CUSTOM bicycle wheels - rims - how to Make wheels start to finish 

Ok!

if you are curious about some of our designs you can see them on our facebook page facebook.com/customsulkywheels/

I was more specifically looking for rims like on cars, Asanti, Dub, Lexani, like those.

+Boss Bunny I made some that were based on asanti wheels....we call them 5 to 10, 6 to 12, 7 to 14, and 8 to 16 split spokes. if you have a design you like I can make a bicycle equivalent.

+Sergio Campos Jr. Thanks, I actually have a couple of videos on making wheels

Good idea, unfortunately I'm not making wheels anymore

Glad you liked it

thanks! the skull wheels are 50mm but i don't see an issue with wider rims. once the rim is assembled there is no way to accurately re-align them....except for removing the rim and re-rimming the wheel.

Very good to know.. I will keep your services in mind for my next builds! Cheers

+BK42 Custom Bikes great!

i would be happy to make anything you like. glad you like the wheels, i hole your subscribe...i am building a custom bike for my skull wheels...should be interesting!

I am sorry but i cannot afford to buy them.. but i will be with the eyes on you.. ^_^ !!

thanks! i know they are expensive, you can see why...

You don't want the payments

+Bill D thanks. If you like bike wheels, I have two other videos on the subject. I also have a few other videos on the machine shop as well.

you might enjoy this video too. a different innovation for my wheels ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QQCFOERJ27w.html

thanks Robb. it is definitely interesting....most of the time!

+Bryce thanks, and yes they are expensive...but it takes ALOT of equipment to build them right!

+philippa gledhill we have been making wheels for 5 years now. We are very close to finalizing the requirements to produce bicycle wheels, for which the skull ones pictured are the prototypes. As if this moment we are only making 29ers but if there is enough demand we can make other sizes. You can view our current website here www.customsulkywheels.com/ we have about 70 designed wheels

+Ronald Seaman I haven't yet, but I certainly can

Sorry, I don't make these anymore

i send it out for powder coating

Very expensive

Glad you liked it

i have no idea what you are trying to say n this comment except that people should learn how to cast their own wheels....there is more than one way to make something. casting it from scratch may actually cost more and produce a lower quality finished product. either way machining is needed, and machining a rough cast blank may actually cost more to do than using flat plate.

We can, but orders must be for 100 wheels

no idea how they do it

Sorry we don't make them anymore

+Rick Randazzo i miss spoke in the video. I meant to say that rims are specially made for us by a rim manufacturer (that is all they make) basically rims are carefully engineered extrusions which are then coiled, cut, and pinned. the extrusion process is quite interesting and requires an ENORMOUS amount of equipment.

+Ray Pena Thanks for the reply. I did watch a video about rim making and they had a special machine to roll the extruded aluminum into a coil then I think they even had a machine to cut and weld it up. So yea, a lot involved in that. I enjoyed your video.

+Rick Randazzo I'm glad you enjoyed it. we've been making wheels for a long time now!i will be posting a video in the next few weeks (or months) that features the skull wheels in a custom bicycle build., should be interesting and non conventional.

+Rick Randazzo glad you liked it. I will be putting up a video of the custom bike I'm building to fit the skull wheels. So if bicycles are your thing you'll enjoy that.

we have decided to stop manufacturing wheels. the market simply cannot support our product

+Daniel B. thanks! i run a large machine shop so i get some nice projects come through. the wheels I've been making for over 5 years! doesn't seem like that long.

Ray Pena ya I was just checking out your website ! now I'm watching your faceplate and chuck video. where are u based out of ray?

+Daniel B. im in DE. do you have some projects you are working on?

Ray Pena quite a few, I just finished doing a restoration on a craftsman scroll saw from 1941 cast iron belt driven by a genral electric motor from around the same time . motor still works like the day it was made ! next I'm going to build a small lathe. I really liked your live center using one of your hubs great idea ! ive got most of the parts very similar to your build .

+Daniel B. that's great!! glad it helped you out. would definitely like to see how it comes out. i think any (sturdy) bike hub would work, but since i already had that one assembled, why not! did you take a look at the REALLY BIG lathe I'm planning? i might have gone nuts because it definitely wont fit in my small home shop. i might need to make it and outdoor lathe.

I could, but at this point if it's not 100 wheels, it's not worth messing with

hi, thanks, glad you liked it... im not making the wheels anymore though

Sorry I don't make these anymore

Sorry, don't make wheels anymore

Too much

No, we buy those

+Ryan Sappington thanks, yes they are...but it takes a million dollars in equipment to make them....so there is that little detail

+Ron Matthews all kinds of tools, but here is a short list: water jet, CNC milling machine, standard Bridgeport mill with riser and indexing unit, 3 axis Bridgeport mill with Mill Write engraving package.

Ray Pena thanks and what was the tool you used to calibrate the aluminum wheel to make sure it was straight and you guys are so awesome by the way

+Ron Matthews thanks, that is a dial indicator and it measures distances to .001" there are more accurate one but for a wheel it's not that critical. Our acceptable deviation is .012" which is less than 1/64"

+William Ellison lol, everyone wants these wheels!!

they cost a pretty good amount. i have actually been thinking of ending the production of these, they are too expensive to make and alot of people are looking for walmart pricing. the current sales are too low so we are on the verge of terminating the wheel company.

good question... i have no idea

On fantasy island

yes, lots of machinery, very expensive machines at that

+CrazyTurtle RC I can't tell if this is a serious question, or if it is sarcasm

Ray Pena​ it is a real question there is no point In making a rim with no holes if your just going to drill them into the rim.

+CrazyTurtle RC if you don't know about rims, then you would think that...but here are the reasons: 1. Rims with holes have the holes offset from the center line, so they are in the wrong place 2. The reason the holes are offset is because they are for lacing with spokes 3. Rims I use are made of aluminum, which cannot resist the pull through of the spokes, so they are reinforced with a steel rivet 4. The steel rivet protrudes too far from the inner surface so that the bullet cent can't fit right 5. Because the holes are made for spokes there are so many holes, there isn't enough room to put the holes on center where I need them 6. Since I need to put the holes on the centerline, a rim with holes would be useless, which is why I get rims without holes Guess how I figured all if those things out...

yes we do. customsulkywheels.com

sorry, dont make wheels anymore

the skull wheels area bout 2k as shown

hi! you can check on the website www.customsulkywheels.com

Ray Pena can you give me one

Glad you liked them

+Rafeeq Ahmed I'm not sure what a "mac" wheel is

I think its moc wheel, What ever for bikes

Yes, we can. We would get blank motorcycle wheels and machine to your design.

Sorry, no longer in production

Sorry, don't make them anymore

at this point we are no longer manufacturing the custom wheels

Glad you liked it

They were alot, that's why we stopped making them

Yeah I completely understand. The way I look at it is this: I drive a Ford explorer but I really, really want a Bentley continental GT, Except I can't afford the Bentley. I can't expect Bentley to sell me the car I want at the price of the Ford. Both of these examples are vehicles that will take you from one place to another, and while they are both similar they are clearly not the same. The Ford explorer - $30k, the Bentley continental - $300k, HUGE DIFFERENCE in price, not in ability to transport you from point A to point B

Ray MAKES just accept the fact that your wheels are way to over fucking priced. "But these machines are worth millions to have these produced" yea ok.

Sorry I don't make these anymore

We don't make these anymore

+V Stone glad you liked them but I'm not making wheels anymore... at least not individual sets. I would make a batch of 20, but I'm sure you won't want 20 of them

Don't think I want 20 of them what is the ticket or ticket Per rim

+V Stone when I was making them, they were $1500 a pair

Thank you for the reply are you on Facebook or do you have a website

yeah, too cheap i know.

Sorry, I no longer make wheels

+usertogo yes there is, when it comes to CUSTOM people want what they want. I've sold almost 1000 pairs in the last 5 years, I guess I'm doing something right, lol. As far as efficiency, staring from a dead stop is the most difficult part, once moving, the Fly Wheel Effect, becomes advantageous. Keep in mind these aren't racing wheels for racing bikes. Everything has its place.

People love to say flywheel effect counters excessive weight. It doesn't. Heavy things are harder to stop, but that doesn't mean they are helping you move along. The energy wasted when stopping was already spent when accelerating. I'm much more curious about what you do when these wheels go out of true? And why would someone ride a wheel with inferior shock absorbing properties? I can't see any area where these wheels beat spoked wheels.

+BlockCylinder and yet....I've sold thousands of wheels...And I'm not the only one. Market demand can create a product, in the same fashion as the converse.

I don't doubt you're selling them. I think it's a real shame that so many people are being misinformed and misled, but I don't doubt it. If anyone is interested in actual wheels for real-world use on actual bicycles they will find their way to Sheldon Brown and Jobst Brandt's writings.

+BlockCylinder I think you completely missed the point of these wheels, they are not high performance, or racing or anything of the sort. They are Custom wheels for the Custom bike market, people want something no one else has, the weight of the wheel is irrelevant to the design... These are heavy, no doubt about it...But no one is racing in them. It's for show, vanity, customization.... A demographic you obviously have disdain for.