**EDIT AT 6/10** We've had a STAGGERING response to this post - like simply mind blowing and we appreciate all of the interest that people have in building wheels for us, learning to build wheels, and generally being a part of what we do. We're working with two wheelbuilders now, who are able to take care of our current needs. However, we are planning a venue to help people become expert wheelbuilders. Stay tuned for more on that. THANK YOU!
Every new business has challenges. When I worked for other companies, challenged were a PITA because they made my job harder with no real payoff. But when it's your own business, they're more like interval training - you know that if you get through them, you'll be stronger for it. And if you start a business and don't expect challenges, well then you're unrealistic and will probably get dropped on the first acceleration.
Right now our biggest challenge is in production - specifically wheelbuilding. As challenges go, it's actually a much better one to have than a shortage of demand. We're keeping pace with demand, but we're getting close to the red zone. Since we expect to grow, we've decided to put some additional wheelbuilding throughput in place proactively.
So we are officially hiring wheelbuilders. Three kinds in fact:
1. Experienced Wheelbuilders: If you work (or have worked) in a shop or otherwise building wheels professionally, and want to do some freelance wheelbuilding with us, let us know. About half of the work will be semi-urgent for pending orders (as in, "please turn these 3 wheelsets around within a week") and the other half will be building for inventory at a more relaxed rate (unless these for-inventory wheelsets get sold, which has so far happened about 100% of the time). All of the work is done at your own home, while you're watching the Giro or Real Housewives or whatever it is you watch. Contact us by email here. Within an hour of DC is a requirement unless you're willing to drive further every couple of weeks to pick up rims and hubs and spokes and such.
2. Contract Wheelbuilders: If you manage a DC / MD / VA / PA shop with some extra wheelbuilding capacity and would like to partner with us, have your people get in touch with our people.
3. Wheelbuilder Wannabes: Wheelbuilding is a talent, to be sure. But it's not an innate gift. You can learn to build wheels, if you want to. And if you do want to, we'd like to train you. And then after we train you, we want to pay you to keep on building wheels for us. Drop us a note if you're interested.