The Bespoke Cycles Blog: Building Wheels Here

We build, or rather, Stef builds a lot of wheels here at Bespoke. We choose to build wheels here in house even when we could easily have them built at the factory saving time and money. The reason we do this is because we can have more control over the final product. We can use rider appropriate spokes when called for and we can also feel more confident that the wheel is reliable and will perform for the rider in the way it should. With over 20 years of experience building wheels, you can bet that these wheels are the best you can get.

Accurately choosing a spoke, hub and rim based specifically on the rider is important. Too often we see people on wheels built purely to be light weight while forgetting about overall performance. We also see extremely light people of super stiff or over built wheels. The idea is to meet the person you are building for and get an understanding of their riding style and the type of performance they are looking for. Some people want wheels that accelerate extremely well while others may want comfort and reliability over all else. It all starts with listening well and building the wheels for the client's needs.

Personally, I feel everyone should own a pair of traditionally laced hand built wheels. In fact all of us here at the shop have at least one pair. They may seem a bit old fashioned and on paper they may be heavier than a number of high end race wheels but if you damage your fancy wheels, you've got back up. I think it's safe to say that the ride character would surprise a lot of people as well. A good pair of hand built wheels will be very durable and they are incredibly stable handling. For off road riding, there really is nothing better. I can honestly say that I would have a hard time riding a wheel off road that I didn't build myself. If you ever want to try a pair out, come on by and we'll set you up. The same goes for those fancier race wheels too.

Here are some recent builds.

Phil Wood track hubs with Velocity tubular rims