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So I’ve got a bit of a bug for building wheels having done a recent set for my hardtail. I’m planning to build myself a nice set of 650b wheels towards the end of the year - hence my other threads about hubs and rims.
In the meantime I want some wheel building practice and came across wtb i23 26” rims on sale for £8 each so I snapped them up.
I’m looking for some bargain hubs to build hem up with and then I’ll probably sell them just looking to recoup my costs (not looking to make a profit).
Unless my mate decides he wants hmmm to replace his ailing crossrides that he keeps snapping (expensive) spokes on.
I’m torn between just getting some cheap Shimano hubs like Deore or maybe slx so I can then sell the wheels quite cheaply and then maybe making a brand potential audience to sell them to. Or looking for a deal on some bargain novatecs which have better longevity but will make the wheels more expensive.
Either way I’ll probably build them as 100 / 135 qr wheels.
Has anyone seen any cheap deals?
Also the slx / Deore m6000 seems to be centrelock rather than 6 bolt - is this likely to limit their appeal to someone buying them?
Spoke wise I’ve found some black straight gauge spokes with nipples for about 25p each so I’ll probably go with those.
You'll probably do well to get your money back (esp on 26" QR), I'd get some basic shimano hubs as you suggest to limit the costs.
Makes sense. Centrelock or 6 bolt though? The Shimano centrelock hubs online look much more modern than the 6 bolt - but I don’t know how popular / common centrelock rotors are on cheaper / older 26” bikes?
They should build into quite a nice budget wheel I think - will be black rims / hubs / spokes / nipples and the rims are tubeless ready.
Ive got the i25’s on my hardtail setup tubeless with double butted spokes and Superstar electro front / Shimano XT rear hubs and I’m well pleased with them!
I doubt it will matter much
6 bolt for sure.
Px were doing 15x100 somethings for 8 quid.
They’ve still got those el guapo hubs - although they’ve gone up to £14.99 now. They couldn’t source 9mm qr end caps for them though.
In hindsight I should have just bought one at the £8 and just gone for it. Stupid that I didn’t!
you get 15mm through axle QR adaptors from a range of companies.
I’ve seen those for like £3 or £4 but wasn’t sure if they’d definitely fit or not. Will sit tight and see if the hubs go on sale again or not - if they do I’ll just buy one!
you get 15mm through axle QR adaptors from a range of companies.
I could nearly kiss you. So obvious but it didn't even cross my mind. I've been looking for cheap through axle rigid forks and struggling to find any. Will now buy a QR fork and adaptor for less £££
Noticed Superstar are doing free postage on items over £11.99 randomly - so bought the el guapo hub for £15 and will build up with my wtb st i23 that cost £8! Plain gauge spokes should come in at £8 I think sonits a pretty cheap but reasonable tubeless ready wheel 😃. Will make a call on a rear hub when my mate decides if he wants them for his bike or if I’m flogging them on ebay.
I ordered a pair of really pretty nice novatecs from aliexpress for IIRC £42. There were cheaper but I wanted lightweight.
Can anyone order from aliexpress? Can’t saybive ever looked at it - do you pay tax on imports from there?
Some cheap novatec hubs on there! Pair for less than £40 delivered?!
I've ordered stuff from Ali Express - mainly cheap n/w rings, chain ring bolts and other bits for the kids bikes and the Lepin Lego stuff; not paid import on any of it yet.
@joe- yeah, it's basically just like any other shop. Topcashback usually has 4% cashback too. In theory you might get charged duty (and the £8 handling fee) but I don't think I've ever had that from aliexpress, or weirdly for most other chinese orders.
This thread reminded me I should actually build the damn wheel so that's what I did this evening, cheers!
I just bought one of the El Guapo hubs. Seem ok for the price (£8) but that's before I've built or ridden them.
I contacted Planet X and they said these end caps would fit for 9mm QR:
https://www.evanscycles.com/stan-s-no-tubes-stans-neo-hub-front-end-caps-quick-release-EV308793
I think you can get them cheaper than that elsewhere, but I'm more tempted by that Nukeproof converter because I guess you could use that on Shimano (and other non convertible) hubs too.
The Stans converters have the same part number on them as the Planet X ones should have!
£20 is a bit steep though....I’ve seen some for about £3.
More importantly, if you don't mind the hijack, where did you get the wtb i23 26” rims from for only £8? 2nd hand, a one-off, or a good online deal? Only asking as all my MTBs are 26" still. Thanks, Sven
I really like those El Guapo hubs, nice quick pick up and they are piss easy to service. In fact I lost a spring during servicing and replaced the whole lot of pawls and springs with Stans Neo hubs ones...to my eyes those El Guapo hubs are identical to Stans Neo hubs which are twice the price, handy to know if you are looking for spares.
Planet X were punting out a load of wtb rims in 26” cheap. They had frequency i26 / st i23 and i25 / Koms.
I went for i23 as they only had 1 x i25 left. I bought i25’s for what I thought was a good price at £12.99 from CRC a month or so ago and they seem great so far. Built up ok, and sealed tubeless at my first attempt. Lightened up my bike and made it feel more lively.
I’ve always thought wheel building would make a nice winter hobby.
It’s quite satisfying I have to admit. Although frustrating at times - one of my last rims was perfect pretty much out the box - the other wasn’t totally round so I had a few goes at getting it a decent shape. I found after getting a bit of initial tension in the wheel it was best to work on roundness first, then lateral true, then check / adjust the dishing after that.