About Me & Wheel Building

Wheels For Sale

Using up my end of line hubs and rims by hand building some high quality road bike wheels for all you rim braking cyclists. Even tension and bedded in spokes, lead to true wheels that stay that way -  In stock are the last one:

No spoke hole carbon rim nipple insertion.  OR easy set up tubeless rim with no tape required. In an effort to make tubeless set up easier, carbon rims without spoke insertion holes are becoming increasingly common, only a valve hole in the inner rim.  Obviously this makes nipple location a bit more involved, I use very magnetic cap screws in each nipple, a strong magnet to guide to the hole and finally a small o ring to secure in place.  This adds about 45 minutes onto a wheel build; a wheelbuild using such rims is £60/rim.  Light bicycle I have used and I can recommend.

Dave's Bike Shed is a bicycle repair and maintenance workshop; cyclist training and mentoring service and bicycle consultancy practice. 

I work on all bikes: road race, mountain, tandem, folders, recumbent, hybrids, supermarket bought runabouts. I can service vintage racing bikes with classic Italian components, the latest titanium and carbon lightweights with 10 and 11 speed hubs, hard tail and fully suspended down hill and cross country trail mountain bikes. 

My shed workshop is fully equipped with the tools to undertake all repair and maintenance tasks. Cyclus, VAR, Kestrel, Park, Hozan, as a bit of a tool addict my tool board or box is never complete!

My City and Guilds qualifications are the highest in the industry. I am skilled in the specialist jobs such as wheel building and frame truing and do so at a competitive price that I consider the best value in Fife, Edinburgh and the Lothians. 

My background

I have cycled since the age of 3 and maintained my own, family and friends' bikes for years. Before starting up Dave's Bike Shed, I was employed in local and central government, where I spent a significant part of that career working in transport and cycling policy.

I don't see bikes just as toys or leisure sports equipment, I see cycling as a way ahead from where we are now with expensive transport costs, chaos and congestion. 

I used to cycle many miles a year - when I get the chance! This is less and less now; but I have tales to tell of cycling exploits aplenty. 

You can be sure that I will give the same care and attention to your bicycle as I do to my own and my family's.

Old hubs!

I am sometimes asked for classic hubs, Campagnolo, Pelissier, Maxi Car, Milremo. Sorry, but I no longer keep stocks of these. A pair of Campagnolo Gran Sport steel/alloy 1950-60's hubs, polished up nicely, a P3003 rear and a Milremo flip flop 115oln high flange, ready to built into a rim you have, leave it to my customers to source, here are some nice pics of hubs I did have.

Handbuilt 700c race, training or fast commuter wheelset. A stylish and more robust alternative to the more common Mavic Open Pro or the lower quality Shim**o R500/1 things that came on your half decent road bike.  Also not the disposable Mavic Ksyrium with their frozen nipples and spokes that cost 30% of a new wheel.

Rims are the superb Ambrosio Excellight SSC, made in Italy. Rim brake, anodised black finish and suitable for tyres 19mm to 28mm, valve hole for Presta; light and durable, fitted with a rim tape ready for you to fit tubes/tyres; or let me supply these as well. Max rider weight 95ishkg.  Also using more Ryde rims, especially assymetric for disc brake bikes.

Hubs are now Miche/Bitex as default, previously Ambrosio (novatech cartridge bearings) a great hub but getting expensive for this level of finish and quality. Road bike standard widths 100mm front and 130mm rear. Suitable for 8,9, 10 and 11 speed Shimano/SRAM/Campagnolo cassettes. They use quality sealed bearings which are easily replaced when worn.

The 32 spokes are high quality Italian made ACI  2.0/1.7/2.0 double butted stainless steel in silver. Lighter and stronger for their diameter than standard plain gauge spokes. Made from 100% stainless steel and fastened with solid brass nipples.  My black spokes are now Sapim.

The wheels are built using a 3x (3 cross) pattern which is the best compromise for strength without excess weight.  A pair weigh around 1.7kg If you need 11 speed add £40 for a suitable freehub.  If you need a campag freehub spline add £10. If you are light enough 60ishkg you can go 28 spoke.  I am doing these as a special to make way for revised Ambrosio offerings and my switch over to Miche (made in Italy) hubs.  This set up has been my default quality wheelset since I started trading, I typically have been selling 5-6 pairs/year with no complaints or major issues.  They really will transform your bike if it has factory fitted, unbranded or plain gauge spoked wheels with lesser quality bearings. 

The most FAQ on wheels is low spoke counts. Heavier than around 80kg or 12st is the range of weight where you need sturdier and 32 spokes at least.  Its all about compliance and interaction between the road, the bike and you.

I am often asked the same questions when customers are thinking about a wheelset:  Rims are most often Kinlin, they are great quality; Mavic and DT Swiss also used; spokes are nearly always double butted stainless steel A.C.I. or Sapim and in black have a very durable finish; nipples are always brass and very seldom aluminium; hubs (since Campagnolo dropped all but Record) are again often Bitex, but can be Hope, Shimano, Novatech  or whatever you wish to supply even new old stock; time is dependant upon stock components but wheels are usually built in a day, cost is one wheel build from £35 + components.

Sturmey Archer Dynohubs old and interesting - large flange with the magnets, small flange with the "slip through" holes for the spoke heads.  Often these confuse lesser wheel builders! However with a bit of thought and turning the usual wheel build method around I calculate the sequence of spokes, then lace up the large flange, 2 cross in light tension; then lace the smaller flange in 3 cross pattern, tensioning enough to keep them in place. Sometimes a wee bit masking tape is necessary! Radial and lateral true as usual, but making sure the wheel is dished as the 2 cross/3 cross can skew the centralisation of the rim.  There is also a handy way of calculating spoke lengths manually for these - but thats for me to know!

Tern 20" Wheel Disc Brake Rohloff

Swapped out the Shimano hub to fit the Rohloff into the brand new unused rim. Area at left hand sied rear drop out, very busy with brake caliper (mounted on a new Rohloff monkey bone). Rohloff EX box and prop stand.