Great Wheel Builder. Your definition.

Old School ......

I was tought by Bill Woodall how to build wheels. Only the old timers would know who he is ( passed away). He was the mechanic and used to drive the Campagnolo van with the bubble on top years ago.....

Anyways...I was always taught that if the rim has a one way label, it must face the direction of the crankset. In addition, when you look through the hole in the rim where the air valve is, you should see the brand mark on the hub.

When mounting tires, the label on the tire MUST ALWAYS be positioned beside the valve....reason is that it makes it easier to find.

May sound over the top, but it indicates to you how professional they approach the craft of wheelbuilding. Just like an electrician that positions the slots on the screws to run vertically on the light switches.......

Bentley78 said:

what should i be looking at from someone who builds this specific set?

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It's hard to know what information you're looking for and therefore even harder to give any. Unless you're looking over the shoulder of the builder, yourself armed with all the knowledge needed, you're just taking a leap of faith. But if you had all this knowledge, you'd build them yourself. At some point, if you choose to let someone else build them, you're going to have to trust them.

Do yourself a massive favor before you order (or build) anything and read up on the basic info in my sig. At the end is a link to what I consider the finest stand-alone wheelbuilding info available - Roger Musson's e-book. When you're done reading all this info you'll be the finest expert on wheels who never actually built one.

What spokes and nipples would work best on this particular wheelset, in terms of quality and performance? And what else is a factor when getting these built?

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You give us no information on you (your weight and skill level), your type of riding (smooth trails; baby-head rock gardens; 10' drops) or anything. So it's not possible to advise you except as a large generalization. The best spokes and nipples for the vast majority are stainless spokes in 2.0/1.8/2.0mm thickness with brass nipples, 32 of them per wheel, crossed 3.

I know ultimately it's gonna come down to trusting a place, but I like to understand what i'm buying, especially if it's very expensive, which these are.

You give us no information on you (your weight and skill level), your type of riding (smooth trails; baby-head rock gardens; 10' drops) or anything. So it's not possible to advise you except as a large generalization. The best spokes and nipples for the vast majority are stainless spokes in 2.0/1.8/2.0mm thickness with brass nipples, 32 of them per wheel, crossed 3.[/QUOTE]

I am 180, i feel i am pretty skilled technical rider. I ride in Mass, and it's varied. Lots of what i ride is gnarly, tight technical stuff, rocky, rooty, some drops, (don't really hit anything over 5 or 6 feet, though i may in the future...), to rockgarden and dh type stuff. I tend to ride aggressively and my terrain is not the easiest on wheels. I want a set I don't have to worry about, thats fairly light. I noticed it seems most places use the dt swiss double butted competition spokes...