Wheel Builder

[Wild Bill]

Hi,

I need to have two wheels rebuilt and would appreciate any recommendations, or otherwise, for wheel builders in the UK or on the continent. Please either reply to this thread or send me a PM as you wish.

I have come across these names: Central Wheel, James Wheeldon (Brickwood), Hagon and Steve Rolfe (Wheelbase).

I see that Scott wheels seem to have been originally painted after being built. What would be the advised route to take today?

[richard norris]

Years ago I had a front wheel built by Hagon, also I have had spokes made to order and the service was quick and good.

[John Bennett]

I used Anglia Wheels in Halstead, North Essex.
https://www.anglia-wheels.co.uk/
It was painless and they were done how I asked them to be. Not sure what else to say, other than I wish life/restoration was always like that!

I was told the wheels are meant to all painted, but went for unpainted stainless spokes because they look nice, and if I ever change my mind, can always paint them.

BTW, I think my new rims must have been (wax?) polished after coating; the local tyre place used stick-on balance weights which promptly fell off…..

[Barrie]

You should use plumber’s solder wrapped / rolled around the spokes to balance wheels

[chris wastell]

My wheels were done by Brickwood. Great job, nice chap but chrome quality very poor. The back wheel was rusting before I’d finished the rebuild 3 months later. That was 16 years ago and they may be better now but I’d go for stainless rims.

[BRIAN MARSHALL]

I have used Steve Lomas for the past 30 years, and always been very pleased with his work. He trades as ‘Five-One Wheelbuilding’, Top Lane, Goulceby, nr. Louth, Lincolnshire, about five minutes from Cadwell Park race circuit. With only a few exceptions Scott wheels were stove enamelled black, hubs, spokes, nipples, rims, the lot, throughout the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, with chromium plated rims only appearing as standard in about 1948. If you look in the works despatch books for the late 1930s there are just a handful of bikes listed as having chrome rims, presumably as a special order.
I have always had my rebuilt vintage era wheels powder coated, with the exception of my 1929 works TT bike, which has nickel plated nipples and stainless spokes. This was after looking at 1929 photos taken on the Isle-of-Man, and I’m still not 100% sure, but I could easily paint them black if I change my mind !

[Tman]

I’d go to Central Wheels for the rims and spokes, and then build them myself, if I were you. CW had a poor name for customer service up to about three years ago (I also had experience of this) but a new manager seems to have transformed the service level.
So buy the parts from them and rebuild it yourself. Very therapeutic, and you also know that the rims have the correct off-set as you can do the final tweaking with the wheel mounted in the bike.
On old bike runs, it’s disconcerting to see how many restored bikes have the wheel rims out of line, but that can be the result when using wheel-builder’s info rather than the actual bike it’s to be used on.

[Author]

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