Meet your Maker
The wheel has always fascinated me, and why wouldn’t it? It’s one of the oldest known inventions, with the earliest archeological example believed to be about 5500 years old. They get us from point A to point B every day, one way or another. Without the wheel, we’d be reduced to walking. It’s not natural. So when I got the chance to have a look at the Wheelworks team and their slick operation in action, I was more than a little excited. And the best part? I get to ride them!
I headed over to the salubrious Wellington beachside suburb of Lyall Bay to meet up with Wheelworks’ owner Tristan Thomas, a transplanted Canadian and former engineer who started the company in 2008 and has been churning out wheelsets in increasingly large numbers ever since. Recently Wheelworks have launched discipline-specific branding for their wheels, with the mountain bike side dubbed Flite and the road builds under the Maker moniker.
Tristan and his right hand man Gavin McCarthy ran me through the build process, and if you think it’s just a matter of chucking some spokes in and giving them a few turns, well you’d be very far from the mark: the process Tristan has developed over the years is one of precision, order and involves more than a few tools and tricks that most other builders wouldn’t even know of. I’ll do my best to run you through the steps as I watched my Maker/White Industries/DT x Velominati wheelset come to life.
I’ll be putting some time on these wheels over the next month or so and will bring a full ride report after that.
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@Chris
That is exactly what my bin is full of. If an open tubular guides it's user to the light of real tubulars it has done its job.
@Nate
I've got a set of Open Pave on an older set of RS80 Ultegra wheels and they're pretty good.
There's always a place for a set of clincher wheels no matter how wedded to tubulars you might be. I wouldn't dream of going on holiday without them. Two weeks in South West France would be wasted repairing and glueing tubulars.
@Chris
Don't worry, I am just being a bit poetic and hyperbolic. Open Paves are great tires.
@Nate
Although I'm not leaving the light of real tubulars and expect to continue with them. The Veloflex Corsa "Open Tubulars" are awesome and make the humming sound of the Death Star as well.
@wilburrox
"Riding all them various tyres... well it's my job."
@unversio
Wow, never heard of a clincher that sings -- something I previously associated with only the finest tubulars.
Howdy,
Been ages since I've posted here, but I had to chip in when I saw this article.
I'm in Tasmania, Australia (it's like... opposite NZ) and I got myself a pair of wheels from Tristan at Wheelworks.
We went back and forth about what I wanted, what I could afford and what my aspirations were and he came up with the DT585 rim, DT aero spokes laced to WI T11 hubs. I wanted something lighter, but I'm a rotund wombat of a man and Tristan assured me that this was the combo to have down to how many spokes front and rear was optimal. He even told me it was the best rim for the larger, more powerful people... he didn't call me fat. That's service.
He couldn't have been more right.
The wheels turned up, quickly in their own specially designed shipping box, and were as true as a.... err... true thing. Every piece of the build was quality, the after service was prompt, polite and helpful and the wheels have just kept rolling and rolling and rolling. I'm not sure how many k's I've put on them between November 2013 and now, but it's a fair whack and they only just now need a slight truing. I have really tried to destroy them, I just couldn't. I babied them for a couple of months when I first got them because they were pretty, but I'm a bloke who sees things to be used, so used they were. Potholes, bunny hops, gravel, shit roads... the lot.
WI hubs are insanely easy to work on, if you ever need to. The only reason I pulled mine apart was to chuck some C-Bear bearings in there because, well, I could.
I honestly cannot recommend the folks at Wheelworks highly enough... So if they're doing their own carbon rims, you know you're going to be getting something that's tried, tested and bombproof.
I realise this reads like an advertisement. I'm not sure how I can change it though!
Wait... why the hell is my name Emilie Cabral!?
@Steve G
Hmm... seems my account wasn't just my account. Password fixed!
@Steve G
Lucky you. The sign of a well built set of wheels is they stay true for years and it sounds like you have them. The owner referring to you as powerful instead of a rotund wombat, icing on the cake.
These guys are the real deal. I'm very impressed with the trimming and rethreading-o-the spokes. Someone is a fanatic. The addition of the custom graphics is something one rarely sees on wheels. This is certainly an argument against factory wheels or one building them one's self.