New wheels: Ksyrium SLR or DA 9000 C35 CL

[Moose McKnuckles]

A good builder will always build better wheels than a factory set, there may not be much in it, but they can take a bit more care in the job.

If you have trouble with hand-built wheels you need to find a new builder, not write off that option.

I actually had to go out of state to Bustedknuckle. I ended up contacting the shop again for another set.

I'll be going back for a third set with the White disc hubs.

 

[King Boonen]

I actually had to go out of state to Bustedknuckle. I ended up contacting the shop again for another set.

I'll be going back for a third set with the White disc hubs.

Good man


I'm very lucky to live near Wheelcraft. If I didn't I'd be making trips to see Big Al wherever I was.

 

[stutue]

FWIW, I ended up getting a handbuilt set from Bustedknuckle. White T11 hubs on DT Swiss 440 rims. I'm super happy.

Excellent choice.

You'll not go wrong with either of those, in my view. White Industries hubs are great (got an ENO ecc) and DT rims are probably a better bet these days than the formerly predominant Open Pro. (Which don't seem to be as good as they were)

 

[Hawkwood]

Excellent choice.

You'll not go wrong with either of those, in my view. White Industries hubs are great (got an ENO ecc) and DT rims are probably a better bet these days than the formerly predominant Open Pro. (Which don't seem to be as good as they were)

I'm looking at White hubs and Pacenti SL23 rims for my next wheels. I've never had any problems with the handbuilt wheels I've bought, on the contrary they've often lasted so long I've had to find excuses for replacing them.

 

[stutue]

Oh I agree. For longevity and serviceability they win hands down.

Also for roadside repairs. Low spoke count factory wheels have the spokes under such tension that if one pings that's you walking home. Not so on a hand built with a normal spoke count

 

[winkybiker]

Oh I agree. For longevity and serviceability they win hands down.

Also for roadside repairs. Low spoke count factory wheels have the spokes under such tension that if one pings that's you walking home. Not so on a hand built with a normal spoke count

True enough, but in my experience, factory/robot wheels hardly ever break spokes. In the 7 years I've been riding with my current club (we are nearly all on robot/factory/low-spoke count wheels) I can recall only one broken spoke amongst anyone, and that was actually an old handbuilt wheel. I think this reliability comes from a properly engineered anchor system at the hub in the case of the new-style wheels.

I have broken only 1 spoke in the 11-12 years since I moved away from conventional/handbuilts. Before that, when we all road conventional wheels, we broke spokes all the time. We'd all ride with a spoke key so you could re-true the wheel and get home. The breaks were ALWAYS right at the sharp bend at the hub on the non-drive-side rear. This flawed anchoring arrangement is utter engineering idiocy, and I can't believe it is still used.

 

[Hawkwood]

True enough, but in my experience, factory/robot wheels hardly ever break spokes. In the 7 years I've been riding with my current club (we are nearly all on robot/factory/low-spoke count wheels) I can recall only one broken spoke amongst anyone, and that was actually an old handbuilt wheel. I think this reliability comes from a properly engineered anchor system at the hub in the case of the new-style wheels.

I have broken only 1 spoke in the 11-12 years since I moved away from conventional/handbuilts. Before that, when we all road conventional wheels, we broke spokes all the time. We'd all ride with a spoke key so you could re-true the wheel and get home. The breaks were ALWAYS right at the sharp bend at the hub on the non-drive-side rear. This flawed anchoring arrangement is utter engineering idiocy, and I can't believe it is still used.

I think I'd have to go back to the 80s when I last had a spoke break in a handbuilt wheel, and that was after heavy mileage. One mate used to break the odd spoke, but that was because he insisted on buying extremely cheap wheels (think £50 a set). The roads round here are far worse now pot-hole wise, than they were in the 80s, but I'm not getting any spoke breakages whatsover. I do think spokes and possibly rims are much better now.

 

[winkybiker]

I think I'd have to go back to the 80s when I last had a spoke break in a handbuilt wheel, and that was after heavy mileage. One mate used to break the odd spoke, but that was because he insisted on buying extremely cheap wheels (think £50 a set). The roads round here are far worse now pot-hole wise, than they were in the 80s, but I'm not getting any spoke breakages whatsover. I do think spokes and possibly rims are much better now.

Wow. Where do you live that roads are worse than 30 years ago? They get better and better every year here.

Agree that cheap and cheerful won't work well. But one notorious wheel I had built with top quality compnents was one of the worst I've ever ridden for reliability. It was really that wheel that soured my personal experience, but I really have had little trouble with factory wheels.

 

[stutue]

He lives in England I reckon. Roads are terrible at the moment after a rainy winter and 4 years of neglect.(conservative government)

I think on this thread we are talking at cross-purposes a little precisely because the roads here are so different to North America.

Put it this way. I ride to work on a road built by the frikken Romans. I schitt you not.

There are a lot of roads here too. Unlike North America, and so many of them are underused by motorised traffic, and therefore not maintained so well. Because of the sheer volume of motorised traffic here, these little roads are often the ones cyclists tend to use. wheel reliability becomes a key issue. On the ultra distance rides I do, I can't think of anybody who uses factory wheels because of the problems if a spoke does break.

Its a balance. Good factory wheels ride better than any hand built I've ever had, but they do come with issues.

By the way, you see next to no US built cars here. They aren't up to the job of surviving British roads

 

[Hawkwood]

Wow. Where do you live that roads are worse than 30 years ago? They get better and better every year here.

Agree that cheap and cheerful won't work well. But one notorious wheel I had built with top quality compnents was one of the worst I've ever ridden for reliability. It was really that wheel that soured my personal experience, but I really have had little trouble with factory wheels.

Come to sunny Kent in south east Britain. The roads are unbelievable, poorly done repairs, and trenches dug by the utilities companies and hastily filled in, all have been opened up by frost. The council is now only maintaining the main roads, the ones out in the countryside are shocking. There are potholes are my training routes which if you hit them would destroy your wheels, handbuilt or factory built.

 

[winkybiker]

I lived in the UK for a few years. Great riding, but yes, many of the quiet roads and lanes were in pretty poor condition. Moved to Canada where the roads are great and improving, but just not so many of them. The best (cycling-wise) of both worlds is of course found in France and Italy.

 

[Hawkwood]

I lived in the UK for a few years. Great riding, but yes, many of the quiet roads and lanes were in pretty poor condition. Moved to Canada where the roads are great and improving, but just not so many of them. The best (cycling-wise) of both worlds is of course found in France and Italy.

There's been a marked decline in the state of the roads, and it's not just the ones out in the countryside. I live in a small city and one of the main roads to the city's ring road is so worn that the tarmac has literally flowed to the edges like lava! You're right about France, great cycling roads. I holiday in Pornic, Loire Atlantique, every summer and get a few rides in with the local club. It gets about 60 riders out for its Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday runs, and these are split into three groups of twenty. We can cycle for 100 kms and only have to go single file once or twice because of traffic. The roads are great, no potholes, and silky smooth in towns and villages. Where are you in Canada?

Back on topic, I don't have experience of either of the two wheels, however I've read that the DA ones are highly rated.

 

[Hawkwood]

Just spotted you're in Vancouver, I've got relatives there and in Port Coquitlam.