Sugar Wheel Works

Let’s just start by saying every cyclist knows a guy who can true a wheel and probably knows a guy who built one once. Heck, if you live somewhere in the Portland/​Vancouver metro area, you are probably close to a shop that can do this for you. What is the difference?
None of these places are Sugar.
Finding them is not the easiest, they are located off of Williams, true, but you must go inside one building and make a left to find them. But once you do, you are greeted by a sign that says to you simply «We build wheels, that’s all we do».
The very fact that Sugar thrives by only performing one essential bike construction activity should tell you all you need to know. Their shop is clean and functional and you are immediately greeted by one of their expert wheel builders the moment you walk in the door. Rims are all about and spokes, nipples and hubs are there for you to inspect as you decide what you will be rolling on.
I had a set of stock wheels rebuilt by my LBS and within weeks broke several nipples. When I brought them in for repair, my mechanic asked what I had been doing to them (I am a road rider, and am pretty conservative on how much dirt my bike sees), going so far as to question my weight. Sugars Jason looked at my wheel construction and was quickly able to tell me that the rebuild failed for specific reasons and explained them to me in a courteous and knowledgeable manner.
For a very fair price, they rebuilt both my wheels and offered me loaner wheels while I waited for my business to conclude. Truly, this is your stop for all wheel building needs.

I had been tolerating a bent rim on my Seven for about 4 years as no more ceramic rims available but decided the shudder when I braked, with an all carbon fork and steering tube was probably not wise. Sugar had a color match rim a customer had returned, re-​used my double butted spokes on the existing Campy hub, and it was absolutely true. Their quote was solid and reasonable, as was turn-​around time. Feels great to have this shop as a resource.

Stunning. Before I made my purchase, and before I settled on Sugar to build my wheels, I spoke to Jude. Jude owns the shop, and is so sweet, kind, knowledgeable, and just a great person. I’m from Chicago and have never been to Sugar or met anyone there. The level of customer service, is outstanding. I’m really thrilled to support this business, not just because it’s a small business, but because I support the people, personalities, and the customer service.
Thank you Sugar!

This is going to be a long one…
My friend and I just moved to Seattle and I was looking for a place to get a wheelset built for her. As far as I could find, the only wheelbuilder (besides shops) was a seemingly defunk business operated out of a garage. No judgement, it just seemed as though it wasn’t what we wanted. I expanded my search to Portland, and the first to come up was Sugar. When I saw it was woman-​owned and –run, I didn’t have to make a decision, it was made for me.
So, I emailed Sugar with some basic thoughts and Jude and I emailed back and forth for a while getting the specs just right. In the process, I do think someone else took the emails for her as some of our details got mixed up and needed reviewing, so I would definitely recommend going in for an appointment when you want to build, so everyone gets it just right the first time. They have a ton of samples to check out, too, and that makes it a lot easier than sitting behind a screen and trying to get an idea from stock photos.
Sugar partners with Chris King, Phil Wood, and others, so extra bits are at a discount. We got the first run of Chris King’s reupped turquoise, with ISO hubs, BB, and headset. Jude built the wheels herself, and even let us know that the H+ Son lettering on the Archetypes can be removed with acetone for the all-​black look. The wheels got built seemingly over night (once the parts came in), and we ran down and picked them up within a few days. The front axle needed an adapter to fit my friend’s fork, so Jude sent us the wheel in about two days (the adapter had to be ordered, but CK is right in town) in the best wheel box I’ve ever seen, with rim retaining bits, padding against the axle ends, and Sugar branding adorning the outside. Just saw on their site that they call it a wheel escort and sell the boxes on their own!
Everything in Jude’s shop is awesome. Just going in and feeling the space got me excited. It’s a clean, well thought-​out space, and it shows that Jude really wanted it a certain way and made it so. Design bleeds from every corner, and their shirts, jerseys, and other merch is just sexy as hell. Like seriously, I hate jerseys and have never owned one, but I’m considering getting one just because they’re so fine!
If you still can’t tell that I love Sugar, I’m getting another set of wheels built for my JYD and I’ll probably take a class at some point. If you want wheels, look no further than Sugar!

This place has the best service and knowledge about wheels. I got such a great service and support when I was trying to rebuild one of my wheels. They where really interested in me succeeding in building the wheel. My next set of wheels will be bought here!