Classic & Vintage - stress crack in rim near spoke hole...shot or not?

I have a line on a tubular wheelset w/good tires,campy hubs for a fairly low price ...they are 36 spokes front and rear ,kind of a rounded box style by araya rim...unfortunately each rim has one small crack near a spoke hole,don't appear to be eyelets..... are they worth taking a shot on for a spare pair or forget about it...thanks...kevin

If the hubs are Campy, and the price is low enough, and you
can build your own wheels or want to learn, probably a possibility.

You don't want to ride on them as is and I'm not sure you can do
the washer reinforcement trick without seeing them.

Price the hubs and decide if you want to get involved. Otherwise,
take a pass and some other guy with too much time will buy them
and remake them with new rims..

Basically, yes. The crack will likely grow until the spoke pulls through.

You'll eventually want to replace them. I had a crack on a rear clincher wheel that I rode for over 5 yrs without it ever growing. I did replace it after a large rock destroyed some spokes and I had to have work done anyway.

+1, the cracks will only propogate, with the nipple eventually pulling though. While the failure is typically non-catastrophic, until then you will have to true more often,as the spoke will lose tension as it starts to pull through. Whether or not it is a good deal will depend on the price, the hubs themselves and whether you can build wheels.

Shot!!!

I agree the cracks will only get worse and you should not ride them, not that I have not put a few miles on my own wheels after seeing a crack, not not a strangers wheels NEVER

as noted if the price is lowenough it is a good starting point to get a pair of campi hubs and learn to build your own. the nice thing about these older tubulars is usually the ERD is close enough that if the spokes are in good shape (again not certain I would do this for a strange wheel I just bought) you could simply tape the new rims to the old and cross the spoke over.

there was a thread with some nice looking Campi tubular rims NOS for about $50 a pair out of Germany some where, OH 36h

t hanks for the feedback....it's a moot point as the seller has withdrawn the auction,it was an offer to me on the bay but couldn't make my mind up soon enough to suit him...they were campy record hubs for 6-7 spd,mismatched skewrs and mismatched tires and there was a crack in the front and the rear....there are plenty of bargains for tubulars out there so I guess I'll just be patient and see what comes up...it really pays to have some extra wheels though(undamaged) ,I sold a nice guerciotti at a loss on ebay but really wished I had kept the record/ montreal tubies with continental sprinters...then the seller parted it out and sold every last bit separately...he didnt make much factoring the price he paid me plus shipping but more than I did....When I'm compelled to sell bikes I really would rather sell privately to someone who will appreciate what they are getting

Or even better - don't sell any of them!