Tailor

My young son only learned to ride somewhat recently, and managed to do something just crazy enough to catch me off guard and his axle caught my wheel before I could evade him.

This caused the steel spoke and (whatever the nipple is made of) nipple to rip right out of the rim. I am sure this enlarged the hole and all that. The rim is still round, the hub has no visible damage. Can the rim be used with some kind of larger nipple or something? I'm cheap, and I don't want to replace the rim if its avoidable.

Thanks

bent-not-broken

A picture and details of the rim and bike involved would allow a more informed answer. Front or rear wheel? For casual riding of a single wall rim I would put a washer behind the nipple and ride it, but that's me. If it is used and abused for technical Mt biking, high speed descents etc. then a different answer.

Andrew R Stewart 

Is the damaged rim a steel material? If so the your repair options are better then if it's Al. I've hammered back flat the pulled through bulge and then simply replaced the spoke/nipple and trued as usual. Sometimes I've placed a small washer (larger then a proper brass spoke washer) under the nipple head. Care to insure a good rim strip coverage over this now more prominent nipple. Also check the spoke's elbow. The force to pull through a nipple can also stretch the elbow beyond reliable shape. Andy.

Tailor

I'll be adding pictures asap. I'm at work and its at home.

The rim is aluminum. I'm not assuming the spoke is ok. I expect I'll be replacing it as well.

FBinNY 

You can probably span the enlarged hole with a large enough stainless steel washer. It should extend at least 2mm beyond any damaged or distorted area all the way around, which would actually spread load farther than a typical nipple. If you cannot find a washer both wide and thick enough, yet with the right size hole, you can stack and (maybe) super glue a pair of washers together to do the job.

Note that most rims have limited room, do you might have to hammer a washer to match the rims curvature reasonably well. It doesn't have to be perfect, the materials will flex as needed to work.

BTW I've done the above a number of times as an emergency repair, and never had one fail. In many cases people kept riding the wheel until some other event put it out of it's misery.

dabac

I've used special washers with a bigger-than-average outside diameter compared to inside diameter to fix things like that. I've sometimes have had to bend and trim the washer a bit to make it fit well. And while I haven't ridden a rim repaired like that to death, it seems to work OK.

Tailor

Looks like i need to raise my post count. I've got a PM to reply to, but my lurking has left me 40 posts shy of the ability to reply to a message. Pictures of wheel incoming.

Tailor

Lets see if I can post the pictures.

Re-Cycle

Good news, your rim is fine. The nipple sheared in half. Bet there is a little brass doughnut somewhere near you that used to be the other half. Any bike shop should be able to give you a nipple.

FBinNY 

OK, nice photos.

This is a classic example of the consequences of spokes too short to reach into the nipple's head. In this case it worked for you acting as a fuse by way of the nipple snapping instead of tearing through the rim.

But it's a reminder that nipples are not as strong as spokes, and unless the spoke reaches up into the head, the nipple will be the weak link in a chain.

Tailor

Thanks! that is such good news. I had been dreading shopping for another wheel.

Jiggle

Ok, so you don't need a washer; that would actually make the spoke even shorter relative to the nipple. You need a new spoke and a nipple.