Originally Posted by
sstorkel
Personally, I can't name a clincher rim that's lighter than the Velocity Aerohead... They look like a great rim for racers; I'd probably be reluctant to recommend them for a Clyde.
Oops. 400 grams is light and therefore bendable (I didn't bend my Reflex clincher front in that weight range until becoming a Clydestale) . I guess the Fusion is the medium weight Velocity. The Cukker seems to be a 26" only flavor and the deep-V would be the heavy 700C.
Hard for me to imagine swapping out a rim without having to re-lace the wheel... Having seen what well-used spokes look like, I'd be a bit reluctant to reuse them.
You de-tension the wheel, tape the new rim to the old one, transfer spokes one at a time, remove the tape, and finish just as if you started from scratch. The spokes stay in their original positions so they don't even need stress relieving.
With good wheel builds spokes last pretty much indefinitely - Jobst Brandt has at least one set of 15/16 gauge spokes that have gone 300,000 miles. I'm on my second front rim and third rear over 12-15 years (I replaced the original front last year which was built up sometime between 1996 and the late 1990s when the Reflex clincher was discontinued in favor of the heavier Open Pro) on one set of spokes (DT Revolution 2.0/1.5 except DT Competition 2.0/1.8 rear drive side) and hubs.