I just got an excellent Peugeot city bike (Force 8) from a thrift store the other day. The problem, which I noticed after I got home, is that the rear rim (Mavic MA) is cracked pretty severely in a number of places.

So I'm thinking about rebuilding the wheel with a new rim. Has anyone used recycled spokes on a build? How unsafe is that?

Alternately, I guess I could just buy a fistful of spokes from the shop.

On a related note, anyone know of a good deal on a 700C road rim? (The tires on the bike now are 25s.)

EDIT: In case you didn't notice, I'm way short on cash.

Usually only makes sense to reuse spokes if you're going to replace a rim with the identical model rim, especially on a rear wheel. Rims have different values of what's known as ERD, or Effective Rim Diameter, and this affects the length of spoke you need. I'd also be inclined to replace spokes if I wasn't sure of their history.

You can reuse the spokes if they're in good shape (no corrosion), but you'll have to find a rim with similar ERD (either the same model or one that is fortunately real close).

Thanks.

An update: The old wheel came with a Maillard Helicomatic hub. I've just read that those can cause a lot of spoke breakage since both flanges are a bit to the left of where they'd be on a normal hub. I think this may be why the rim has failed; perhaps it was just weaker than the spokes. I don't know if it would be wise to build a wheel with this hub, but otherwise I'll be hard-pressed to make the bike work. Any thoughts?

Spoke breakage and rim cracking are two different phenomena. I'd get it running as cheaply as you can and have fun with it for as long as you can.