Bicycle Mechanics - Assessing a wheel after shifting the chain into spokes

A seller has an Easton Orion II wheelset for a great price...for good reason. He says the chain shifted into the spokes but that the wheel was repaired and is true. I don't know how much damage an accident like that does. I don't own a tensiometer so I'd be taking him at his word that the repair was done correctly. If I buy them they'd be used for weekend rides on steep grades...long climbs and fast descents.
Should the wheel be reliable if damaged spokes were replaced and properly tensioned?
Is this a great buy or a maintenance headache in the making?

If it was fixed right should be fine. If not, well..... it's a dice roll.

-R

Depends on damage done. I did the same thing at 2 mph when downshifting to get to a better gear for wheelies. Damage was limited to gouging the alum carriers on the cassette. Works fine.

I have also seen such accidents destroy the whole wheel and the RD.

Former, good; latter, very bad.

Generally shifting into the spokes damages all of the drive side spokes on the outside of the hub flange. If they haven't been replaced it will be obvious.

Thats a hard question. One thing working in your favor is that the damage to spokes from the DeR will be nearer their middle, whereas the place the spokes break is closer to their ends. And so, even some were nicked up, it will not necessarily make the spokes substantially weaker.

However, if this was me and I did not know the seller, I would only be interested in the wheels for a low-ball amount. Any used wheel is a gamble, in fact. And these more than usual. If the deal is truly great (if the wheel failed, could you still smile and shrug it off?), then its not a crazy idea.

jim

If by "repaired" the seller means all of the driveside spokes were replaced, the wheel could be sound and all you would have to do is check the tension.

If all they did was retrue it but left the damaged spokes in place, the wheel is not trustworthy. Inspect all of the ds spokes for nicks or scratches. If they are obviously damaged BUT the price is low enough and the rims are not worn, it might be worth it to buy the wheel and replace the spokes yourself.

BTW, if the wheel was repaired correctly, why did the seller admit to the chain-caused damage? I think this implies the damaged spokes are still installed.

A seller has an Easton Orion II wheelset for a great price...for good reason. He says the chain shifted into the spokes but that the wheel was repaired and is true. I don't know how much damage an accident like that does. I don't own a tensiometer so I'd be taking him at his word that the repair was done correctly. If I buy them they'd be used for weekend rides on steep grades...long climbs and fast descents.
Should the wheel be reliable if damaged spokes were replaced and properly tensioned?
Is this a great buy or a maintenance headache in the making?

If/when you buy the wheels, check for stress cracks by the nipple/rim hole interfaces as well as the spokes.
I have done this replacement on many wheels after checking to make sure the rim doesn't show any cracks.
The wheels lived long and happy lives.

I once dropped a chain into the spokes while going down a hill about 20mph.
I was downshifting in preparation for the stop sign at the bottom.
It broke broke some spokes and bent and gouged others.
It also put a flat spot on the tire as a result of leaving a 20 foot skid mark.
The only real damage was the spokes.
IMHO, if all damaged spokes are replaced, there should be no problem.

Thanks for the information. I'll check the rim carefully for cracks and the spokes for nicks or uneven tension. If anything is suspect there will always be other opportunities.

How a wheel can be damaged like that now a days? I can understand when we had friction shifting and stuff but now a days that's almost impossible. The guy who set those brifters up deserve to be executed :P

How a wheel can be damaged like that now a days? I can understand when we had friction shifting and stuff but now a days that's almost impossible. The guy who set those brifters up deserve to be executed :P

You take off the dork disc....

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Dork disc? Actually people use that?, that's for rookies!!!! (just being sarcastic) I havent used that thing ever thats the reason i can't understand why this can happen. Again... I might be able to understand this to happen before indexing era. But after indexing came out to the market u needed to be a tard to miss a shift or have a really bad shifting problem. With brifters the chances to have the problem went even more down, so again... what it could have been wrong to have the rd to shift more than it suppose to? and i say it again... if the original owner of those wheels got the problem and he was sending the bike to a repair shop, better got a gun and kill the mechanic.

:P