Jude Gerace and
Sugar Wheel Works
Handbuilt wheels are making a comeback, and it's about time
Sugar Wheel Works emphasizes giving
back to the community and puts on
a “Live the Revolution” event every
year that raises money for the Safe
Routes to School program. Last year,
the event raised almost $20,000.
“We could use the money we put into
the event for advertising or we could
support a cause we love.” Gerace says.
“No choice.”
Jude Gerace surrounded by wheels and parts in her Portland, Oregon, shop.
STORY BY ELLEE THALHEIMER
Photos By Meghan Nolt
M
aybe the idea of handbuilt
wheels conjures thoughts of
romanticized epochs in cycling
history: gritty black-and-white images of
Italian racers in wool jerseys with dingedup metal water bottles churning their
way up a remote dirt road through the
Alps. Maybe the idea of handbuilt wheels
seems like it would be an out-of-reach
luxury for weekend warriors — restricted
to expensive road bikes or serious racers.
In reality the art of wheel building
has boomeranged back into the industry
with force because it’s plain practical
— custom wheels are affordable, more
sustainable, and in many cases better
than machine-built wheels. As manufactured wheelsets have
become all the rage in the last couple of
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m a r c h 2 016
decades (boy, do they make some blingylooking wheels!), many cyclists stopped
questioning how wheels were being built
and what was being used to build them.
Then problems came to the surface. In lower-end wheels, spokes started
breaking and the wheel true (how even
the tension is on the spokes) was sloppy
— usually the result of a poorly built
wheel or inferior spoke quality. And,
most problematic, lots of wheel systems
by major manufacturers have become
proprietary, which means that the
manufacturer’s parts are needed to repair
wheels. But these parts often disappear
from the market after a couple of years so
the wheels can no longer be overhauled
when something goes wrong. As a result,
people end up buying new sets every
three to five years.
“The difference between a handbuilt
wheel and a machine-made one is the
difference between buying a cake at
a grocery store and buying one at a
high-end bakery,” said Jude Gerace,
owner of Sugar Wheel Works, a custom
wheel-building shop in Portland, Oregon.
“There’s a perception that machinebuilt wheels are better, like you have
technology in your corner. But with
handbuilt wheels, the true of the wheel
is better, and you can pick the quality of
components. Many machine-built wheels
(but not all) skimp on some aspect of the
wheel to bring the cost down.”
It takes less time to grab a wheelset
off the shelf than it does to invest in the
custom wheel-building process, but what
a shame to miss out on such a fabulous
procedure of bike geekery — not to
mention the resulting product.
At Sugar a wheelset begins with a
conversation with Gerace or her master
wheel builder Jason Nolin. If you are
local, you’ll walk into the building Sugar
Wheel Works calls home on vibrant
North Williams Avenue, where small,
locally owned businesses — from a toy
store to a coffee shop — cozy up next to
each other. You’ll sit down on bar stools
in the 526-square-foot studio and get the
conversation rolling. It’s surprising how
Yet an industry standard is palpably
absent at Sugar. The brodeo is missing.
Instead of chest puffing, Gerace and
Nolin are professional, welcoming, and
go the extra mile. They are tuned into
customer service and have bright, shiny
social skills that make it easy (and fun) to
talk to them. No one is too cool for school
of their wheels to match their bike,
replace a worn-out part, or adjust their
wheels to suit a new cycling pursuit, like
wheels to handle wider tires. And, in this
day and age, there are so many standards
and dimensions that custom wheels
are starting to make sense to a broader
audience.
FAST FACTS: JUDE GERACE and
SUGAR WHEEL WORKS
When was the business founded? 2009
How many employees? Two
How many wheelsets were built in 2015?
Thousands
Favorite wheelbuilding music? Jazz:
Herbie Hancock, Lionel Louke, and Dave
Brubeck
Favorite tool? “I don't have a favorite tool
per se, but as we've gotten new tools, I notice I'm really loyal to the original versions
and usually use the oldest tools.”
Favorite part of wheel building? “Applying
the final layer of tension after you’ve made
the spoke tension uniform using banjo picks.
If you do it right, the tensiometer will tell
you everything is perfect, no further adjustment needed. It’s cathartic.”
The unsung hero of the wheel? The spoke
First bike? A pink Schwinn Fair Lady
time can pass while you’re contemplating
and discussing the right hub, rim, lacing
pattern, and spoke choice to create the
perfect combination of performance,
durability, comfort, aerodynamics, and
weight.
Sugar’s ambiance is fit for inspiration.
Wheelsets hang from the ceiling; there
are little glass jars of differently colored
spoke nipples; a wall of windows looks
out onto a tiny courtyard where plants
are climbing a trellis of rims; and almost
an entire wall is covered by repurposed
wooden shelves with tiny cubbyholes
filled with spokes. Any bicycle aficionado
would swoon.
After the initial conversation, Gerace
or Nolin will research options and put
together a plan, which might be tweaked
a couple of times before the parts are
ordered. In two weeks or less, voilà! The
wheels are in.
ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG
or late on delivery because that’s how
things roll sometimes, man.
“Within the first week of my crossAfrica trip, my rear rim cracked in Egypt,”
said Sugar customer and avid international
bike traveler Mike Vermeulen. “Jude
worked with Velocity on their warranty
program and shipped a replacement rim
to my parents in Colorado so that it could
be couriered by an incoming rider who was
joining later in Kenya.” Vermeulen’s Sugar
experience made such an impression that
he has twice traveled from Austin, Texas,
to attend Gerace’s wheel-building class and
fashion a couple of wheelsets with his own
hands.
Some of Gerace’s customers come to
her with machine-built wheel woes, but
more come to her because they want
wheels that will exactly suit their needs
and last for the long haul. Others want to
improve performance, tune the aesthetic
Anything “custom” is usually loads
more expensive than off-the-shelf
options. Not so much with custom wheels.
For example, store-bought touring wheels
with inferior components can be bought
for around $200. All components being
equal, hand-built wheels will cost about
$25-$30 more. Mulling over component choices
forces a cyclist to think about what she
really wants and how a wheel can deliver.
Cyclists should be wary of the kid-in-thecandy-store effect; it can be harder to
choose the lower-cost parts. Yet investing
in higher-quality parts for handbuilt
wheels that can be rebuilt and repaired
can balance the extra expense and reduce
the environmental wheelprint to boot.
“Handbuilt wheels are the most
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THALHEIMER: SUGAR WHEEL WORKS
sustainable wheel choice,” Gerace says.
“When we design wheels, the likelihood
of being able to find parts in the future
is a big consideration.” Gerace also
discounts relacing and maintenance work
on wheels she’s built, even though it’s not
as lucrative as building new wheelsets.
Additionally, Sugar recycles alloy rims,
spokes, nipples, plastic packaging, paper
packaging, bearings — basically most stuff
except for carbon rims — even if it means
special trips to the recycling facility.
The dream of Sugar Wheel Works
started on a South American bike tour
when Gerace started telling fellow
travelers she was a wheel builder before
she actually had a business — because
that’s what she wanted to do. “I thought,
I’m young enough to fail. Not every good
idea will work out, but your 20s are for
learning,” Gerace said.
Definitely not failing, Sugar has
customers from Singapore to Australia,
from the Eastern Seaboard and Alabama
to the Dakotas, and, of course, the Pacific
Northwest. Famous custom bike builders
like Vanilla Bicycles and Breadwinner
Cycles have working relationships
with Sugar when their customers want
handbuilt wheels. Gerace, who is known for her wheel
mastery and bulldog-like tenacity in
figuring out tricky wheel problems
(her nickname is McJudever), has two
employees who work in her successful
brick-and-mortar walk-in studio
dedicated to wheel building. She has
forged a new paradigm for the custom
wheel-building experience. While big
online wheel builders have factory space,
bike shops have wheel builders, and some
folks build wheels on the side, Gerace
is, in fact, hand-building an empire one
stoked customer at a time.
Ellee Thalheimer is a freelance writer, author, and
the owner of Into Action Publications, which has
produced the Cycling Sojourner series, multiday cycling guides to Oregon and Washington. See
more at cyclingsojourner.com or @elleethalheimer.
Jude Gerace and Ryan Linville in the Sugar Wheel Works shop in Portland, Oregon.
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HANDBUILT WHEELS CHEAT SHEET
Pros
• You can choose each component (lacing pattern, rims, hubs, color, spokes)
of a wheelset to precisely suit your
weight and riding style, whether you’re
a long-distance bicycle traveler or a
cyclocross racer.
• A wheel builder can help you understand what might be best for your type
of riding and why.
• Handbuilt wheelsets are easier to
repair, and you can build a relationship
with the builder.
• Handbuilt wheels are better from a
sustainability perspective.
• Getting custom wheels is fun, especially if the builder you work with is a
professional.
Cons
• Big manufacturers put a lot of
resources into making blingy-looking
wheels and marketing the heck out of
them. Some folks like that.
• You can immediately pick up a set of
machine-built wheels off the shelf or
online as opposed to going through the
longer custom process.
• Handbuilt wheels can be more expensive than manufactured wheels.