wheels (135mm spaced rear with freehub) for a Sam Hillborne

[Peter Stock]

I have an SH frame I built up but the wheels are crap. the only 135mm spaced 700c rear I could find with fairly wide rim.
and then a mismatched front.
this bike deserves a decent wheelset.
where do I go looking? what online stores/shops?
there are very few 700c 135mm spaced wheelsets up here in Canada.

Or if anyone has a decent set they would sell me (that would take an 8S Shimano cassette) let me know.
I'll be driving to Buffalo in the next few weeks to pick up some other bike gear and so shipping to there would likely make the shipping cost reasonable 

Peter Stock
Toronto Canada

[Mark Allen]

I had Martin at Hoopdriver build up a dynamo wheelset for my Sam in late 2019, and he did a fantastic job. Son Delux front / White Industries rear hub and H+Son Archetype rims. I'm also confident that the fine folks at Urbane Cyclist can set you up with something great as well.

Mark Allen

Toronto

[Joe Bernard]

Most everything is listed as sold out at Riv at the moment but it's always worth a call to Rich Lesnik there, he usually has a line on something that'll work on Rivbikes. If you get lucky it'll ship to Buffalo in time. 

Joe Bernard 

[Garth]

Peter, If you can be more specific of what exactly you're looking for that'd help me to give you some direction. 

The given is the 135mm 700c wheelset. 

Do you care if all the parts are silver , if not, which parts are acceptable otherwise ?

Do you care if the spokes are double butted or straight gauge ? 

What tire widths are you riding and @ what pressures ? 

Do you have specific price range ? 

Basically there are ready-to-buy prebuilt machine or machine + hand finished wheels whose quality can vary a whole lot. Then there are many custom options whose quality is usually excellent, meaning the wheel will remain round and true without the rider ever needing to touch them. 

Shipping with anyone varies wildly, regardless of the location, it's always been that way ! 

[Peter Stock]

Good questions. 
while I am experienced in the world of traditional 700c road bikes and wheels, I am something of a novice at anything the style of a Rivendell.

But first, Some history, context.
I got this SH frame almost by accident. my plumber was given it to settle some debt I think, and asked me to help him sell it (as I buy and sell a lot of bikes) but when I measured it up and found it was my size, Despite the seemingly hand-repainted finish, knowing the reputation of Rivendell I arranged to keep it and built it up with spare parts I had on hand - Mafac Racer calipers (the only center pulls I had amongst the dozens of side pull calipers I have), barend shifters, a Deore RD, who knows what FD...., Specialized "Flag" triple crankset.
(Hmm am I correct that I cannot post photos here?)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zxA1jtAF3snGG9Nu5

the stumbling block was wheels because while I have about.... 50+ wheelsets and singles, they are all traditional mavic road rims. about 15mm inside / 20mm outside width and all either 126mm or 130mm OLD.
these are the wheels I currently have hanging in the garage,, none 135 OLD.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zxA1jtAF3snGG9Nu5

I was suprised to find none of my wheels fit this frame. because - Suprise!  - it is 135mm spacing, which I have never dealt with before. And I have neither the skill nor patience to redish a 130 wheel.

The only rear wheel I had with 135mm spacing and a Shimano freehub was pretty crummy and I've had nothing but problems with it. even though the rim seems true and round, When I mount the 28mm tires I want to use on it there is a hop it it. and the rubber dust cap on one side of the axle rubs. not that I would notice while riding but it's annoying that it doesn't spin freely. So I figured rather than keep banging my head against the wall I would look for something decent.

I am not wildly Bike Proud. I just ride 'em. So I don't need the Cadillac of anything. Function over Form for me.
Nothing has to match. any colour will do. straight gauge spokes are fine (as long as they hold up and are not snapping and needing to be replaced all the time. )

this SH proably only gets out twice a month. I see it as more of a utility bike (fun for small grocery runs along the rough road to the store 7 miles away and back) than a long distance 50mile recreational ride. For that I typically take a lightweight steel bike. (though who knows, maybe if I finally got this built up correctly I would come to love it and use it more. but it is a heavy beast I find.)

I am pretty light - about 175lbs - so I don't need wildly sturdy wheels
I would mainly use this bike in the country, a mix of paved and hardpacked gravel roads.
Tires? normal production tires are fine. I don't need anything hand-crafted by elves.
Most of my 15 For-Pavement-Mostly road bikes have 23 or 25 or max 28mm tires. The only time I have ridden anything fatter are the 35ish mm tires on a Bike Friday. though I must say I like the feel of those fatter tires, especially on packed gravel. I guess I should aim for something north of 30mm. 
Looking at an online tire seller, it seems the most common sizes are 32, 35, 37, 40, 42 47 and 50mm. 

I currently have a matching pair of Zaffiro graphite Pro in 30mm (though again, when these are on my current rear wheel there is a hop that I cannot diagnose - whether it is the rim or a defect in the tire. I have to figure that out and toss the offending piece element)


Well that is a lot of Blah Blah.
Budget. Lower end ideally (used is fine) Given I have so many wheels already I would feel a bit silly spending a lot of money buying even more. especially since I am pretty casual about my bike setups.
But if that's what I have to do, I will do it. Having the fame lying around unused because I haven't figured out wheels bugs me.
and while I know that handbuilt wheels are expensive, production factory-built wheels are fine for me. Again, I am not really fanatical about my gear. 
If it is any gauge, when I sell wheels from my collection the price range is typically between $200 and $400 USD for a good used set.  though I know that would not be enough for a new handbuilt set. But that's not really what I need. 

Peter

[Garth]

All of that is quite relevant Peter !  I'm pretty much the same way, I don't care about bling, function over form. The only reason I own a Riv frame is it's function, the Bombadil frame fits me perfectly. I had it repainted to a solid color w/o decals. I really didn't want to be bothered with acquiring any, and given the choice like I had, I chose "just the paint please !".  I've ridden freewheels my whole life up until a few years ago I bought a wheel made with a Deore hub and Rhyno Lite rim. I'm still not enamored with cassette hubs in general, but given the absence of 135mm Phil Wood freewheel hubs anymore I gave them a try. They just work, so good enough. I know people look at PW hubs as bling but for 135mm FW hubs there wasn't much choice. I'd never buy one their cassette hubs, or any other of the noisy, high end overly complicated pain in the arse in waiting hub.

So surely not everyone who rides a Riv cares for or about bling.

Anyways, I totally get where you're coming from. I just so happen to have been wheel shopping and like you, I just want something true and will stay that way, but surely on the modest side. So my "recommends" are what I'm looking at for myself.

Two places I'm considering to have custom wheels built are Universalcycles.com and Benscycle.com. They both have online configurators that you choose your parts based on their current offerings.

I'll just post screenshots of the 2 builds I made up.

The Ben's Cycle online builder is totally wonky for choosing rims and hubs. It's best to open the rim and hub in it's own web page and click "add to builder". At the top of the page you'll see the configurator . Choosing spokes and nipples and details "no rim tape" all work from there. Trust me, I've tried adding rims and hubs using the configuator and there is always and error, so you must start over. so you start over and the same thing happens. By accident I discovered the workaround was going directly to the parts web page and "add to builder" from there. If you have a problem finding the links for any of the parts just ask.

The Universal cycles one is easier, at least the menu options work Work left to right on the menu options.

I only recommend these if you can pick up from Buffalo, as you mentioned. Ben's offers half price shipping to Canada, but it's still like $80. Universal doesn't off and upfront estimation for shipping to Canada without logging in and using a Canada address to estimate it.

The Sun SR25 clincher is old school anodised, like the way MA40's were. No silly premade brake tracks. The CR18 is polished, the only one they had in stock in 32 hole.

Deore hubs , at least the one I have, needed more grease(just pack it !) and adjusted as any cup and cone does. The factory preload was too much. It needs to be set oh so slightly loose, which under QR tension goes away and is perfect !

Both of these builds should be excellent. I have a new unused set from Universal that by hand feels taught and even. I've not bought wheels from Bens but have read only good things about their builds. While I have 2 sets of Joe Young wheels and 1 from Rich @Riv, they add up faster than I can pay going forward, so I decided to let loose my self imposed restriction that I HAD to use a high end builder, including building my own again, which I have lots a old and new parts to play with once I get a decent truing stand that isn't named Park.

That's the story and I'm sticking to it !  For now ....

[Peter Stock]

thanks.
I'll look at those both.
I did dip into the Universal website for a minute. most of what they seem to offer in wheels was for Disc brakes. and I am not there yet. I couldn't find much for Rim brakes.
but I wrote them, told them what I needed and asked what they suggested.

thanks for the leads.

Peter

[Hoch in ut]

Wilbur knowing your budget or intended usage, I’d say for a bike like a Sam, I’d get a local wheel builder to build up:

- Velocity Quill rims

- Bitex hubs, front and rear

This should cost around $600 usd. Great set up for pavement and gravel riding. 

I recently built up a heavier duty set up with Velocity Cliffhangers and. Bitex hubs for my Clem. I did go with a SON dynamo so added about $250 to the build. 

[Garth]

Just to clarify Peter, these wheels are not found as completes from the "wheels" category, they are built to order via the "Custom wheelset builder" with wrench icon, from the menu on the left, it's the 9th category down, before you even get into a parts category.

While there are a few premade rim brake wheels with Deore T610 hubs from Quality, they are machine built and hand finished, supposedly ! Yet for the same amount or even less you can have them made by their builders from scratch. There's even some 135mm premade freewheel hub'd wheels but those hub bearing races are likely aren't so hot.

At least with Deore T-610 cassette rim brake hubs they are quiet like freewheels and the freehub bodies are also available if need be. They are completely serviceable to clean and relube like any freewheel.