Hi

I don't normally have anything that interesting to share but today a friend of mine asked me to rebuild a wheel for him. Why? I asked. (See attached pictures)

They were just riding along (tandem, rear wheel) and the tire went flat. No loud noise, nothing startling. In fact, only when my friend was replacing the tube did he noticed some slack spokes. He removed some of the rim tape and saw a serious crack spanning three spoke holes.

Far from home, they decided to tape it up with the handy man's secret weapon-- duct tape-- and got home without issue. During that time the crack spread from two spoke holes to six.

He asked me rebuild the wheel and provided an identical rim: Mavic x517 SUP. A couple questions.

Would it be unwise to reuse the spokes? They aren't damaged but it appears from the pictures like the original wheelbuilder used spokes too long or overtensioned.

Is this rim too lightweight for a tandem rear?

Thanks,
Chuck