Hi all,

Can anyone suggest a good wheel builder in Sydney? (north side if possible, but don't really mind wherever they are located). I am looking to get a new set of wheels, and keep seeing advice on this forum to look at custom wheels as a great alternative to just going for a "big name brand". Trouble is, I have no idea who to talk to - visited 5 LBS' and had 5 different answers on what would be best for me.

Also, have heard of TWE Wheels (sound great from the brochure I have read, but how can I tell?) - any opinions?

Thanks very much,

Stu

Steve Hogg (Pedal Pushers) in Rosebery does good wheel builds. The mechanics at Cranks in North Sydney seem pretty sensible regarding wheel builds, but I've not had one built by them.

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"All that we see and seem is but a dream, within a dream..."

I've just ordered a set of wheels from TWE. I'm expecting to pick them up mid week and will do a review on them a few weeks after that, though I'll post pics on pickup. They have to be better than the Neuvations they are replacing.

From my experience to date (about a 30 minute phone discussion and 60 minutes in his shop) I'll note the following:

a) Greg absolutely knows what he is talking about / doing

b) Listened very carefully to what I was looking for in a set of wheels and my intended use of them, and from that made some pretty sensible suggestions (which didn't equate to me spending more and more $$ there)

c) He was more than happy to answer my many (many) questions, and for example spent time disassembling a rear hub so I could see the difference between some of the hubs he offers (internally and mechanically)

d) He has a lot of stock and the options in terms of combinations of hubs, spokes, rims etc seem to be very large.

The result is a set of mid weight (mid profile 28mm) training/racing wheels (1550g), that I could have easily gotten down to about 1450g with light weight hubs and by not taking the offset rear rim, that are laced 24/28 in 2X, with a 10sp specific (only freehub body that wont chew out), with DT Swiss Aerolite spokes. I also included the obligatory bling with red spoke nipples, and the cost was less than $700. This includes a lifetime warranty.

My 2c is that if you are in Sydney, even if you don't buy from TWE absolutely go along and have a chat before you lay your cash down.

I'm building a stiff climbing/crit bike at the moment and was looking at a set of Campag Neutrons or similar, but given the service I've gotten to date, I'll almost certainly be getting a set of lightweight (~1400g) racing wheels from TWE (assuming all goes well with the current build).

--brett

That was a long 2c!

Please make sure to follow up on how they work out for you in the short and long term! I have seen the ads on ebay, but they seem over-hyped, so it's good to know that they guy seems to know what he is talking about.

Yes, those ads with the guy standing on his wheels were ill-advised, at best.

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"All that we see and seem is but a dream, within a dream..."

Ha ha. I actually mentioned to him that his eBay ads were crap. Clearly Greg's (from TWE) strengths don't extend to effective marketing techniques! He did respond pretty well to the criticism though, so who knows maybe he'll do something a bit more coherent in the future.

--brett

Thanks for the advice Brett. I spoke to Greg on the phone yesterday and saw him today. Sounds like we had a similar experience (I even got the rear hub disassembly!) - he had lots of good advice, advised the best option based on my profile and seemed a really honest bloke.

The lifetime warranty and crash replacement deal gives you comfort too.

Upshot is that I ordered a set of mid-weight wheels from him - 30mm rims, Sapim bladed spokes, ~1550g.

I'll let you know how they go when I pick them up in a week.

BTW Brett, I think I saw your wheels out there - the red nipples were a bit of a giveaway. They're looking pretty sweet!

Stu

w00t, hopefully i'll get them today or tomorrow!

--brett

I picked up my new TWE wheels yesterday and raced on them Sat and Sun. So as promised, some pics and some initial comments.

Pics first!

http://chaos-9.com/wheels/1.jpg
http://chaos-9.com/wheels/2.jpg
http://chaos-9.com/wheels/3.jpg
http://chaos-9.com/wheels/5.jpg
http://chaos-9.com/wheels/6.jpg

Comments are pretty early as I've only spent a few hours on the wheels. I got an SMS on Friday afternoon telling me the wheels were good to pickup on Saturday after 11am. When I arrived, they were complete except the stickering. It was interesting to watch the attention to detail the stickering process got. On inspection the wheels had obviously been put together very well. I was running late to racing so snapped a couple of pics, fitted cassette/tires etc and off I went. Rode a few km's on the way to racing and the wheels felt solid. Racing was crit style on a pretty open track, though with one very fast downhill section into a sweeped that is quite bumpy. Again through the race the wheels felt really solid. In fact I'd compare them to some of the higher end Campag wheels I've ridden. Very very stiff, yet you aren't paying a weight penalty for that stiffness. I rode them at 110 front / 120 rear (psi) and I'll probably drop that a few psi in the future.

The hubs look solid, and Greg recommended them as being 'bullet proof' (and also they had about 15mm more in the hub flange which should translate to more stiffness than his light hubs. They roll nicely pretty comparable to mid range Mavics I've used, and not as nice as good Campags.

So it'll be interesting to hear the other posters comments who also bought a set, on how he finds them. I'll post more comments in a few months after I've got some decent km's in them. I'm still thinking on a second set of 19mm rims in lightweight hubs and either DT aerolites or revolutions for a set of wheels in the 1400/1450 range.

--brett

I picked up my wheels on Friday (sans stickers - new printer won't have my blue stickers ready for a couple of weeks).

Have only done one ride to date (85kms, Akuna Bay etc). Very impressed - heaps stiffer than my previous wheels (not to mention over 400gms lighter). Very quick and stable on the descent into Akuna - rolled right past everyone else in my group (how much is the placebo effect of a bright shiny new set of wheels? I don't really care - they made me feel more confident and faster, and that's all that matters, right, unless you're racing!)

I don't have much experience in other high end wheelsets to compare these to, only having ridden my Shimano R500s to date, so can only really comment on these wheels in comparison to those - they make a world of difference! Glad I went for the well made set of custom jobbies tailored for me (with the backup of lifetime free servicing and crash replacement warranty) rather than a show off set of Mavics at twice the price.

I'll let you know how I'm getting on down the track and will post some photos once I have them stickered up.

Stu

If it's not a rude question, how much did these wheels cost? I'm happy to get a general figure eg "under $x" if you don't want to mention the exact price.

I paid less than $750 (won't give you exact amount only to give Greg some freedom to negotiate with his potential customers without me arming the world in general too much info - he's a good guy, and I believe high quality small businesses deserve a bit of break!)

I did a lot of shopping around, and feel that the quality of these wheels made them very good value.

Stu

mine came in a little under $700

fwiw and i'm sure greg won't mind, his basic wheels come in at about 1700g and the $500 mark. he does 3 hub versions, each getting more expensive and lighter (up to american classics that he recommends as race only). spokes are standard dt swiss competitions again you have lots of spoke options right up to aerolites which add in quite a bit ~$150 ish i think. and then theres the rims, though i think by and large unless you go to ultralight 'extreme' rims are all about the same $$.

the wheels i got have the basic hub (for durability and added wheel stiffness), and i paid for aerolites, the annodized spoke nipples were about $20, as was the conversion to a 10sp only shimano freewheel.

from a value perspective of what you get at $700 in australia (not mail order), i think they compare pretty well assuming they pass the durability test over the coming months. though the guarantees offer some comfort.

--brett

Your tempting me. Now if I eat sandwiches for a month or two...

http://www.iliveonyourvisits.com/sp/

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Training Log

I'll follow up on my experience today.

Last Sunday during the course of a race I ended up with another guys front skewer in my rear wheel. This resulted in a broken spoke.

I took the wheel over to Greg and first he spend a good amount of time reworking the spokes to ensure the wheel was perfect. After it he was looking at the freehub while putting the cassette back on (which with about 600km on it as yet doesn't have a single chew mark in it). He says, 'you know, I'm not 100% happy with that bearing, it feels tight'. With that he strips it all down and figures the internal spacer might be slightly out of spec causing a little sideloading on the bearing. Puts a brand new freehub body on, repacks it all, puts a spacer washer in to ensure zero side load and is finally happy.

He was happy to chat away and explain everything he was doing, and probably spent a good 45 minutes on the wheel. At the conclusion I wasn't sure about the $$, but it became obvious there was no charge, for something that was my fault (ie collision damage).

Pretty much tipped me to where the current set of race wheels I'm looking for are coming from.

--brett