One of the best wheelbuilders that are affordable too is Chari & Co in the LES.

i didn't realize you're building the wheel rather than selecting parts for someone else to build it.  good luck to you!

Although swaged spokes are more expensive to manufacture and slightly more difficult to true, they give more durable wheels because they are more elastic than straight gauge spokes.  Their thin midsections stretch more, and they can be made just as tight as straight gauge spokes,  Under load, they resist loosening better than straight spokes because they allow greater rim deformation before becoming slack.  Their resilience helps the rim distribute loads over more spokes and reduces peak stress changes.  Swaged spokes are also lighter without giving up strength. . . . 

@Brendan Maybe rider power/size is a variable to consider, many downhill mountain bikers trust straight gauge over butted. IMO in this instance there's a dominant theory (based on which real world data?) that doesn't jibe with my own empirical data. Admittedly there's a ton of variables in play, but from my experience, you spend more time futzing with butted spoke wheels. Anyway this is a small piece of the pie, so maybe go with Swiss DT doubles — build quality, spoke count and rim strength are more important to focus on.

Just build them way too strong

dstokes said:

You can rebuild campy. Just sayin . . .

Sram would just send you a new one.

i love this discourse.  it makes me think about winding it back to my original premise to check validity. that is, that it would make sense to train on wheels that are

a)heavy, for a harder workout, and so that racing wheels feel lighter when you are on them,

b) super durable, so that they last forever, and are worth the money invested for a custom build up , or the time invested in building them,

c) have a high level of maintainability/repairability, with things like double eyelets, available hub service parts, more rim material so they are worth fixing/are fixable when dinged or  out of tru, lots of spokes (lots of crossing?) (i will get the book and read it, of course, as it will put me to sleep faster than Wheelmen, which is just too damn exciting) (which leads me to another question, i know wheels used to be wired and soldered where the spokes crossed. does anyone bother with that anymore?)

d) wider rim, for better patch size.  i wonder, could you put a 25mm tire on a 27mm rim? like the sun rynolites, which are a touring or mtb rim i think.  i think they can be had in 700 size.

(this is a level of wonkiness i had not anticipated i would actually get to

really, there are no wheelbuilders in the hood?  what about all the shops? is it so much different to have a specialist do it?

Anyone got a favorite multitool recommendation?  There are a ton out there and my parktool is fine, but old.  Maybe one with a chain breaker.

The Topeak Mini 18+ is great. It's heavy but has everying, including the super big and little Allen sizes I frequently wish I had when on the go.

Topeak stuff is generally awesome. I've had a couple multi's (Park and Blackburn) and frankly can't recommend either.

Lezyne multitools are the shit too.

Send specific models please. Especially ones with chain breakers.

Yeah, I like topeaks stuff a lot. My bike pole storage hangers are awesome. They're multi tools look nice and flat/adaptable to being packed.

It is way more zen to build your own wheels than to order them from nashbar

@Jeff Ownes

@McKay - Re: Local wheelbuilder: There used to be a part time guy named Greg at 718 Cyclery that built ridiculously perfect traditional wheels.  If he's still around, definitely try to get your wheels built by him.  The commuting wheels he finished for me (I built it initially, but he completed tensioning, truing, and dishing using a DT Swiss tensiometer) are still the truest wheels I've ever seen - less than 0.5mm vertical or horizontal deviation, even after some serious commuting/grocery hauling abuse.  I gifted the rear to my bro after he destroyed his stock Fuji touring bike wheel and it's still going strong.

All this equipment talk is akin to hot stove baseball....in the words of a fellow Long Island homeboy:

So I'm not saying I'm getting a power meter for Xmas but a boy can dream. With that being said do I "wish" for: 1. Quarq Riken or 2. Garmin Vector?

Check out power2max

Quarq Riken or PowerTap.

I'd say power to max. Handles temperature drift better than a Quarq.

I'm selling my power tap wheel for cheap. 

back to wheelbuilding for a second.  

Loctite prevents the nipple's from turning. If your wheel is still true, then this cannot be the problem, as not all the nipple's would turn the same amount. I would suggest that the spokes stretched. You might expect them to all behave the same in that regard. If you pluck the spokes like harp strings, you will see (actually hear) that the pitch is a very sensitive way to judge tension. Finally, a 5% loss in tension does not seem a big deal to me. I would bring up the concept of calibration: how do you know that you tension-o- meter is accurate to within 5%?

Are we going to talk about pedaling bikes again soon?

Thanks for input @mugwump, @eragot and @dstokes

I read that power 2 Max decided to only sell direct, therefore lowering costs. 

If no power to max, go Quarq riken.