I took my 2003 Trek 5200 in to LBS for rear wheel true and possible bearing replacement.

They noticed cracking at the (Bontrager) nipple holes, said this is common for those rims, and that it's difficult to get a rim drilled for the paired spokes that the wheel uses.

Options:
- LBS can set me up w/ expensive new wheels, or a new bike.
- Find a used wheel or wheel set on Craigslist
- Look for a 24 paired spoke rim
-??

The hubs are very good, and I like the bladed spokes. The bike has a lot of miles on it, new chain/cassette this year, front wheel seems OK. I don't buy new very often and don't care too much about matching parts although I have kept blue tires to go with the blue rims.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I'd go with new wheels. 10 years of mileage adds up. I know some (Francis...) say they get 50K+ miles of use from their wheels. But i suspect that most riders are not, both, as skilled a rider (meaning observant, advoident and "light") as some are and factory wheels are usually not as well maintained as hand built ones.

We get really good results from the Bontrager Race series. Hub bearing details to your budget. Andy.

Will my 9 speed Shimano cassette fit newer wheels? Appears to have the same 130mm spacing as another 10 speed bike.

Looking at some lightly used Fulcrum racing 5 wheels

You can get wheels for cheap. Are you racing?

If you just like to ride, build up your own. That cassette will fit anything except 11-speed specific hubs.

Cat 6 racer for sure.

Thanks for the info.

Aksium race wheelset coming from ebay- new (take-off I assume) $138+$32 shipping

wheels are a consumable . get several . training go for durable, The race wheels can come off on monday .

the Trek dealer cannot get the replacement rim and lace it up for you

or you just dont ask ?

First ride on new Aksium race wheel set.

By 35 miles, the front (radial spoked) was creaking/popping, most noticeable a low speeds i.e. climbing. By 50+ miles, loud and clear at 20 MPH. I stopped a couple of times to make sure the wheel wasn't going to fall apart.

Seems to be spoke nipples moving in rim. Spoke tension is fairly even, maybe went down a bit during the ride.

Thoughts?

Some mavic rims suffer from the plug which is inserted at the seam coming loose. It shakes around during riding. It's noise is usually a bit more solid and slightly deeper then a spoke noise. Careful rotation of the wheel can sometimes confirt the noise happening with the seam passing the BDC (or TDC). Andy.