Changing a rim

sparquin
sparquin Posts: 69
edited April 2019 in Workshop
The rim of one of my spare wheels seems to be near to the wear limit and probably due for a change. A couple of questions . . .
  • Would you re-use the spokes? None of them have broken and the tension is still OK, so I don’t think any of them have worn out/fatigued/stretched.
  • If I can re-use the spokes, what difference in length can I put up with? A DT Swiss R460 comes up on the spoke calculator as needing 4.7mm shorter spokes than the Open Pro, would that mean I need shorter spokes?

Comments

  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,312
    Sparquin wrote:
    The rim of one of my spare wheels seems to be near to the wear limit and probably due for a change. A couple of questions . . .
    • Would you re-use the spokes? None of them have broken and the tension is still OK, so I don’t think any of them have worn out/fatigued/stretched.
    • If I can re-use the spokes, what difference in length can I put up with? A DT Swiss R460 comes up on the spoke calculator as needing 4.7mm shorter spokes than the Open Pro, would that mean I need shorter spokes?

    Re-rimming and re-building are different jobs. If you want to keep the spokes and simply re-rim, then you need a rim with the same ERD. The old Open PRO are still available in places and that's what I would use, or you can use a Velocity A23, which has the same (real world) ERD of 601.

    If you use a rim with different ERD, like the DT 460 you mention, then you need to change the spokes, hence re-build
    left the forum March 2023
  • Nick Payne
    Nick Payne Posts: 288
    I've replaced worn rims numerous times and so long as the replacement rim has the same ERD (within a millimetre or so) I don't change the spokes. I do use new nipples, though. The wheels on our tandem are on their third set of rims but are still using the original spokes, and we have yet to break a spoke.
      1. Tape the old and new rims together with the valve holes aligned. 2. Loosen all the nipples. 3. Starting with the spokes on the hub flange nearest the new rim, undo a nipple completely, transfer the spoke end across to the corresponding hole in the new rim, and screw on the new nipple a few turns. Complete this sequence for each spoke before moving onto the next. 4. Untape the rims and then true and tension the wheel as normal.

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