Building Some Sugar Sweet Wheels!

Earlier this month I took the opportunity to get a new skill by taking a wheel building class through Sugar Wheel Works. Building wheels has been the holy grail of skills for me in the cycling world - I just love wheels and find the entire process fascinating.

These are replacements for the single wall stock rims on the B1 (stocks will serve as back up set) and I decided to go with:

Aeroheat 406 rims
SRAM X7 hubs
Black straight gauge spokes
Blue anodized nipples

Instructing the class was wheel builder extraordinaire Jude Kirstein. What a great class! They are small and it is like having a personal 1 on 1 expert session. It cannot get better than that. I have now had some time to roll around on the wheels and have to say - riding around on wheels that you have built yourself is an interesting feeling. I am not sure any other cycling "cycling mechanic" activity has been as satisfying. It's one thing to make a repair - or even build up a bike from a frame, but riding on personally built wheels is really cool. The SRAM X7 rear hub is near silent, which is a very very nice thing to have on a recumbent and when you would rather enjoy the sounds of nature versus the clacking of the hub while coasting. In fact, I am thinking strongly about riding this rear wheel on the QNT for Cycle Oregon as it is soooooo quiet!

The build process was not near as scary as I thought - quite methodical and step by step really. Follow the process. Tweak it down to the fine detail at the end. Don't skip steps or cut corners. Excellent. It was a lot of fun and the tedious portions at the end of the truing process are the best - you can feel the wheel getting dialed to perfection!

Here are some shots of the process and the finished wheels. Anyone looking to gain a new skill should check out the classes offered at Sugar Wheel Works!

Epic Wheels Come From Epic Wheel Works!

After some riding it became clear that the wheels on the GT3 needed a rebuild. The rims were single wall and just not "doing it" for me. After picking up a set of three CR-18 16" double wall rims, it was time to have the wheels rebuilt, and done up right. Enter Jude from Epic Wheel Works in SE Portland.

I have to give credit where credit is due, and it's due to Jude at Epic. Building small wheels comes with challenges. Two of these GT3 wheels are built around Sturmey Archer drum hubs that have no axles - the axles are a part of the trike kingpin. So the build is definitely different that your typical hub. I had decided with Jude's help to go with some sweet red spokes to set off the black rims and silver hubs. The bonus is that the spokes are a near exact match for the Greenspeed red.

Well, I was immediately impressed upon seeing the new wheels. It was clear that if they rode half as good as they looked I would be very pleased. After an initial test ride I can say they ride GREAT. They look incredible and really have added to the trikes "bling" factor. These are some stiff wheels and I  cannot wait to see them put through the paces.

If you are in the Portland area and in need of a set of wheels - either a rebuild of your old and tired ones or a new custom setup - check out Epic Wheel Works!  Fine work indeed!