My rear Fiamme Ergal rim cracked and spit up an eyelet. It was dented, bulged, not round and, and in trying to get it acceptably true, I over tensioned it. My fault. Surprisingly, I found another pair of Ergal rims for a reasonable price, but then spent three weeks too intimidated to try rebuilding the wheel. I've previously built more modern, sturdier rims that practically true themselves and can take high tensions, like DS at 130 Kgf. Well, I now know that these old superlight rims can't take much tension. FBinNY said not over 97 Kgf. I was worried that I'd screw up another Ergal rim, and they don't grow on trees.

Last night I finally did it. Poured a beer, turned on a jazz station, and built the wheel. I was as methodical and careful as I know how to do. I checked tension frequently, worked little by little up to a self imposed limit of 93 Kgf on the DS (17 on the TM-1 scale), and the wheel came out wonderfully. Truer than any I've built so far, and at least equally round. This rim seems a lot straighter than the old one, the seller said he rode it for just a few months then rebuilt the bike as a tourer so the rims spent the next 30 years sleeping in a garage. DS tensions aren't perfectly even - vary between 16 and 17 on the scale - but seems okay. No eyelets starting to pull. I won't be able to ride the wheel until I get a new tire, but anyway I feel like I overcame my fear of the Ergal and learned something.

The nice thing is I bought a pair of rims, so now I can build a second rear wheel, and have a 14-17 corncob wheel and a 14-26 climbing wheel.