CerpinTaxt

Hi guys!
I am a total amateur so go easy on me please
I have pair of Rolf Vector Comps in red which are structurally very fine. but I just came across same exact wheelset in black, which I really love. Price is very good, so I was wondering if it's possible to just remove hubs, spokes, cassette from the existing wheelset and build a new one for somebody with avarage mechanical skills?

Thank you!

also non related.. I'm trying to locate black 700c x 23 clincher, with thin red or yellow line in the middle. If you know of any please let me know. Most I found have sidewalls painted red with black top.

sooprvylyn

It is possible, but not recommended.
First off you must be sure that the wheelset is exactly the same-hubs and rims
if so then you could switch everything out.

To properly build wheels you should have a trueing stand and a tensiometer.

You could do it then bring the wheels to a good shop and have them do the final tweak for you, would probably charge $15-20 per wheel tho.

AEO

oh, anything is possible.

CerpinTaxt

So let say i have no trueing stand and a tensiometer.
Wheelset is exactly the same (how many Rolf Vector Comp wheelsets there are??)
so hubs are compatible and spokes are the right size.
Is there instruction manual anywhere i can read? I saw some videos on 36 spoke wheel building on youtube but nothing on 18 spokes, or how to take the thing apart properly.

thanks

AEO

I'd recommend against doing this yourself.

it'll be easy to get the wheel laced up, but the hard part is truing and tensioning, especially with paired spokes like the rolf uses.
18h requires radial or crow's foot lacing. those rolfs come with radial front.

BikeWise1

I build wheels for a living. The wheels you are talking about are not suitable for practice by a novice. Low spoke count wheels depend on a very narrow range of tension for their strength and without the proper tools, this is not possible to determine. And should one of these wheels fail because you didn't know what you were doing and you crash, that would be unfortunate to say the least.

zacster

You would completely rebuild a wheel for the color???? Without any wheelbuilding experience???? Are you crazy???

CerpinTaxt

Thank you all! I guess it was little crazy for me to think I can do it without any experience so i won't try my fortune and go by the mechanic tomorrow and see how much it will cost there.
BikeWise1 what would you charge for such work for example?

Al1943

Am I missing something? If the black wheels are exactly the same why do you need to take them apart?
Why can't you just move the cassette from one wheel to the other?

BikeWise1

Forgive me, but I am not clear on what exactly it is you wish to accomplish. Please enlighten. :-)

CerpinTaxt

Because black ones are just empty rims. No hubs or spokes.

CerpinTaxt

Take whole wheelset apart , use hubs, spokes and cassete to rebuild with new rims.

BikeWise1

OK. Got it. This kind of thing runs about $40/wheel. Paired spoke wheels are difficult to build because maintaining trueness and roundness is so difficult.

Al1943

Ok, so they aren't "wheelsets". Take a good set of pictures of your complete wheels before you disassemble. The lacing system is very simple on these wheels but when you have a pile of parts in front of you and nothing to go by it won't be easy. On the rear wheel keep track of which spokes came from the driveside to compare with the spokes from the black set.
Be sure you understand the crossing pattern.

AEO

If you want, I can do it for you, at the cost of your old rims.

CerpinTaxt

Going to check with the mechanic I know tomorrow, see what he says. Also purchase of new rims is not finalized yet. Will let you know if it comes together and price here is too high. Thanks!

btw I searched for 18 hole hubs on ebay and elsewhere, can't find any. Are those rare?

CerpinTaxt

I am crazy
also I like putting things together. Thinking about second set - with chinese carbon rims from ebay.

dabac

Put new rim along old rim, align spoke and valve hole, tape into place. Lower tension on existing wheel, a little at a time for each spoke, do several ful turns of the wheel. When wheel has gone slack, move spokes over one at a time. Bring to LBS for tensioning and trueing.

urbanknight

I'm going to agree with this. I have been building wheels for 15 years, and I wouldn't look forward this task myself. Those wheels are very low spoke count and very high tension with a low tolerance for error. If you do take it to a shop, you'd best make sure they know what they're doing, because my experience with shops is that 9 out of 10 mechanics know less about wheels than I do. As a matter of fact, I just trued a wheel for a guy who was upset with the shop's truing job only lasting a few weeks. Turns out they didn't check tension, and it was all over the chart 80 to 140 kgf (not counting the NDS, which was 70-90)!

BikeWise1

Ain't that the truth. I regularly fix quite a few bikes/wheels that were recently "repaired" at other shops.

I hope the OP is getting the picture that this isn't even in the same category as taping two 36 hole rims together and moving the spokes over, and even that isn't necessarily a "gimme".

BikeWise1

Not rare, just proprietary, and seldom sold as separate parts because they are designed to work together with other proprietary parts.

CerpinTaxt

OP is getting the picture that he almost made a huge mistake.
Thanks guys.
It's just not worth all the hassle, i might just try to find black wheelset owner who would like to swap.

Al1943

Take a good look at your hubs. I think they are proprietary and designed to work with those specific spokes in pairs. At least that's how they are on my wife's Trek with Bontrager wheels. I don't think you can use just any 18 hole hubs.

AEO

can do 36h hub with 18h rim, paired or evenly spaced.

it would require the hub to be rated for radial lacing however.

operator

Even if it was rated for radial lacing, it wouldn't be rated for radial lacing if you skip every other hole.