Eyelet replacement
 

I discovered a broken eyelet on my Sun Rhyno Lite rim (rear). The eyelet seems to have broken in the middle, with the outside 'ring' falling down the spoke--now loose--and the inside part just gone (probably fell out of the spoke hole--I only found small bits inside on the rim tape). The spoke hole is in good shape, no cracks, and I Macgyvered a washer to fit the spoke nipple and retrued the wheel.

Question: is there a better way to replace this missing eyelet, or just keep an eye on my fix? This rim is about 2 1/2 years old, I built up this wheel myself about 1 1/2 years ago, with no other problems or trueness issues. This is the older silver/chrome version of the the rim, which I believe is not made anymore.

I haven't seen this before but since no one's replied, your fix is the solution I was thinking of when reading the first paragraph. I don't think you need to pay it any special attention.

Was the rim on another wheel the first year? It's not recommended to re-use rims/hubs, but people do it all the time. Maybe this is why?

I asked this question awhile back, and the general consensus was that there isn't a good way to replace an eyelet that had shaken or broken loose. They're riveted in place on sides of the rim.
However, the outside "ring" doesn't really matter except to hold the eyelet in place, from falling out of the rim. When your wheel is already built, the only part that matters is the inside part of the eyelet, to distribute the spoke-tension load over that area of the rim. And the spoke tension will hold it in place.

It sounds like, in your case, there's no salvaging the eyelet and you just replaced it with a washer.
This is fine if the broken eyelet was for a non-drive-side spoke. (in nearly all traditional spoked rear wheels, the non-drive-side spokes have notably lower tension than the drive-side spokes). If it's for a drive-side spoke, there's a lot more tension to be distributed over the rim and I'd worry about the rim cracking. In this case you could rebuild the wheel by flipping the rim around so the broken eyelet-spot (now with a washer between spoke nipple and rim to help distribute the spoke tension) is now matched with a non-drive-side spoke.

I may be misreading you - in that case, could you post a picture?

I'll add that mechanically-knowledgeable people are among those who re-use rims and hubs all the time. It's possible that a slightly different spoke tension or different angle of spoke pull has to do with the eyelet cracking, but it's also possible that it was something else altogether. Again, pictures would help to figure out what's going on.

Why not just replace the eyelet?

Scrapbooking and craft stores will have brass eyelets and the tool to install them. I looked into this for adding decorative eyelets on a project bike.

I have to admit, I've never heard of anyone even second guessing just replacing the rim, or at least riding it until maybe a crack develops and then replacing it. I don't think the wheel is going to self-destruct on itself, but I do think that a crack will develp at that spoke hole. To me, this seems to be "on par" for Sun rims though. Every Sun rim I've ever ridden has developed cracks in various places, and sometimes in multiple places simultaneously, generally in less than one good season of riding. But to be fair, it's been a number of years since I've built up a Sun Mistral product. Personally, I say get yourself a good Mavic hoop and do a rebuild before the weather gets really nice!

Thanks for all the replies. Spoke location: rear, non-drive side. I am using a Delore Disc hub, but the tension is still lower on the non-drive side. Yes, I did re-use the rim and hub from a previous build, but there was no damage, I just re-built to use better spokes (DT alpine III). I thought about using eyelets/rivets, but that was this morning when I was thinking clearer.:o I have been pleased with the Rhyno Lite rims; the stock Mavic rims that came with the bike started to crack at the eyelet (prompting the replacement rims), so I am not too inclined to try Mavic again.

I think at this time I'll just keep an eye on it, and if I have some spare time I might replace the washer with a brass rivet/eyelet.

I have no advise to offer but I just wanted to say that the exact same thing happened to my Mavic Cosmic rim(which is well used and has thousands of miles on it). Eyelet broke in perfect halfs and the outside part "ringling" down the spoke. I did nothing to it yet, except taping the ringling part in place, to stop the noice. And looking into new wheelsets...

steinbra -

You may, in the future, wish to check the dates on a thread before replying. In this case, the last reply before you was in February of 2008.

Oh I know. How does that matter? This problem is a timeless one, and people searching the forums for info on similar problems might find it useful to see that more people had this problem, and how it all played out. Or had you rather I make a new one, on exactly the same problem?

I'm glad you revived this thread, steinbra.

I had an even worse experience with a couple of 27" Sun M13s. After only a couple of months of use, the eyelets started pulling right out of the rims, mostly the rear but a little in the front wheel too. Couldn't find suitable replacement eyelets anywhere, so I did the same thing as the OP, replaced the crapped out eyelets with washers. Had both wheels re-tensioned but in short order more eyelets began popping and all that was salvageable were the hubs.

Adding insult to injury, the only other 27" rims I could find available anywhere were Sun CR18s, rated as more heavy duty but probably employing the same substandard eyelets as on the M13s. So I'm on them now but not pulling the same loads in my Burley Nomad as I previously attempted.

Oh and as if that were not bad enough, the bent I am currently building up takes a 406 BMX front, and the only built wheel with QR I could find for it also comes with Suns. D'oh!

First time posting on the forum, so I'm not sure how this will go but I'm also going to revive this thread. I too have suffered an eyelet failure. The spoke is fine and close inspection of the spoke hole in the rim shows no obvious damage.The bottom part (hub side) of the eyelet is intact and so slipped down the spoke just as Map Tester describes in his post. the top part (tube side) of the eyelet was gone when I remove the rim tape and checked inside of the spoke hole. I found a sliver of shattered eyelet material so I suspect the rest is between the double walls of my rim. I have '87 Mavic Titan rims which are stock on my '87 Trek Elance 400 D.

Closer inspection and careful consideration (driven by the pricepoint on a new rim to replace what appears to be an eyelet failure on perfectly good, if old, rims) led me to draw a tentative conclusion. The eyelet failure occurred on the spoke immediately adjacent to the butt joint for the rims. Furthermore the bottom of the eyelet for the spoke on the other side of the butt joint on the rims also appears to have come away from the rim a little towards the hub and so I suspect that this has also seperated and is about to slip down the rim also, potentially that spoke is about to go too. I think that what may have happened is that the butt joint has resulted in accelerated corrosion of those eyelets.

Theories aside, I am convinced my rim is sound and am determined to try to find replacement eyelets. I'll measure them up and harness the power of google to source a replacement. My main concern is how I'll tool the eyelet into place, as it seat in the lower wall of the rim so the spoke hole is unlikely to easily take an eyelet tool. If anyone is at all interested I can post some pictures and if anyone has any information or advice on sourcing eyelets and replacing them that would be great.

Since you're new here, I'll remind you that it's a bit frowned upon to start (or revive) two threads at the same with the same question.

This is not that uncommon. I keep a little container of washers to fix them. When I bought the washers, they came from a hardware store and were found next to the rivet guns and labeled as washers for aluminum rivets. Depending on the spoke nipple size, one may need to enlarge the hole a bit with an appropriate drill bit. The washers are also handy for a lot of other repairs.

/K

Thanks ksisler, that's just what I did. As FBinNY noted I revived another thread in my search for community suggestions, not realising this is frowned upon. The other forum post is: http://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-me...tted-rims.html
About 300 miles on the washer so far, no more eyelets have gone.

Don't give me any lip for digging this thread up from the past
 

I love the eyelets my Rigida Rims have. I am now going to start building another Rigida Wheelset but noticed there are no eyelets. Does anyone know of a direct store/website I can purchase them from? I have looked at many websites, and no luck. Any recommendations will be appreciated.Thanks

I had several eyelets on a Rhyno Lite rim crack and fall apart on my folding bike which I reserve for winter riding. I attributed the failures to salt and some sort of electrolytic interaction between the eyelet and the aluminum rim. Bottom line: I replaced the rim with one without eyelets and have seen no problems.
I have a rim with eyelets (Mavic) on my road bike and have seen no problems with them, but this bike is not ridden in the winter.
Steve

Examine your rim around the eyelet hole very closely.

Whenever I've encountered a loose eyelet, I've discovered spider web cracks around the spoke hole. That's a relatively affordable and easy to source rim. If it was my bike, I'd replace it.

You might find an appropriately sized, small grommet to put inside, under the nipple facing towards the hub,

it wont be rolled over gripping the rim, on both sides of the hole, like the machine did in the factory,

but it will be functional like a brass washer under the spoke nipple head lining the hole in the rim.

Red; I am suspecting that any quality issues with Sun rims from the old days have been resolved. I have used quite a few of them in the past 3 years and they have been solid performers and reliable. I started using them specifically because the sudden increase in apparent quality (such as the significantly better sidewalls, etc.). Another reason is their availability in various drillings that I prefer and at a good price on Amazon. That practical stuff matters also.

While eyelets may provide some structural benefit, I'm not convinced they are necessary in a well constructed rim with adequate rim bed strength. I've actually seen more cracks around eyelets that I have around non eyeleted holes.

It sounds like the concensus is that it's ok to reuse a rim, and ok to McGyver a fix for one eyelet.

It may just be me, but the rims are 30 bucks a pop here. By the time you factor in your time, time off the bike, worry about the other eyelets (or the rim) giving way, etc. etc. I'd save up and buy new rims if I did a rebuild. And given that this rim just gave up an eyelet, I'd pop for a new rim. Especially given that I took the time and expense to put nice new spokes in.

There is also another issue with this rim. It apparently has a propensity to lose eyelets. See here. So even if you fix one, another may pop loose, and another... So, for my money, I'd find a reputable brand and model of rim and install it and be done with the problem. Loose two or three eyelets halfway into your workout loop (it's always half way - the furthest distance out, right?) and you have a long walk home.

That said, there is the challenge of making it work. It looks like the eyelets are pretty standard. You probably need a proper rivet set and backing tool, or a "rivet squeezer" (a vise grip or similar, with rivet setter and backer on opposite jaw faces). But by the time you buy all this, you've spent more than new rims! (One rivet squeezer I saw was $147!).

http://static.jensonusa.com/images/C...6/G0001CQ4.jpg

Built a touring wheelset with a Sun Rhyno 'not light' ...700c 40/48 spoke holes none eyeleted.

20 years ago..