{"id":624,"date":"2026-07-23T15:39:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/?p=624"},"modified":"2026-07-23T15:43:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:43:50","slug":"humble-beginnings-about-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/2026\/07\/23\/humble-beginnings-about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Humble Beginnings &#8211; About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>The idea started while looking online for a complete kit that had everything needed to build a wheel: a hub, rim, spokes cut to the right length, and nipples. Affordable parts, matched and ready to go. I couldn&#8217;t find anything .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"567\" height=\"318\" src=\"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bike_drop2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-465\" style=\"width:330px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bike_drop2.png 567w, https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bike_drop2-416x233.png 416w, https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bike_drop2-300x168.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 567px) 100vw, 567px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>That sent me to the local bike shop. The owner, a grizzled older mechanic who seemed a bit bothered by my lack of knowledge, walked me through spoke length calculation, truing stands, dishing tools and tension meters. He said if I wanted to build a wheel, he could order the parts and make sure I had the right spokes. I picked my parts and waited. I was glad someone was there to help, and I think he took some pride in sharing what he knew.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Years ago this was my introduction to wheel building, planting the seeds for this business.<br>One thing he said stuck with me: &#8220;Building a wheel is pretty straightforward. The spoke calculation is the hard part.&#8221; He wasn&#8217;t entirely wrong. Spoke length depends on hub flange diameter, flange offset, rim ERD, lacing pattern and some trigonometry. There are online calculators now, but they all give slightly different results from the same inputs, which tells you something about how many variables are involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>Some people enjoy that technical challenge. At the time, I just wanted a good wheel that I built myself, and the parts to do it with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>That&#8217;s what these kits are. Each one includes a hub, rim, spokes cut to the correct length, nipples and rim tape. Every kit has been vetted through an actual build and real world testing, and each combination of components is chosen for both value and longevity. No spoke calculations, no second-guessing compatibility, just parts that are ready to build.<br>Wheel building is as much art as science. It can be fun and rewarding, and it can also be challenging. Anyone with the right knowledge and motivation can build a decent wheel, but if you&#8217;re only looking to save a few bucks, or you aren&#8217;t interested in learning proper technique, these kits aren&#8217;t for you. If you&#8217;ve wanted to give wheel building a try, or you already have experience and just want a strong hand-laced wheel from quality components you know will work together, you&#8217;re in the right place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>And if you&#8217;d rather go down the rabbit hole and design your own build, calculations and all, head over to our wheel building basics post for the resources we&#8217;ve found most useful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The idea started while looking online for a complete kit that had everything needed to build a wheel: a hub, rim, spokes cut to the right length, and nipples. Affordable parts, matched and ready to go. I couldn&#8217;t find anything . That sent me to the local bike shop. The owner, a grizzled older mechanic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":628,"href":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions\/628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelbuildingkit.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}