Windjammer

this may sound like a no brainer... but i don't like to assume before spending money.

can a wheel be "unbuilt" and the rim and hub seperated without damaging either?
if so, can the rim then be reused on a different hub?

Wordbiker

Yes...if it's not damaged. Also, if the new hub is a different type, spoke lengths may change.

You just asked if it could be done, not if it's a good idea, so yeah...it can be done.

FlatFender

and its a great idea as long as the rim is in good shape.

Wordbiker

...and as long as you have the skills, tools and the matching parts to do the work , or what the cost of a replacement wheel is versus the labor a shop would charge for the work plus the cost of a new hub and potentially new spokes, etc...

I'm not trying to dissuade the OP, just giving some insight into what costs or issues might be involved.

Windjammer

oh i understand the costs, just playing with the idear. i have some nice rims (mavic 823) that seems to just be too much wheel for me. i am a bit new to biking, and didn't think through the fact (before buying) that with such strong rims, an XC frame and hubs would break first even if the rims could take it. so now i'm thinking about some rims that are a little more congruent with the rest of my ride; somthing a little lighter. since my current rims are nice though, i don't want to trash them.

old and new

Better off getting a compelte wheel set or a full build. If waisting a rim is what concerns you, as it would with me, using old rims are not consired by wheel builders. I meen not considered..AT ALL. Rims don't do well after they've been laced. I've never heard or read any accounts of rim re-use, it's just not a option.

Stacey

I do it all the time and have yet to have a failure.

Retro Grouch 

+1.

If the rim hasn't been warped or have a lot of brake wear I'll reuse them. My fixed gear and the bike that I ride most often both have recycled rims. Most of the time, however, the rim is the first part that gets ruined.

waterrockets 

Yeah, I just moved an 11-year-old rear road rim (Mavic Reflex clincher) into single-speed duty. Turns out that my SS hub required spokes exactly halfway between the NDS and DS spoke lengths on the orignial wheel. I just moved all the spokes over too. Pretty sweet luck there.

HillRider

I replaced the freewheel hub with a cassette hub on my trainer bike reusing the old rim and spokes. I've also ridden that bike on the road since and the wheel is perfectly good.

As long as the number of spokes match and the hub flange dimensions are close, it works fine. In fact, I replaced a Maillard hub with a Shimano hub and everything worked out properly.

When you disassemble the original wheel, be sure to loosen the nipples 1/2 or 1 turn each all around the wheel and go around several times that way to detension the spokes evenly. You don't want to distort the rim.

Bobby Lex

I don't know about that. I've rebuilt a wheel with new spokes but with the old hub and rim. I've rebuilt a wheel with new hub but with the old spokes and rim. Rims, like most other components, can be re-built and re-used.

Bob

HillRider

One advantage to reusing the rim and spokes with a different hub is that used hubs in excellent condition are available very inexpensively just for the reasons mentioned above. It is often cheaper to buy a complete new wheel than it is to have an old hub rebuilt with a new rim and spokes.

I've been GIVEN used hubs by my LBS because nobody wants to pay to rebuild them into a new wheel.

iab

Absolutely to both of your questions. It is also neither difficult or a bad idea. I have built several wheels from used rims and hubs with no problems. My next set will be 50 years old and I have no worries.

When you disassemble your wheels, do not just cut the spokes with a wire cutter. This has the potential of warping the rim. Instead use a spoke wrench ($3-$4 at your LBS) to slowly loosen the spokes, just a few turns before you go on to the next spoke. You will probably go around the wheel 3 times before all the spokes are "loose".

As others have wrote, you may need a new spoke length depending the hubs. Calculating that length is pretty easy, start with Sheldon's site and use Google if you need more info. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

Also, would not recommend reusing your spokes. I have been told under some very specific circumstances you can do it but I would leave that to the professional wheel builders to decide.