Originally Posted by shawkins
Hey all, my rear rim is bent and im not sure what to do about this...lol
Im pretty sure I bent it when it hit this 4ft. drop by my house. So I want to fix it but have never had to replace a rim before so I have no clue what to do.
Do I:
- Buy a rim and have the LBS lace it up to my existing spokes and hub?
- Use my old hub and replace the rim and spokes?
- Or buy a whole new wheel?
I know what ever I do been be an upgrade. I dont want the same kind of rim back on there.
Ok I checked and the bent rim is a WTB Dual Duty XC. Yes I know it is certainly not made for 4ft. drops, my bad.
Thanks
Best way to learn is from one's mistakes.
When building a wheel or when having a wheel builder build a set of wheels for you, things can get expensive fast. In your case, you would have to order a new rim that has the same correct amount of holes, and rims aren't exactly cheap by the way, then you have to see if the shop has the correct sized spokes laying around, this is done by a calculation, or you can go online and use a spoke length calculator. If they don't have the spokes, you will have to order spokes, and spokes are something like 50 cents a spoke, so a box of a 100 spokes equals $50, which that can build 3 wheels from if they are 32 holes, going through a site like nashbar for spokes is good for getting replacements, but they just don't have the full selection of spokes or spoke lengths that one needs to build a full wheel, plus they come in packets of 10 for $3-$10 depending on the type of spoke. It's cheaper in the long run to get the box of 100, besides some shops will buy back the unused spokes for the going rate. If built by someone, labor is figured into it as well. But, the end result is great, the wheels will last much longer than the machine built counterparts. After the first retightening, handbuilt wheels hold up better.
You other option is to buy a new wheel, will more than likely be machine built though. Machine built wheels don't hold the tension as well as hand built does, since the purpose of machine built is to get more done in a shorter time which brings the price of the wheels down.
Between the two I would dish out a little with a hand built wheel that was built by someone who knows what they are doing, and that the old hub can be reused with the new rim which will drop the price some as well.