I have a bent rim! What to do?!?

daddy0

Rim replacement questions:

Need to replace the rim on a front Pro Lite Braccianno. Its one of these:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/pro-lite-bracciano-road-wheelset-2013/rp-prod29086

The bent rim is 27mm.

1) If I want to replace it with a Halo Mercury 20H 30mm rim will I need to get some new spokes?

2) Should I really buy new spokes anyway?

3) If so, what size spokes should I get brand/size wise?

4) Or should I just bin the rim and buy a fully built Halo Mercury? They seem to get mostly good reivews:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/halo-mercury-aero-race-clincher-front-wheel/

Whatdyathink?

owenlars

I think that the rule of thumb goes something like if your rim is knackered but your hub is still good buy a new rim and also buy new spokes and nipples.

It seems to me that if you replace the rim; not buying new spokes is akin to losing the ship for a happ'orth of tar. However if you are happy with the hub then there is no reason not to to reuse it.

On the other hand if you want a new wheel then go for it.

Monty Dog

Your rim is probably a rebranded Kinlin, they make a lot of OE rims. You need to find out the ERD dimension for your ProLite rim as this allows you to compare rims. If you go for a rim with a different ERD, then you'll need to fit spokes of the correct length. I use DT Swiss Spoke Calculator to work out spoke length.

If you're rebuilding a wheel / replacing a rim then you can reuse spokes - a correctly tensioned wheel keeps the spokes loaded well within their fatigue limit. Replacing nipples is more typical because they are brass / alloy and deform/wear. I've reused spokes from 30 year old wheels, raced and ridden on Flemish cobbles and survived to tell the tale unscathed!