about 10 years ago, at the height of my love affair with bicycles, i decided to try wheelbuilding - i think it was a natural progression after learning how to assemble and do maintenance on a bike. i only built 4 or 5 pairs of wheels (with jobst brandt's book firmly by my side). i remember i really enjoyed it, despite the setbacks and frustrations that, as a beginner, i inevitably experienced. being able to produce two perfectly true wheels from a bunch of individual parts, was very satisfying, more so even than taking a bare frameset and building it up into a complete bike. whenever i show my collection to someone, and they ask me if i do my own work, i respond that yes, i put them together and maintain them, and i never fail to mention, with great pride, that i even built some of the wheels on the bikes "from rims and spokes."
i haven't had the need to build or rebuild any wheels in a long time, but it's good to know that i can, and the experience i gained has made "merely" truing wheels a simple task, which i enjoy and gladly do as a favor for friends. i encourage anybody who enjoys working on their own bikes to try building a set of wheels.
ray dobbins
miami, florida