I’m fortunate to have a friend with a home shop, so I lace and true as much as I can at home but take them to the shop for the finishing touches. I have found that new modern wheels (especially carbon) are actually pretty straightforward to build and not super fussy. Having the right spoke length makes things much easier. I have a set to build this week which I am looking forward to, haven’t laced anything in over a year now!
You don’t need them, but they sure make it a lot easier. There was a company that made a really affordable, and quite usable, truing stand for under $100. I think Aldi had one for less then that. But if you are going to do it low-end, at least don’t skimp on spoke wrenches. Round off a few nipples and you will get tired of replacing them.
Nipple driver: Take a flat blade screwdriver and file down two sides of the blade, leaving a straight ‘tooth’. It’ll work perfectly. Funny thing, I got most of my tools after finding out we had a huge balance on their points. I went shopping… Wasn’t a bad thing.
But I remember doing repair work as a kid with spoons and dinner knives as screwdrivers. Crazy how much you can get done when you don’t have the official tools. But they do make it easier.
Oh, truing by sound is a thing.
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I once rebuilt a wheel over lunch (was bike commuting) when the rim got taco’d.
So it is possible, but it won’t be perfect.
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Absolutely good point, spoke wrenches are a must! I also usually only use brass nipples, which are a bit heavier but far more resistant to rounding.
While we are on the topic, anyone know of a good site to source spokes and nipples in Canada? There’s some great US based sites but I am finding the shipping costs absurd, like $60-100 for a set of spokes and nipples!
Hey, can I piggyback on this thread for some advice? I have a set of 1st generation ENVE 6.7s, which are rim brake tubulars, that I purchased for an absolute steal, years ago. They are both a) absolutely fantastic and b) something I never should have purchased. While they are fast, fun, stable, and look sweet as hell, the brake track is hot garbage, and they are desperately in need of truing. The problem is that tensioning the spokes requires the tubular to come off; doing both wheels, and putting in new tubulars and tape is a $300 proposition, and frankly I’m over the whole thing.
So, since I need new wheels for my CAAD12, and managed to snag a pair of Light Bicycle rims that are both rim brake and tubeless compatible. So far so good. But I’m trying to build these new wheels for a total cost that would not exceed what I might be able to reasonably get for selling the ENVEs.
My question is really about finding 24-hole, rim brake, 11-speed Shimano compatible hubs that a) are adequate and b) won’t break the bank. I’m trying to find an even balance between quality and cost. The current ENVE hubs are DT swiss 240s, and they’ve been flawless.
Normally I would just swap the rear hub over to the new rims, but my LBS said that if I have any hope of selling first-gen ENVEs, I need to sell them as a wheelset, and not just a pair of carbon hoops. If this is true, then I’m in the spot where I need to make sure that whatever the new wheels cost is less than what the old wheels could reasonably sell for.
All that being said, what are my choices for rim brake, 24-hole hubs that won’t break the bank, but are good for a lesser-used road bike?
I didn’t end up doing it, but one of the reasons that I started down the custom wheel path was that there was some nice looking Chinese DT copies available on AliExpress etc that were cheap and well reviewed.
Is an option.
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First off, you will usually pay more (a lot more at times) for a self-build than finding what are close to what you want already built. I paid probably hundreds more for the wheel sets I built over the pandemic, but I was needing things to keep busy.
I’d check for local shops around you that might have spokes of the length you will need. (One shop here was pretty cheap on individual spokes, another one was higher than what I thought was reasonable 
) I got my last box off Amazon as I lucked out that nearly everything except for the rear drive side was within the limits for length and saved money that way. I’m still somewhat surprised at my luck. (Beware of places online selling by the spoke. It potentially could be cheaper to buy a box, than going by the spoke, plus counterfeit spokes are out there)
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I’m nervous of the DT clones having the same sizes/tolerances as the genuine, in that will they fit DT replacement parts?
I’ve had good luck with used DT hubs or wheels, and rebuilding into what I want.
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Yeah, I can’t vouch for their actual reliability. There were a few threads about on MTBR/Chiner Town, some of which talked about using original ratchets in the clone hubs.
When I looked into that it was going to cost more than genuine hubs that were on special.
Keep an eye on R2 and there may be a sharp deal at some stage on 350/240 hubs.
Bitex hubs are ‘good enough’. I use them on most builds, they’re easy to work with, change adapters and bearings etc and use standard parts (that are available and in stock most of the time!)
A little pedantic, but shows how important taking your time building and proper spoke tension is. It’s all physics…
5 of the 6 wheels in our house that I built are with Bitex hubs and no issues so far. My race set is DT swiss front and Bitex rear since the rear lives under a cover and I wanted to look at the DT Swiss in the front :)…
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What Bitex hubs are folks using for gravel? Searching bitex.com for a center lock, j-bend, gravel hub it recommends BX108R. However, I can’t seem to find any for sale. Other option is DT Swiss 350s, but those are about double the cost of Bitex.
My current gravel wheels are Hunt 35 Gravel X-Wide (35mm deep, 31mm wide ext, 25mm wide int, 1465g) with Vittoria Torreno Dry / Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H tires. My gravel bike has SRAM Rival XPLR with a 40T front chain ring. This setup is good for a lot of local gravel riding but I found myself wishing for more grip and larger gear range on a recent ride.
So, I’m thinking of building a second set of gravel wheels for some of the rougher stuff and steeper climbs. Maybe something like the Enve G23 (25mm deep, 31mm wide ext, 23mm wide int, 1315g), but at a fraction of the cost. I’d put Maxxis Rambler or more aggressive tires on them and use an eThirteen Race Helix 9-45 cassette and possibly a 38T front chainring. (Sticking with the flat top chain on the gravel bike maximizes cross compatibility with the road bike even though I could get a larger gear range with an Eagle or Transmission setup.)
Also, where is a good place to get some decent carbon rims?
TIA!!
BX106. Not sure how the hub will know what surface it’s on, but I use them for almost all builds 
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Are bitex much cheaper than DT350? (If you find a deal on 350s).
I’ve purchased DT350’s from EU cheap and from eBay pretty cheap about 1/2 have been used). Also purchased a complete DT240 26” rear wheel that I swapped the rim to 29er, and reused the spokes and 26” rim to make a front wheel, as the spoke lengths lined up. That deal came with a front wheel, so my rear hub was almost free).
I do like the reliability of DT, and the value of 350s or used 240’s, but accept that Bitex and the other similar hubs have come a long way in the past 20 years on the reliability front. I’m definitely a Luddite/oldschool in many of my cycling opinions.
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180 compared to 250 last time I looked up the prices, so 1/4 less. More colour options and nice easy to change end caps are bonuses as well
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Where are some places to get reliable rims and spokes from?
That is an extremely broad question, my friend. What kinds of wheels? What kind of spokes? What kind of bike / riding do you plan on doing?
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BTLOS, and R2.
There’s also some great deals on Pillar spokes if you hunt around on eBay/whatever based on your market. Direct from Taiwan and appear to be just as good as the CX-Ray/Aerolite etc
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@jpolchlopek I was asking for rim and spoke dealer recommendations in reference to my previous posts - it definitely isn’t clear as a standalone post, though. I’m looking to build a set of wheels for rougher gravel riding and / or steep climbs. So probably shallower depth (25-30mm), wide internal width (at least 25mm), and light (<1450g). The Hunt Carbon 25 Gravel Race wheels are a commercial variant I’ve found, but are more than $1000USD on sale.
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