I recently purchased a mid ‘90’s Univega hybrid to tinker with and eventually build into a gravel grinder. I have $25 invested so far so the cost is really more for cheap entertainment. So far, I have stripped the bike down to the frame, cleaned/serviced the headset, trued the front wheel, and removed/cleaned/reinstalled the crankset. All has gone well.

As I started looking at the rear wheel, I am wondering if it’s worth working on or just replacing all together. While the front wheel trued up easily, the rear is posing some challenges. By measuring the wheel on my trainer (with the tire removed) I can see that it is fairly straight but needs to be pulled 1/8” towards the drive side. I also noticed that the wheel itself is about 1/8” oblong (part of it slightly touches the trainer while the other part does not). The kicker is that 19 of the 36 spoke nipples are highly rounded or broken leaving me no choice to eventually replace them.

So, at what point should I fish or cut bait? I figure a new wheel will run me about $50. Would it be worth going through the trouble of replacing all the spoke nipples to see if I can eventually get it straight or will I come close to the $50 and might as well start fresh with a new wheel?

Sight unseen I dont have a clue, Take it to a Shop that can See the wheel. and ask . this 27" stuff?

Sorry, it's a 700c. If it had a hub that could take a 8 or 9 speed cassette I would probably move forward with it without question. If I opt for a new wheel it might open more than just a 7 speed.

Spoke nipples are cheap (about $0.12 from a reputable online source I use). That equates to $6 for 50 which should be more than enough to fix the rear wheel. If you have the time, it could be a great learning experience and worst case you are out $6.

For an inexperienced wheel builder, your best chance at a good final product will come from completely detensioning the whole wheel and working methodically back to a tensioned and true wheel. With that in mind, now would be a good time to completely disassemble the wheel and assess the rim. If the untensioned rim is fairly flat and round, you stand a good chance at building a decent wheel with it. If you find spots where the rim is out 1/4" or more in some direction, toss it in the trash and either buy a replacement or a whole new wheel.

If it were me, I would break down the wheel completely. I bet the spokes are fine. I would loosen/remove all the easy to remove nipples and then that should slacken the rest of the spokes to let you easily remove the rest of the nipples.

Then once is broken down, I would lay the rim up against something flat. I use a large window. If there are any wobbles present, then I would use brute strength and a couch or doorway and work the wobbles out. I have saved a few rims that way most recently a nice enough campy rim. It isn't absolutely perfect but not more than 2mm of wobble on one side compared to it being nearly 3/4 of an inch wobble before I bent it back.

Then reassemble the wheel with all new nipples and you should be golden.

That is how cheapskates like me do things. Total cost outlay, not much since all you bought were nipples. Should be less than 5 bux for 36 nipples.

I pretty much agree with the above.
Your LBS will probably want $.20/nipple, but that's $7.20.
Using NEW nipples and a bit of lube, you'll have a MUCH better feel for what you are doing.
Trying to tension corroded nipples is an exercise in futility. You can have spokes that are stripping nipples and still not have adequate tension.
Worst case, you can cannibalize the nipples for the parts bin and buy a new wheel.

As far as the dish being 1/8" off.... The bike might have came that way. I run into that a lot on the CL bikes I flip.

Be sure to use a good nipple wrench that fits the nipples snugly (is that a word?).
Also check the rim for small cracks near the spoke holes, if there pitch the rim.

I'd say give it a try.

Definitely disassemble and rebuild. Will be fun!

I'm not as anal as some but I wouldn't want to ride a wheel that I couldn't true to better than a 2mm wobble. What does your spoke tension look like in that area?

Knowing when a wheel is good enough, or as good as it's going to get is strictly a judgement call. You might as well ask an artist when to call it quits on a painting.

However there are some guides. When building a new wheel I quit when the whole wheel is within the tolerance at the joint, ot LT 0.5mm TIR, whichever comes first. When aligning a wheel, there's a certain point where I sense it won't get any better, and might start getting worse --- excess tension, rounding nipples, or whatever, and that's where I quit.

Also, I apply a fitness to purpose, or original quality guideline, so I don't put the same effort into a low end wheel that I would into a race or high ens sport wheel. Doing so, would waste time, and inflate the cost, without offering better value to the client.

+1
Also, I apply a fitness to purpose, or original quality guideline, so I don't put the same effort into a low end wheel that I would into a race or high ens sport wheel. Doing so, would waste time, and inflate the cost, without offering better value to the client

2mm wobble when the rim is laying flat against a pane of glass. No spokes or anything. For example, this was a Campy rim that had nearly a full inch of bend when laid next to a window. When the rim was in an assembled wheel, after it was trued, the spoke tension on one side was next to none in one part.

After the wheel was broken down, there was that nearly a full inch of bend/wobble in the rim. I bent it back using a doorway and my muscles. Got it to within 2mm of wobble when laid against a pane of glass. We aren't talking about 2mm of out of true on a fully assembled wheel here, just how much wobble the raw rim alone has after I bent it back.

Ok, I didn't glean that from your original post and assumed you meant after tensioning.

(a) what is that source, and (b) how do you know what size nipple? Are the thread diameter/pitch always the same, and it's just the wrench flats have different widths (measurable by which spoke wrench fits) due to thicker brass? Certainly in this case looks like LBS price is comparable enough to online that it would be advisable to walk into LBS with removed nipple + spoke and say "I want N nipples to replace this"

Ok, being on a budget and seeing that it is now raining in Seattle for the next 9 months, I will give it a try. Worst case scenario, I need to buy a whole new wheel after it's all said and done. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks for inspiration.

Considering the era of the bike, it's about a 98% chance they are 2mm and use the PARK Red wrench.

Good advice above. If it's a good quality wheel the first check is whether it's true when totally detuned. If it's not true when detuned the test you want to run to determine if it's worth keeping involves filling a bathtub with water and putting the wheel in the tub. If it sinks, throw it out.
If it's true then retensioning won't be terribly hard.

My bathtub is 24" wide, and the water gets 12" deep, so the wheel can't really sink.

But I like the concept, especially since I'm not that sure what it means.


Edit- I'm working on an old bike with pretty out of true wheels. I got a big hop out- way better than I expected, and had fun working on it. Used the red wrench, and ended up holding the spokes with pliers for the fine adjustments.

Maybe even cheaper than you think. 14 gauge - right? PM your address to me and I'll mail you some.

It's an old Alaskan joke..."how can you tell if your snowmachine spark plug should be replaced or whether you should try to clean it and reuse it in the field?" Answer: Toss it in a bucket of water. If it floats it's fine.
If your wheel is not true when it's detensioned I -think- it's a lost cause.

I just finished working on just such a wheel. I replaced a half dozen nipples, and could easily replace the rest, were it not for the fact that there is a small crack at one of the spoke holes. My wheel was/is out of round. I learned a lot in the process, and hope to get another 200 miles out of it before my visit North is over and I head back home. It's original equipment on an 87 Schwinn Prelude.

People today expect too much. If you have halfway decent skill you should be able to get warped and slightly bent rims true with little difficulty. Factors that matter include rim rigidity, spoke gauge and spoke count.

Years ago, it was rare to fine a perfectly round and flat rim new, never mind used. Wheelbuilders had to make them true, not simply lace them up. Today's rims are much better, and are usually delivered in good shape so building has become much easier.

In any case, I would never consider detensioning a rim as a prelude to a typical alignment repair. The exception would be a rim that was severely crash damaged and needed to be brought close via brute force methods, before truing was possible, and even then most of the time, I would only selectively loosen the area that needed to be bent into line.

I'm sure that's good advice for OP, but I was just asking generally.

Update:

I went to the LBS with a spoke & nipple in hand. He was able to get me a set of 36 nipples at $0.16 each for a grand total of $5.76. I got the wheel completely disassembled and will be working on relacing it in next couple evenings. From what I can see, the rim looks to be in good shape and lays flat on a flat surface. I checked the overall diameter in many spots and it was just shy of 25" all around. Looks like the rebuild can begin!