope Pro 4 hubs, DT Swiss Comp spokes, Sapim nips...
4. Zipp 404 IS, factory built, only for fairly smooth surfaces, free hub body lasted less than 500 miles..now at service...
I often use G-One Allround or G-one Bite tires often at 38 or 40 mm. The ex471 rims now has a GravelKing 40 tire..and the ENVEs is currently with Vittoria tires. The Fulcum Red Passion still has the original Maxxis tires, they roll fast but lack grip.
For winter tires I use the studded Schwalbe Marathon Winter Plus at 35 mm.
I use the bike for my daily 2×20 km commute, but I also ride some longdistance events like the Abloc Swedish winter challenge which is a 350 km long event on mixed road on December 28th...
I sometimes also use the gravel bike for some club rides, it is ok up to 20-21 mph (34 km/h), above that I really need my racer...
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