Latest Custom Builds — Wheel Builds

Graham called us up and described his new fascination with riding gravel. We concur, it's awesome to get out on the "Strade Bianche" (Italian for "White Road") - less traffic, more challenge! He advised us that he had recently replaced a broken rear rim with and entire wheelset. The old Italian Bianchi Reparto Corse (Miche) hubs were fine, and we suggested they be re-used as a basis for a wider gravel focussed wheelset. Not needing tubeless, the Hplusson Archetype is the logical choice. They are light, wide, nicely finished, and the braking surface is so smooth. Of course, we used...

Matt is an old friend from way back. He's an avid singlespeeder and very very handy down hill. He was keen to build some new XC wheels for his old singlespeed and came to us for this, his fourth set of XLR8 wheels. Matt likes the Light Bicycle product and selected their 27mm wide 29er rim, that comes in at a scant 360g! On his supplied Hope hubs we used plain gauge Sapim Leader spokes on the rear wheel (to ensure optimum stiffness - he rides hard) and double butted Sapim Race spokes on the front - both in no frills...

You might remember Andy had us build an awesome set of yellow and gold Nextie wheels with Project 321 hubs. Well, John is a member of his family, and once he saw Andy's wheels, he needed just the same, except this time in blue!  

Kurt found us via our website, as we carry lots of spares for Easton and Zipp wheels . He was keen to replace some bent spokes and broken nipples in his rear Zipp wheel, as a result of an accident. A local bike shop had attempted a repair, but had not had the appropriate parts on hand. As a result, the wheel was temporarily fixed with silver nipples and the affected spokes reused. We disassembled the wheel, and reassembled with Sapim Polyax brass nipples, in black of course. This wheel should be good to go for another few years (until...

Back in the late 00s, DT Swiss opened a new manufacturing facility in Taiwan. All of the best machinery from their Switzerland operation was replicated. However, there were a few teething problems (which are now 100% sorted), particularly with the quality of some raw materials. The R1900 wheelset was an example of this. The DT Swiss Champion plain gauge spokes used were substandard, and micro pitting of the spoke surface would always lead to early spoke breakage. Always. Yes, always. We strongly doubt that many of these fine wheelsets are still rolling in their original state! These wheels were provided...