Submitted by
rocketron
a Cross Country Rider
from napa,ca
Date Reviewed: November 9, 2011
Strengths: light and strong, price was right, service if I need it will be there but I doubt if I ever well. Great guy, very smart, knows everything about wheels and how to build them. Easy to get ahold of, always within 24 hrs or less.
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
Great guy? great service? You can't go wrong with him. We spent 1 hr on the phone and then another half hr. He built the wheelset to my weight,bike,riding style and they are a great set of wheels....I'm going to have him build another set for my other bike. Everything the 148 reviews that were written are very true....Everyone who wants a great set of wheels and light and strong should buy Dream Works wheelsets from Dave Thomas....trust me you won't go wrong.
Similar Products Used: I had him build a set of stans' crest wheels with stans ztr hubs
Bike Setup: santa cruz blur lt carbon, xtr build kit with fox 140 rlc fit f32, avid xx brakes. bike weighs 24.5 lbs. with pedals
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Submitted by
Jekylljt
a Weekend Warrior
from Windsor, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: July 12, 2011
Strengths: Strong, durable, reliable. The King hubs are bullet proof and look great too!
Weaknesses: None.
Bottom Line:
I have had these for about 4 years now and *I think* the rear has been trued once. They are the CK hub/Velocity Aeroheat combo. I originally had them on a Kona Dawg Primo and moved them over to the Tracer when I aquired it. I've hit some stuff pretty hard and gone off about 4' drops, but I'm not a hucker. The wheels have been bomb proof and Dave did a great job of matching them up to my riding. Weight is respectable at 1820g for the pair. Now on the Tracer, my only problem is that I'm over-riding the tire/tubes and am getting rear pinch flats.
Similar Products Used: Mavic 317's & Cannondale Coda junk
Bike Setup: Intense Tracer - TALAS, XT/XTR mix, Gravity Dropper, and some FSA bits
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Submitted by
Mudpimp
a Cross Country Rider
from New York , NY
Date Reviewed: June 27, 2011
Strengths: Lightweight, Strong
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
Dave has built wheelsets for all of my rigs and they are by far the best money spent on any wheelsets I've purchased anywhere. I'm still riding a wheelset that is 4 years old, that has run the 24hrs of Moab, Shenendoah 101, Vermont 50, SSUSA. my local race series and more and are still running strong. These are my everyday wheelsets. They are light as you can get without going with carbon rims. They've all weighed in at 1600grams or less, Thats for 29ers. The feel and windup of a handmade wheel made by the best is something to be felt. Tell him how you ride and out it in Dave's hands
Submitted by
Steve Johnson
a Cross Country Rider
from Incline Village, NV
Date Reviewed: June 1, 2011
Strengths: Dealing with Dave is a pleasure. The wheels he builds are the most reliable component of your bike, and custom built to your specs and a lower price than a factory wheel. After two years of hard riding and racing, the wheels are still true.
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
If you need a new wheel set, or simply want to upgrade your ride, call Dave. You won't be disappointed.
Similar Products Used: Mavics. My experience with them matches the bad reviews everyone else has.
Bike Setup: Intense Spider, Fox RLC100, Shimano XTR.
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Submitted by
Single Speed
a Weekend Warrior
from Brighton
Date Reviewed: April 15, 2011
Strengths: Light, durable, great customer service, easy to work with, fair prices (shop around and you will see)
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
These wheels are awesome! I used to break spokes and pull eyelets in the rim all the time. My riding buddy had a set of these hoops and now I am on my fourth set from Dave at Speed Dreams. I have had a set for the road bike now for four years no issues, cross, XC and now a 29er set I haven't ridden yet. He uses different spokes to keep the weight down but the durability up! Suggests different options for your set up and riding style. Send in your hubs and have him do the rest or order the whole shooting match from him. Freaking awesome
Similar Products Used: Mavic Cross Max, Velocity built wheels, XTR
Bike Setup: XC steel hardtail Hairy Gary bicycles, Hippie tech suspension fork 120mm travel.
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Submitted by
Michael07FSR
a Cross Country Rider
from Los Angeles, CA USA
Date Reviewed: December 10, 2010
Strengths: Unstoppable
Weaknesses: NONE
Bottom Line:
Between the incredible, hand built wheels and the customer service, you can NOT go wrong.
I am 220 when I get out of the shower probably 250 with my backpack, NY FU Chain, 100 Oz of water and snack foods (fat guys have to eat). I hit curbs, potholes, bums and dirty rocky SoCal trails and I have never had to true the rims.
I just cracked a rim and Dave is hooking me up for a great price and great turnaround time. Its not his fault I can't put down the ice-cream and thus cracked a rim.
Please support the people in the industry that do it because they love it. Dave is an asset to us all.
Submitted by
attaboy
a Weekend Warrior
from Austin
Date Reviewed: September 8, 2010
Strengths: Light, stiff, durable
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
After making a taco out of my front last year, began looking for a quality set of wheels. I went with CK ISO hubs with Stan's Arch wheels. I run tubeless now which is another significant upgrade. I read many of the reviews here and had high expectations. I have not been disappointed. It has been a significant improvement in the bike. I had no idea how much flex I had in my wheels until the upgrade. Have been rock solid and I'm 220 and pound them on centex rocks.
Similar Products Used: WTB speedisc with DT Swiss hubs -- factory set that came with bike --
Bike Setup: Giant Trance1
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Submitted by
schingleschpeed
a Cross Country Rider
from Roseville, CA
Date Reviewed: September 7, 2009
Strengths: Light, True, Responsive, Standard Technology
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
I'm writing the review for both sets of wheels that Dave Thomas built for me. Both sets were per Dave's expert recommendations based on a lengthy conversation with me. Dave spends the time to understand what kind of riding you like to do, the type of bike on which you plan to run the wheels and your riding weight. He is a really nice guy too and just loves to talk biking over the phone. If you've ever had questions about wheel building, queue them up and fire away at Dave on the phone, he will educate you beyond what you probably will be able to understand. At least it was more than I could understand. As far as I'm concerned, Dave is the guru of wheels.
Back to the wheels. I ordered my second set of wheels from Dave within two weeks of receiving the first set. Both sets are 29" No Tubes ZTR355 laced up on King Iso hubs (one set is a SS specific set). If you ride 29er's, don't mess around any longer with heavy wheels. When I got my wheels, I replaced a set of WTB laser discs with heavy tires and put Dave's wheels on with medium weight tires and dropped 2.2 pounds off my ride. That's 2.2 lbs that you feel. This was the most ride changing investment that I've ever made. But Dave didn't just build them light, they have held up to the trail also. I've been riding the first set almost a year including 3 solid all mountain days in Oakridge OR and the wheels are still as true as the day they came out of the box. The Stan's rim is an easy tubeless set up and can be run with most non-UST tires. Dave even weighs the wheels for you and tells you what they weigh, I'm 190lbs and my 29" wheels came in at Ft 767g and R 929g. In addition to the benefits of the obvious weight savings, I believe that the way Dave builds the wheel makes it more lively than other factor wheels that I've ridden. The standard technology of the King hubs (life time product in my opinion) standard spokes/nipples and rims make it easy for any bike shop to work on.
Being that you will easily drop 900 bones on a set of light factory high tech wheels, I highly recommend that Dave Thomas be consulted prior to making the investment. I'm convinced that this is the single best biking investment that I've made.
Bike Setup: 1) Niner Air9, Fox F-29, XTR, King, Easton bars, stem, post etc. 2) Soulcraft Holy Roller SS, Niner Carbon Rigid fork, Hive fifteenG cranks.
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Submitted by
Designcycle
a Cross Country Rider
from Fremantle, WA, Australia
Date Reviewed: August 23, 2009
Strengths: Very light, great great hubs, look cool
Weaknesses: Rear wheel problems as described below
Bottom Line:
A friend in the US bought me the wheels as a thanks for some work I had done for him. My friend went all out to buy the best wheels he could, discussed bike setup, my weight, riding style etc. Out of the box the wheels looked beautiful and were lighter than my everyday road wheels (1540grams the pair. The King hubs are a work of art, and the the lag free pickup of the rear hub the single best upgrade I have ever given any bike. But...... 6 months in and few thousand k's down the road the rear wheel is just about cooked. I'm not too heavy (170lbs) and ride XC only, but the rear wheels is so flexy as to be almost unrideable. And because it's flexy it's constantly going out of true. I'll be needing a rebuild ASAP as they just aren't up to the job. Seems the combination of lighter gauge disc side spokes, and a two cross rather than three cross pattern just isn't enough to make a stiff enough wheel. The only explanation I can think of for the lack of strength is that this design is not a good matchup for the old style Epic which has the shock on the non drive side, and this extra stress has toasted the rear wheel. It's weird though that I haven't had a single broken spoke. If anyone else has had similar problems let me know. Disappointed.
Similar Products Used: Mavic 223 with XT hubs, Sun Rhyno Lite, other Mavic/Shimano combinations
Bike Setup: Specialized Epic 06, XTR, XT mix, ZTR355 rims, King Hubs
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Submitted by
tneker
a Cross Country Rider
from Jefferson, WI
Date Reviewed: August 20, 2009
Strengths: Rock solid wheelset. I am a 230# plus rider that bombs done the trail pretty hard. Went with Dave's recommendation and couldn't be more pleased. Only 3 months on these wheels, but absolutely no complaints. DT Swiss 240 with Stans 355's
Weaknesses: Pretty big price tag, will be worth it if they last 2 to 3 years
Submitted by
alembicf1x
a Weekend Warrior
from San Jose, CA
Date Reviewed: August 6, 2009
Strengths: Strong, light, stays true
Weaknesses: nada
Bottom Line:
Here's the deal: Put a little extra money up front for a kick ass wheelset, and you will spend less down time dealing with truing or repairing them. If you are the kind of rider who likes to blast over stuff rather than around, these are the wheels for you.
I've had Dave build me several wheelsets over the years, and I can't remember ever having to true any of them. Like the Timex watch, they take a pounding and keep on rolling (or something like that).
Strengths: Lightweight, stiff, good looking. Did I say they were stunning?
Weaknesses: None - I wouldn't call them cheap, but way less coin than factory wheels from mavic, shimano, etc
Bottom Line:
I was thinking about a race bike for XTerra tri's but couldn't justify the money...I'm not going to win on anything. I decided to lighten my Stumpy up with a sweet wheelset. This was a great call.
Dealing with Dave is a true pleasure, he won't even take an order without talking to you about how you ride and what you want. I went top-shelf for the King hubs, Sapim spoke and Stan's rims. The wheels showed up within a week and are the nicest looking bike parts I've ever owned.... It took over a pound out of my wheelset and that is a pound you truly feel.
The wheels are stiffer through the rock gardens, quicker to spin up for sprints and hills and make that ripping King wormdrive sound when you coast. Having the quick engagement on the rear hub makes a real difference in the technical stuff, (quarter-pedal, dodge a rock, eighth-pedal, bunny-hop and off you go). Going with a true tubeless rim and UST tire (Nevegal F, Larsen R) was way easier to set up than the Stan's kit on standard rims. It leaked some from the valve overnight, but I shook it around with a scoop of Stans sealant and they haven't lost a pound of pressure since.
This was a great way to speed up and freshen up a bike with a couple seasons on it.
Similar Products Used: DT Swiss rims & spokes on XT hubs, but these compare more in quality and sex appeal to the Zipp wheels on my Tri bike.
Bike Setup: 07 Stumpjumper Expert (with Brain shock), FOX Talas, SRAM X0/X9 drivetrain, Crank Bros, Thompson goodies
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Submitted by
lastchild
a Cross Country Rider
from Bay Area, Ca. USA
Date Reviewed: June 12, 2009
Strengths: Super light and strong and they look awesome!
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
Another awesome wheelset from Dave. This time it's Stan's rims with White Bros hubs, all in black for my new Anthem X.
Dave has been building wheels for me for 30 years...yes, I said 30 years.
The first set was when I was 13 for my Redline Proline BMX bike...Avocet hubs radially laced...I can assure you there weren't too many BMX bikes in 1979 with a radially laced front wheel.
Dave has built every single set of wheels I've owned since then. He's the Master and he's always been lightyears ahead of his time.
He combines 'Old-World" craftsmanship with a Zen-Like mindset and his wheels are worth every penny.
I know this probably has been talked about many times, but......
Is his wheels all they are cracked up to be? Better than an off-the-shelf set of Mavic Crossmax SL's?
Thanks Read More »
I have a set of his mountain wheels which I love, just wanted to see if anyone had any experience/feedback on his road wheels... anyone...? Read More »
Small world we live in... Myself and a few new riding friends are riding around in Horse Gulch on our first day of riding in Durango, CO. We are chatting it up on the trail with a Read More »
