help - repairing custom wheels
 

Hi, I have two rear road wheels that are messed up: a Campy Proton (22mm deep?, 24 regular spokes) and a Ritchey WCS DS (28mm deep, 20 bladed spokes). Both have asymmetrically drilled rims.

The Proton's rim has been slightly bent for a long time and although I trued it I couldn't get it to not wobble less than a few mm. The wheel brand new costs about $250, but Campy sells the rim for $200! so needless to say it doesn't make sense to replace it.

The Ritchey's hub is "out-of-tolerance" according to the LBS and they said that if I replaced the wheel bearing it would prematurely wear and might not last long.

I'm wondering what would be the best thing to do with these wheels? I hate to throw away such new wheels! I would like to fix the fundamental problems if it is cost effective in terms of the part costs. I would be willing to learn how to do the wheelbuilding myself. I'm guessing that the best options are to just ride the Proton wheel until it starts breaking spokes and to replace the Ritchey wheel bearing and pray it doesn't get destroyed too fast.

What do people normally do when they have a rim or hub that needs replacing on a custom wheelset? Do they get replacements from the original manufacturer or is it possible to get replacements from other ones? I assume that because I have wheels with lower spoke counts, asymmetric drilling, weird depths, and bladed spokes that it's not really possible to replace these parts with standard components.

I think I need to get a set of simple Mavic Open Pro's so I can live in wheel peace ...

-Andrew

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Ritchey has a recall on certain WCS hubs. Have you checked it out? Info is on their website.

My Ritchey wheels are an older set (not sure how old though since I bought them used)

I'm not questioning your truing abilities, but have you taken the proton to the lbs to have them see if they can true it? it sounds fairly straightforward, but maybe it isn't. its hard to tell how far gone a wheel is without seeing in a truing stand.

as for the ritcheys, the bearings might just be gone. try going once again to your trusty LBS and having them replace the bearings. they might have to order them if they're cartrige, but its not a huge deal.

That's a good point. I should take it to them to see if they can do a better job before I give up hope on the wheels. I'm ok when truing minor wobbles, but the entire wheel just seems jacked up. It's at least worth a try to see how good my truing skills are compared to theirs :) Also, I wonder how much faster a wheel will start breaking spokes if there is a few mm wobble compared to none?

Yeah, the bearings on the ritcheys are gone and that's why I took it to the LBS. But they said if they replace them they will prematurely wear.

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Specialty tool places will usually have a variety of cartridge bearings in stock for motors and stuff. You can usually get high-grade 0 or 00 bearings from them pretty cheaply. Just pop out the bearings in the hubs and take it in and they'll match some up.

As for the rims, if they have a preloaded taco shape, you can't do much to fix it by truing, you'll end up with very bizarre and uneven spoke tensions that will end up tacoing the wheel in the opposite direction when you overload them. Take the rims completely off the wheel and lay on a glass coffee table. Manhandle them and bend them back so that they lay flat. Lace the wheel back up with new nipples and you'll be fine. Don't use alloy nipples on bare alloy rims, add a brass washer, or use brass nipples. Make sure to use SpokePrep or blue Loctite on the threads.

Yeah, I had bent the rim edge back into shape using a set of pliers while the rim was still connected to the rest of the wheel. I might want to see if I can do a better job though. I also never really checked whether the main rim part, not the rim edge, was bent so I should do that.

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