Originally Posted by
eofelis
+1 on all of the suggestions concerning going with a complete wheel. Definitely the cost effective option.
Suggestion for you, though: keep the old hub and spokes, find a used or super-cheap rim (like $1 at a swap) and start teaching yourself how to build wheels. Hopefully the spoke length will work out close enough for education purposes. My strategy has been to good rims (Bontrager usually) on great, well maintained hubs (XT, XTR), and rebuild the wheel myself on those rare occasions that I crack/dent/otherwise ruin a rim. This way I have good quality wheels while on a budget.
PM me if you want spoke calculating spreadsheet that I found on-line somewhere. It works great.
Hey, thanks. Yeah definitely would be interested in the spreadsheet. I suppose I could learn to choose better lines, but in the event that doesn't happen, can't hurt to start adding to the "man, that was a stupid move" parts bin & learning to lace my own.