# Willamette Valley wheelbuilder?



## undies (Oct 13, 2005)

Can anyone recommend a *good* wheelbuilder in the Eugene/Corvallis/Salem area? I need a good touring wheelset and my machine built wheels just aren't working out.


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## PomPilot (May 17, 2006)

A little too far south for your needs. But Eric at Don's Bike Center in Grants Pass built me a nice set for my ride using Mavic Open Pro's.:thumbsup: (Used the Open Pros as they still allow enough clearance for my cantilever front brakes). :wink:


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## asterisk (Oct 21, 2003)

None in our area but Portland has a few very high caliber wheel builders. 

I don't know much about Eugene but you might try South Salem Cycle Works, I know they deal in mostly hand built wheels. You might also try Full Cycles in Corvallis, they can order anything and I believe one of their guys is a pretty good wheel builder. I'd skip the other shops though (PM me for specifics).


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## Barkdog (Jul 15, 2005)

Try Ben at Santiam Bike Co. in Salem. He built me a great mountain wheel (Mavic 717's w/ XT hubs), absolutely no problems! The thing is still true as the day I got it, after many months of abuse on my singlespeed.


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## undies (Oct 13, 2005)

Thanks for the feedback folks! I stopped in at Santiam Bike yesterday and they are going to build me a set of 36 hole Salsa Delgado X rims on Deore hubs. In addition to Barkdog someone locally gave me a good tip on them :thumbsup: 

As I was talking to the service guy he said that in addition to black spokes costing more, they have seen more spoke breakage (particularly at the spoke heads) on black spokes vs. chrome spokes. He thought it was because of additional heat treating causing during anodization. This triggered a couple of BS flags in my head. Is anyone familiar with how stainless steel spokes are colored black? In a previous life I was an aircraft painter and when we anodized aluminum it was simply a chemical treatment which was then covered up by paint. No heat was involved, but then our "anodizing" treatment wasn't meant to be pretty, it was just a corrosion barrier. I have also used a chemical anodizing process on brass, but never steel.


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## asterisk (Oct 21, 2003)

I would think anodizing was anodizing... the only heat is steam or hot water to seal, not enough to weaken anything. If this was Santiam it might just be because they see more free rider's wheels (their main clientele) that sport black spokes and have repeated breakage. 

I've never heard anything about spoke breakage like that before though, I wouldn't worry.


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