Hand built wheels vs factory built ones
Cognoscenti Cycles is the work of a single master wheel builder. My work has a completely artisanal approach and therefore is in stark contrast with how most factory wheels are now built. I’d like to point out why I feel there is a very strong case for choosing to have your wheels hand built by a professional.
These days a cyclist is faced with countless options for hubs, rims, spokes and tires. My job is to help guide you through the selection process. I've been building wheels for over 40 years now and this extensive experience will ensure that you end up with the perfect set of wheels suited to your needs and not someone else's. This level of personalised service is something the factories simply cannot offer.
You may ask what is the difference between what I produce and what you might expect from your average factory built wheel. Firstly, a factory built wheel is usually machine built with some degree of hand finishing. Where the problem lies is in the fact that the factory wheel is done at an incredible speed, often because of mandatory daily quotas and the concern for maximising profits to satisfy a companies fiscal ambitions. This corporate mentality will sacrifice excellence for profitability. On the other hand I think nothing of spending two hours or more on a wheel, compared to a tiny fraction of that time in a busy factory. You also might be curious to know just how much wheel building experience does that factory worker have, 6 months, a year, maybe less, how would you know? Also, factory built wheels often use proprietary components that can be difficult to source at a later date should you need a replacement spoke, or similar part for routine maintenance. All my wheels use readily available replacement spokes and other components to enable you to perform any type of future maintenance. Bear this in mind when considering online stores and their discount factory built wheels. A truly hand built wheel should bare the name of the actual person who did the work, and not the name of some large company that has hired him. That company with the anonymous wheel builder could cause you to unwittingly end up with wheels of dubious build quality that don't reflect your real world needs. I will make sure this does not happen, and that you will be happily riding away on some very special wheels tailor-made for you and no one else. If you need to keep just one thing in mind it would be this. In the end the build quality will determine the ride quality, longevity and performance level of your wheels. The person who actually builds your wheels is as important as the quality of components in those wheels.