Does this sound right?

juz69

I had a pair of mint condition, Nos xtr m900 hubs laced to Mavic 517 ceramic rims, in my wisdom I decided that they would look better with gold nipples instead of the red. No problem I thought so went ahead and changed the nipples, one at a time with the spokes in situ. I had a quick go at truing them up, but thought that £12 per wheel at the Lbs to have them done well, was worth the money. I left the wheels with them to do when they could and I have just had a call to say that some of the spokes are too long, I will need 72 new ones at a qiud each and the whole lot will need re- building! Grand total of £125! Gutted. The wheels were perfect before, and I never removed any of the spokes, just changed the nipples. Does this sound right? I trust the bike shop but think they maybe going over the top, the bike will only be used every now and then and only on roads, I want good but not perfection.

Mojo_666

Doesn't sound right to me but I am no wheel builder, I would be asking a lot of questions and getting a second opinion before handing over my cash. How did they justify needing a complete set of new spokes?

dot1

Sounds a bit like they're trying to milk your money. Either that or the spokes that came with the wheel were too long in which case I'd be speaking to the place you got your wheels from.

Anonymous

Or maybe the new nipples were longer, but had less thread. I dunno.
Aluminium nipples are a con anyway.

nicklouse

what were the sizes of the old and new nipples?

and what were the makes of the nipples?

sounds possible.

RowCycle

nipples

juz69

Thanks for the comments guy's.
I have since spoken to the top man the bike shop and its not quite as bad as first thought. They have tensioned the front wheel fine, just the £12.50 to pay. The rear still needs a full set of new spokes and rebuild and he offered a better price than £1per spoke. The shop is professional and have to do a 10/10 job, every time, even though an 8/10 would probably do, they can't take the chance. I understand this totally. They were quite happy for me to have a go, with the current spokes and even offered advice on how to do this - kudos to them for that. I'm going to give it a go myself, I've nothing to lose and would like to know how to true my own wheels.
The nipples are Halo, and were the same size as the one's that came off. I'm not sure on the make of spokes.

j_l

sounds like a con £1 a spoke, I had a rear wheel re built last year at my lbs and 36 black spokes including nipples cost £14.50 so I would push for something similar if I were you.

NatoED

dt swiss db comp spokes are a £1.05 each . cost of a good spoke is high .