I’m looking for a fixed/free wheelset for light touring with up to 35mm tires.
So far I checked out VO’s wheelset (Formula + Sun CR18) since I’m already placing an order with them, but is there anything else I should be looking at? There are so many cheap but decent sets out there (Formula hubs and Alex, Sun or Weinmann rims) with mostly negligible differences. VO is a bit overpriced at $164 compared to the best deals, but I’m not looking to pinch my pennies too hard.
A pair of said cheap wheelsets hand built with double butted spokes would be preferable. Rims make less difference than build quality and spokes in my experience.
As far as I know, no one offers the Formula loose-ball track hubs in a pre-built wheelset, and if they did, I imagine they’d come on a somewhat more high-zoot rim for track racing purposes.
Also, I don’t think any of these wheels use butted spokes - all straight gauge.
And I the second. CR18 is a great rim. find some good hubs and go from there. If you’re not looking to pinch your pennies too hard, the velo solo setup offers the singlespeed/double fixed dingle setup i believe. I’m pretty sure though that they said they wouldn’t run fixed dingle, only free. But I would.
[quote=bonechilling]As far as I know, no one offers the Formula loose-ball track hubs in a pre-built wheelset, and if they did, I imagine they’d come on a somewhat more high-zoot rim for track racing purposes.
Also, I don’t think any of these wheels use butted spokes - all straight gauge.[/quote]
Parts and tools are too expensive here. Even if I had the rims, hubs, spokes and tools would cost more than getting a new wheel set shipped from the US or UK.
bold, are you talking about their disc hub? I was initially considering that, but doing double fixed/double free isn’t possible.
Good to know that the Sun CR18’s are fine. And I’m okay with Formulas, so I may just eat the Velo Orange overpricing since I’m having them ship a big box anyway. I’ll look into UK online retailers too.
I personally think doing double fixed would be fine on the velosolo hub would be fine, and this also means you could do double single as well. I wouldn’t do the cross chainline thing on it though. Did you look for stuff on london or make a thread there?
fixie-king.dk and fixedgear.se might also have stuff, just ask.
Though I agree with other peoples sentiment, it wont really be cheaper to build it yourself. The spokes will be about $80 to get some nice double butted spokes unless you can get a deal. I think i paid 89 cents a piece for my sapin lasers butwe bought a lot of them (enough for four or six wheels) .
That site linked above has some alright deals, but i also think it will be hard for you to find a premade wheelset with double butted spoked without going with something a little spendier than weinman, alex, etc. I’d stay away from weinmans (but i also think theyre kinda ugly), go with open pros, or cheaper a sun rim. They’ll be sturdy, light, and durable… That site above has some good deals… i spent $150 on my back wheel alone in parts…
[quote=bexley] VO is a bit overpriced at $164 compared to the best deals, but I’m not looking to pinch my pennies too hard.
A pair of said cheap wheelsets hand built with double butted spokes would be preferable. Rims make less difference than build quality and spokes in my experience.[/quote]
[quote=aeroboobs]Though I agree with other peoples sentiment, it wont really be cheaper to build it yourself. The spokes will be about $80 to get some nice double butted spokes unless you can get a deal. I think i paid 89 cents a piece for my sapin lasers butwe bought a lot of them (enough for four or six wheels) .
[/quote]
let me just follow up and say that CR18s are fucking amazing rims. get those or salsa delgados. they are inexpensive but not cheap, and will fit a wider tire than an OP.
factoring in shipping on those items youre realy limitted on rims.
honestly it might be better just to spend a tad more and get them built, if you are really particular. i also forgot to mention my spokes were black, so they were more expensive (and i think they were 94 cents not 89. i think 89 was for silver. can’t remember). if you look hard enough you can get your spokes cheap enough. but it will still be $60-80
also, since when are IRO hubs $20? are they on sale somewhere? am i just missing something…
[quote=aeroboobs]factoring in shipping on those items youre realy limitted on rims.
honestly it might be better just to spend a tad more and get them built, if you are really particular. i also forgot to mention my spokes were black, so they were more expensive (and i think they were 94 cents not 89. i think 89 was for silver. can’t remember). if you look hard enough you can get your spokes cheap enough. but it will still be $60-80
Holy shit. IRO hubs are $20. But with shipping on the hubs and spokes plus the overpricing of rims locally (I really doubt I can get a pair for 100 US here, let alone something nice like OP’s) it’ll still be hard to come out under the $164 of the Velo Orange wheel set. That said, I should try to find some rims from the UK maybe.
Good call, bold, I’ll post at londonssfg and those Swedish forums. Mmm, gonna ask those guys to throw in a car of pickled herring.
for a while there was a dude selling 72 sapim spokes with nipples shipped in the US for $36 off ebay.
i think i built three wheelsets using them.
but they aren’t listed anymore which sucks.