You guys are like; in the 20th century.....ugh... and you are lucky to find a shop that even builds wheels anymore; you guys are dinosaurs, come on now; all you need to do is order a double latte, sit down with your stinkin cell phone and a catalog or click a rodent and move into the 21st century! Or just ride one (a century) and stop complain'in.
All right some stores hire jerks as a prerequisite for employment. We don't think we do cause the owners are in class by them themselves and don't need any competition! I mean "satisfaction is guaranteed 45% of the time is our standard" (quote from Garrisson) and "we are irrefutably not the worst shop in town" is our mantra (quote from Gainor the great) but we build really good wheels and they don't break spokes if used as designed-never. Secretly Jobst Brandt pays us to let him build our super wheels by license. This is also known as the best deal on earth. You see "we cheat everybody and pass on the savings to you "(quote from Curtis Anthony's front window!)
Everyone should get the Art of Wheel Building by Gert S. and use Jobst's book for fire starting. If you can't find it locally I'll send you a copy, just ask.
Gilbert "Warming my hands by Jobst's excellent firestarter" Anderson The Bicycle Outfitter 800/321-5511 cyclestore@aol.com Raleigh, NC
In a message dated 9/30/00 5:19:02 PM, rfitzger@emeraldis.com writes:
<< >Jon Cowden
>Ithaca, New York, wrote:
>ps Had an interesting interaction with a lbs yesterday. I brought in a
>pair of high-flange Superbe Pro hubs, intending to have them built into
>some tubulars. The guy took one look at them and said to me that "I
>suppose that I could build a completely out of date wheel with those
>'things.'"
This is one of those really BOB-ish things, I think.
I got really pitying looks last year from an area shop when I had them build
up a set of wheels for my PX-10E. They essentially acted like they were
doing me a favor, and the build quality was not all that good - despite the
fact that the shop has been around forever, and the wheel builder (a former
racer) is roughly a contemporary of mine.
This spring, I decided it was time to learn to build wheels. I borrowed a
copy of Jobst Brandt's book, and the in-town LBS worked out what length
spokes I needed. I kept the book open in front of me as I laced them up -
amazing what happens when one can read, isn't it? I will freely confess I
took the built wheels to the LBS for final truing and tensioning ... but
they turned out great, at least by my standards.
I built a second set of wheels this summer for a friend's bike. This time,
the LBS manager let me use the truing stand to adjust, tension and final
true the wheels. They've held up beautifully so far, and I've got the bug.
I won't deny that the numerous wheelbuilders on this list can no doubt do a
better job than I can, in probably a quarter of the time. But there is
something distinctly satisfying about building one's own wheels. For those
of us who will probably never build a frame, it's something of a milestone.
I rank building one's own wheels up there with assembling one's own bike
from the bare frame out as one of life's little delights - but then, I do it
for fun.
Russ Fitzgerald
Greenwood SC
rfitzger@emeraldis.com >>