[CR]Were most old wheels poorly built?

(Example: Events)

From: "Doug Van Cleve" <dvancleve@cox.net>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Fri, 30 Dec 2005 09:42:23 -0700
Subject: [CR]Were most old wheels poorly built?

Howdy folks.

I wasn't around in the heyday of the vintage road bike but I have had a few around and a few more early 70s wheelsets. Almost every wheel from the 70s that I have seen has been terribly built. Many are laced with spokes crossing under the valve hole, most have lots of threads showing outside the spoke nipples, none have labels lined up at all, and none have even close to what I would consider adequate tension. Oddly enough, some of the best built old wheels I have had my hands on are Rigida Chrolux steel 700C rims with the lower end Normandy high flange hubs from a Peugeot UE-18 (reasonable tension, no spokes crossing under the valve). This includes wheels off of a US bike shop bike that had all high end components. Were the wheels really this haphazardly buit for the most part or did I manage to collect some weird, skewed sample? Thanks and happy New Year :^)

Doug Van Cleve
Chandler, AZ