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wheel building question: replacing rims?

dhkid

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
how do you guys go about replacing rims, do you change the spokes too? i know as a rule of thumb the nipples need replacing. but if the spokes aren't chewed up and the spoke lenght is fine?
then what about the wheel building process, would you still stress the spokes? even though they would already be stressed from the previous build?
 
denjen

denjen

Certified Lift Whore
Sep 16, 2001
1,691
36
Richmond VA
This has been asked before. Some people say dont do it other people say go for it. I have had just the rim replaced with no issues. As long as the spokes are in good shape you should be fine. I am sure I will be crucified by the wheel building experts for saying this.
 
Wumpus

Wumpus

makes avatars better
Dec 25, 2003
8,161
153
Six Shooter Junction
If it is the same rim(or same ERD), then go ahead and reuse them. Tape the rims together and move the spokes over.

The reason you can reuse spokes is that their failure mode is
fatigue. There is no other way of causing a fatigue failure than to
ride many thousand miles (if your wheel is properly built). A crash
does not induce fatigue nor does it even raise tension in spokes
unless you get a pedal between them. Unless a spoke has a kink that
cannot be straightened by hand, they can all be reused.

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/bicycles-faq/part3/section-30.html
Click to expand...
 
OGRipper

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,653
1,128
NORCAL is the hizzle
Well yeah it's about fatigue. So the answer is, if it's relatively new you can get away with it, but personally I (and everyone I've ever known who builds their own wheels) would basically never re-use spokes. If you ruin a rim on the first few rides or something then maybe, but otherwise no thanks. They're not that pricey and the risk of a ruined day isn't worth it to me.
 
jvnixon

jvnixon

Turbo Monkey
May 14, 2006
2,325
0
SickLines.com
yea it would truly suck to have the wheel go bad again because of the spokes. I would just get new spokes (they're not too much and saves you the hassle of relacing a wheel twice if they are bad)
 
xy9ine

xy9ine

Turbo Monkey
Mar 22, 2004
2,940
353
vancouver eastside
i re-use spokes occasionally. rims have relatively short lifespans in dh, whereas good spokes have decent longevity; seems like a waste to replace them if you're swapping to a rim with the same erd. i've never seen a wheel fail because of a broken spoke, so the percieved safety concern of using theoretically fatigued spokes doesn't worry me. in practice, i've never had a re-used spoke break (that hadn't been damaged somehow). of course in a shop environment i'd never re-use spokes - it's not worth the time to unthread & clean them.
 
S

sbabuser

Turbo Monkey
Dec 22, 2004
1,114
55
Golden, CO
I've read that so long as the spokes have not been damaged, you are fine to re-use them. I'm with xynine, that rims (especially rears) have a much shorter life span than spokes. And if you use linseed oil or spokeprep, you shouldn't have too much issue with dissassembly/ reassembly.
 
vitox

vitox

Turbo Monkey
Sep 23, 2001
2,936
1
Santiago du Chili
my take on it is that as long as you didnt have an accident like stick or derailleur in the spokes, and the spokes are fine, not worn from rubbing or kinked, just go ahead and use them again.

im assuming its for dh use, where rims can have a very short lifespan, just think of it, a spoke is certainly good for 3 years use before you start seeing spokes go from fatigue (if at all) whereas rims you might bust up to 3 times per season if you are racing.
 
psychobiker

psychobiker

Monkey
Jul 17, 2006
549
0
charlotte nc
IronJim said:
you dont use the same spokes. when building a wheel you always want to put new spokes on it and nipples come with spokes so really your getting both
Click to expand...
which bike shop u get ur spokes at they charge me for nipples:mad:
 
wysiwyg

wysiwyg

Monkey
May 22, 2002
734
27
Sherwood Forest, UK
im swapping a rim as we speak, reusing the spokes

heres a quote from Roger Musson the UK wheel building guru

"Reusing spokes

Spokes do not wear out, do not become brittle, do not become longer, do not become softer, so why throw them away when it comes to rebuilding a wheel with a new rim. A set of spokes will easily last 100's of thousands of miles and will see out many rims. Providing they are the same length required for the new rim then always reuse them. However, spokes do snap, usually at the spoke elbow and this is caused by damaging the spoke by bad building technique. Another advantage of brass nipples is that they too can be reused."
 
buildyourown

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
I would only ever reuse them if they were in perfect condition. I save mine for when I need a replacement or 2. I would never reuse a nipple. A brass nip costs less than a nickle and they are usually trashed by the time the rim goes anyways.
The only possible exception would be if you where replacing the rim due to side wall wear.
 
sanjuro

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
OGRipper said:
Well yeah it's about fatigue. So the answer is, if it's relatively new you can get away with it, but personally I (and everyone I've ever known who builds their own wheels) would basically never re-use spokes. If you ruin a rim on the first few rides or something then maybe, but otherwise no thanks. They're not that pricey and the risk of a ruined day isn't worth it to me.
Click to expand...
If you flat spotted a rim early in the wheel's life, keeping the same spokes is reasonable.

If the reason for a new wheelbuild is breaking spokes, then....
 
dhkid

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
yea. i am thinking along the lines of half a season to a full season of use. right now i am thinking of using d5.1 rims tubeless, pretty sure they are going to get chewed up.
so what about actually building the wheel? is stressing the spokes required?
 
dhkid

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
^^^i built my wheel following his instructions(exept i laced it the normall way, not one spoke at a time.), but there's nothing on his web site about REbuilding wheels and reusing spokes. only how to build a wheel.
 
wysiwyg

wysiwyg

Monkey
May 22, 2002
734
27
Sherwood Forest, UK
jus tape or tie the rims together, lining up the valve hole. undo one spoke at a time starting with all the spokes on the same side of the old rim as youve taped the new rim. once youve swapped all of the same side over, the other side will now move over. i undid all my spokes pretty lose first but without undoing the nipples totally so that i had more play to make life easier.

w
 
Guntruck

Guntruck

Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
210
0
Mill Creek, WA
jvnixon said:
yea it would truly suck to have the wheel go bad again because of the spokes. I would just get new spokes (they're not too much and saves you the hassle of relacing a wheel twice if they are bad)
Click to expand...
If I remember from my materials class days, steels dont really fatigue like aluminum does. Honestly I dont think its a big deal unless there are bent spokes and the like. You could compare your old spokes to new ones and see how much deformation there is??
 
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