Time out

Until I’ve ridden my XT/F519 wheels over a good few hundred miles or until I get around to building my second XT/Sun CR18 wheelset I’ve pretty much run out of stuff to post in this blog! So, unless there appears from out of nowhere a sudden rush of contributions by way of comments under any of my previous daily postings, things will now go quiet here for the next few weeks or so.

Some folk have asked about pictures, which is a very good point and something that I aim to get around to in the meantime. It’s not that I don’t have lots of piccies to publish, it’s just that posting pictures on www.blogger.com requires a bit of HTML knowledge which I don’t really have. In any case, even if I was a web-publishing god (obviously, I’m not) it’s not something that I could do from a commuter train, so they’ll appear as and when I can fit it in around work, family and play. But it’ll probably happen sometime!

If you’re temped to have a go at building your own wheels, now’s the ideal time to do something about it. September always sees the cycling retailers put on huge sales to clear out their old stock in preparation for the new season’s goodies and Christmas, and already there are some super bargains to be had. I’ve got my eye on a few bits and bobs myself, but more because I’m easily tempted than because I really need them, but I’m tempted nevertheless. It’s actually quite easy for the amateur wheel builder because the hardest parts to source are spokes, and until the UK retailers wake up and smell the coffee anyone with any sense will buy their spokes from www.rose.de, which just leaves us to find the rims and hubs domestically.

I urge you to have a look around – currently you can buy a pair of Mavic F519 rims for under £40 and a pair of XT hubs also for under £40, both brand new from on-line retailers, so just imagine what could be negotiated on Ebay! Add £15 for spokes from Rose and you’ll be able to build a fantastic pair of wheels for far less than even Chain Reaction will sell them, just like I have been able to. What are you waiting for? GO FOR IT! And don’t forget to tell us all about it.