I've done factory wheels and built my own wheels in the past, which has lead to a preference for a good quality, hand built set of wheels on each of my bikes. This time, I was looking to do something unique, and possibly custom, for my road bike.
After a fair bit of searching, comparing and general navel gazing trying to figure out what I'd build, I found that ProWheelBuilder.com (PWB) would give me the best bang for the buck on the parts I had decided on. I ended up having PWB assemble the wheels too...it was a free service with the parts purchase and the incremental cost for duties (wheelsets vs. parts have different duty rates when bringing them into Canada) more than makes up for my time in assembling them myself.
My going more custom than just selecting the parts threw a bit of a wrench in the system, but the gang at PWB made sure things got sorted out in short order. My custom colored, custom engraved Onyx hubs with a leading / trailing pattern of colored spokes were well built into my selected rims. Obvious quality and attention to detail were evident from the packaging of the rims for shipment to the wheels themselves. Straight and true hand built wheels done using the parts I wanted and in the way I wanted them put together...who could ask for more?
Whether for parts or complete wheels, I recommend PWB.
Michael Halliwell
May 26, 2017
I'm Michael, a Cat 1 out of Vegas. I had bought a set of stock Zipp 404 wheels that I thought would do just fine for crit racing and training. A buddy of mine had the same rims, but one of the pawls in his rear hub broke and the gear would not engage, cauzing it to slip during an important race, which took him out of the running due to his hub mechanical. Nothing against Zipp hubs, but When Rich, the owner of Pro Wheelbuilder.com, showed me the inside of a Zipp hub compared to a White Industry hub, I was shocked!. I immediately had Rich build me a wheel from scratch using the Zipp rim, White industry hub, flat black spokes, and replaced the old rim tape with nipple plugs. I did all of this for the around the same price as buying the stock wheels, and let me tell you the wheel is ten times better than it was coming out of the box from Zipp. It's like a Zipp wheels on steroids!. I use em to climb, crit, train....anything and everything. I love em!. Trust me, Rich will guide you through the whole process in building a wheel that is perfect for all of your needs. He did it for me. Thanks Rich! Michael .....AkA...."Chicky"