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FastFreddy

Fred. A wheel builder.

Along the road to building FastFreddy Wheels, I’ve been asked what I do. When I first had the thought of doing this, I imagined taking my knowledge of wheel parts and riding disciplines, interviewing the wheel client and coming up with a wheel set as unique as a finger print perfect for that rider! Lace the wheels up and add colors that match something on the bike and BAM! A gorgeous new ride!

Insurance people had an altogether different reaction to my words and I had to change my language to be very literal.

Even some bike people have a different idea of what I do. “I’ll call you when I need a $1200 wheel!”

After a year of “doing” wheels, I’m even adjusting what I think I do. One thing I do plenty of is simply replacing spokes and nipples for an existing wheel. A bike wreck will snap a couple spokes and, rather than assessing each spoke for obvious damage or hidden stress, just replace them all.

Alloy nipples can start to disintegrate after time in the right circumstances. These are replaced with new alloy or maybe brass.

Many e-bike wheels are just put together wrong in the first place in addition to being more abused than a wheel without power adders.

There are also bikes with odd axle spacing and if they have wheel damage, the easiest solution is to rebuild around that hub, even if it isn’t high quality.

I also have a growing pile of damaged rims. Some of those were replaced under warranty, some were just purchased to keep the bike original looking after the repair.

After all that, maybe a quarter of what I do is a brand new upgraded wheel set.

So please, do bring any wheel project to me. I’ll fix them or build them and keep all the wheels spinning.

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