Ride with pride! Think of the spoke tales you’ll spin as you describe selecting your own components, lacing the intricate cross pattern, and bringing the wheel up to professional tolerances of true, round and balanced tension. For yourself or as a special gift, it’s hard to beat the satisfaction of building and riding your own wheels.

High quality rims, hubs and spokes on the market today provide a wide range of component combinations for road training, countryside cruising, fully loaded or light touring, cross-country or steep technical off-road riding, or perhaps simply trekkin’ around town with a grin. For most casual recreational cyclists, a commercially-available, machine-built wheel will provide a decent ride. But you’re not the average recreational cyclist, are you?

If cyclotouring is your gig, you need a light yet bomb-proof set of wheels that’ll carry you and your gear confidently from Cairo to Capetown or Victoria to St. John’s. Or maybe you’re a competitive road rider, or training for that big triathlon, duathlon or swimcycle event, and want the best performance boost for your bike – wheels that are stiff and light, yet strong and reliable. If you like to explore the back country trails, you need a pair of light, strong wheels you can depend on to navigate the twists, tackle the climbs, yet bring you home reliably every time. At Winterborne Bicycle Institute, we can help you get there – to St. John’s, to the finish line, or simply back home again – on wheels built by you.

This is a weekend-long course, adapted from the proven learning approach we use over two days in our Professional Bicycle Mechanics course.  In this wheel building weekend, you will gain an understanding of how to select components for compatibility and specific usage, how to select spokes and calculate the lengths you’ll need, how to select and use purpose-designed wheel building tools. You’ll also be able to discuss the merits of different materials and lacing patterns, and the impact they have on performance, reliability and serviceability. Then it’s hands-on as you prepare the rim and spokes, lace up a wheel, take it through lateral and radial truing and dishing, and bring it up to balanced tension. The result? An incredibly satisfying experience!

You’ll start by building one wheel using our shop supplies and components, and then build your own pair of wheels using a component package you will have selected in advance. We’ve created a number of packages with different component options to suit almost any cycling need. At the time you register for the course, you’ll indicate which package you’ll build, and we’ll ensure the components are on hand. Because of our unique educational status, we can offer you these components at quite a discount below usual retail prices. After this weekend, out on your next ride, when asked, “Where’d you get those sweet wheels?” you’ll be able to answer, “Oh those? I built them last weekend.”

We offer different weekend courses dedicated to MTB 26” wheels and 700c road wheels, recognizing that spandex and dirt have different needs. The course will run every other month, alternating between 26” and 700c wheels. Check our Events Calendar for dates.

The cost for the course is $299 plus the cost of the wheel package you select.

Each class will start Friday evening, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and continue Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Please contact Jay to register your spot for this course. If you have questions or want to talk about which wheel package is right for you before registering, please call or e-mail at your convenience.