virula

I'm restoring a 1960 Raleigh Gran Sports. The lovely rims were quite rusty but they are cleaning up surprisingly well with oxalic. The inside of the rims held a nasty surprise, what I thought it was just rotted tire/tube remains turned out to be pretty bad damage to the rim. Cleaning the gunk off with a brass wire wheel revealed the box section had rusted thru, see the holes in the picture:



the outside looks quite good, and the inside is not crumbling apart but it is obviously perforated. The rims are straight. I have no idea if this is safe to use. I would love to be able to keep the rims (keeping the bike all original), finding suitable replacements is going to be a hassle I think. Thanks for looking at this.

eduardo

Zoku620

I don't know that I would ever trust that rim to ride on, it looks pretty bad. I guess the nipples ride on the inside of the box section, but I think a lot of the strength of the "Special Lightweight" rim comes from the box section, which is obviously compromised. I understand wanting to keep the bike original, but rims are considered wear items to some, maybe a nice light aluminum rim will do until you find the correct pieces. If you do try to save it, I would suggest a patch of thin aluminum over the holes and under the rim tape, but only to keep the tube from blowing out. Good luck!

zukahn1 

I wouldn't trust those those rims as well as the rust issues I can see what looks like a preety significant bend pinch in the rim from the photos. I would suggest seeing if there is a bike coop in your erea these wheels are prettty common and fairly easy to find on the cheap. Also new replacments that are a pretty good match can be found starting at around $30 for complete wheel.
https://www.amazon.com/Wheel-Master-B...26+1+3%2F8+rim

bikemig 

I'd replace them with an aluminum rim. I suspect the 26 by 1 and 3/8 size may be difficult to find in aluminum. You should do some research but a 650b rim might be a good replacement size and those are available.

Edit: looks like Sun makes the rim: https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/rims/590.html.

eschlwc

"is it safe?"



compared to the labor of wheelbuilding and spokes, rims are cheap! buy new, just like your spokes.

virula

I should have specified, these are 27" x 1.25", 40/32h the spoke holes are 4-way offset, dimpled. Came with double-butted spokes. very special. The original hubs are really nice too, so my plan B would be to find a set of decent looking 40/32h rims and lace with the original airlite hubs.

eduardo

rhm

Safe to ride? Well, yes, I think you could ride that rim. It might not hold up very well long term, but I do not expect it would fail suddenly and catastrophically. If the spot you show is weak enough for concern, you will know because you will have trouble keeping the wheel round and true.

But seriously, how much do you plan to ride these anyway? They are virtually irreplaceable rims, you have the original hubs, and nothing else will look quite right. If that rim was mine I would fill the holes with JBweld or Bondo or something, file and sand smooth, and build my wheels. Would I ride those wheels on my next century? Well, maybe not. For serious riding I might have a pair of less precious wheels.

Photogravity had almost the same issue with the original wheels on his 1950 Norman. The Special Lightweight rims on that one are nearly perfect; but too precious to ride. He built a pair of aluminum wheels for everyday use.

clubman 

There's a set of 32/40 Weinmanns available from Hilary Stone...

https://hilarystone.com/images/sale%2...dimpl-27in.jpg

virula

yeah, I'm leaning in that direction, funny you mention JB Weld, exactly what came to my head last night as I was drifting into sleep. The rear rim does not have the same issue, so I'm pretty set to finish cleaning up the front and see how well it holds up relaced. I plan to replace the spokes with stainless DB 14ga. The originals are double butted too. The wheels did not have nipple washers, can anyone suggest yay or nay to using washers? There's some NOS Raleigh ones in eBay that I think would fit well.