WHEELWORKS HANDBUILT WHEELS - BY RIDERS, FOR RIDERS

Hey all,
You may or may not have heard about my handbuilt wheels, which, since I started building them under the name 'Wheelworks' 3 months ago, have been generating more and more hype and are making their way into packaging boxes, and being sent to various states across Australia. I've been involved in bikes for as long as I can remember. I'm a third year Mechanical Engineering student from Melbourne, and have worked in a small bike shop for what seems like quite a long time now. I've been building wheels for almost as long, but only in the last 6 months have I realised how much I enjoy it, and wanted to go a bit further with it, after I participated in a very rewarding Wheelbuilding Master Class, hosted by one of the world's most experienced wheelbuilders (email me if you want to find out more!).

So the last 3 months have been spent testing the waters, advertising a few on eBay, seeing how many of you actually want handbuilt wheels, and most of all, taking note of what YOU want. The wonderful thing about a custom handbuilt wheel, is that you get to decide what components are used in your wheel. Don't like the look of most of the wheels you see around? Want something a bit different? Then send me an email, and chances are, I'll be able to give you a few options to choose from. Now that we've established what you want, I've decided that I'll be here to stay.

Still not sure why you should choose a handbuilt wheel?
There's a lot of factory built wheels that are good. Nobody can deny that. Most factory built wheels have faults. And it's because a wheelbuilding factory runs 24/7, and each second counts.
For example, the factories use machines to build these wheels. They use a lacing machine (which puts all the spokes into the hubs, then pokes them through the rim, and then winds a nipple on), and at least a trueing machine, which is used to remove lateral and radial runout from the wheel, while checking spoke tension. The lacing machine doesn't like spokes that are the correct length, and instead, uses spokes that are slightly shorter. Why? So that the spokes don't scratch the rim. It makes sense in a way, nobody wants a wheel that's scratched up, but keeping in mind that spokes generally vary in 2mm increments, you will most likely end up with spokes that are 2mm too short. The correct length spoke is the one which is flush with the head of the nipple. (Unfortunately I don't have a camera that can take any sort of decent photo of anything as small as the end of a spoke, otherwise I'd have a photo accompanying this.) Because of the slot in the head of the nipple, when you use a short spoke and put tension on it, it tries to fold the sides of the nipple head inwards. I've seen it happen on quite a few factory built wheels, and is one of the more common failure modes.
As well as this, the automatic truing machines they use are extremely quick. To get a wheel to be within +/- 1mm tolerance might take the machine, let's say, 60 seconds (They really are that quick). To go further and get the wheel to within +/- 0.5mm might take a total of 120 seconds, and to go even further and true a wheel to within +/- 0.1mm could take a total of 180 seconds. To then check for even spoke tension may take a further 15 seconds. Keep in mind that if it's not even, the machine will have to keep working.
This is one of the big reasons why a DT Swiss/Mavic/American Classic wheel is more expensive than the OEM wheels that come on your bike (Those are just a couple of examples of well built factory wheels).
But if you want to go one step further than a good factory built wheel like the ones I just mentioned, then the only way if handbuilt. But don't be fooled: just because it's handbuilt doesn't mean that it's awesome. There is a BIG difference between a wheel built by "Johnny Afterschool", and someone who takes wheelbuilding seriously.

"So, why Wheelworks?"
Because I'll make sure your next wheels work the way they should. This isn't a production line, and neither do I have same-day turnaround, but I get it done properly. My wheels are strong, and I only use the best components. I've got experience building BMX, road, track, fixie, MTB and DJ wheelsets, in all sorts of lacing patterns. Since Wheelworks became active 3 months ago, I've built exactly 46 wheels, and not one of them has had a broken spoke, which I'm proud of when I realise that a couple of my customers used to break spokes on a fortnightly basis. I currently have two sets of wheels belonging to Kate Leeming, who is riding 20000km's around Africa (www.btcycle.com), and 3 guys at our bike shop ride on wheels that I built for them. Your spokes will be DT Swiss by default, they will be the correct length, stress-relieved, and the spoke heads will be punched. Your wheels will be within very tight tolerances, and I even include free wheeltrueing, should they ever need it. I keep records of every wheel that I build, so you can look forward to ongoing support from me.

Keep riding, and feel free to send me an email at: handbuiltwheels@live.com.au. I look forward to hearing from you, and I hope to be a part of your next project!

Cheers,
Brent May