Replacing Rims?
 

I was curious if it is at all possible to just replace the rims on a wheelset? Is it something that can easily be done yourself if you have no wheel building experience?

And just out of curiousity, how much would something like this cost at a shop (just replacing the rims)

It is possible, but involves some wheel building skills.

If the new rim has the same diameter at the spoke holes (aka ERD) then it uses the same length spokes. So you can slacken all the spokes in the old wheel, tape the wo rims together and transfer spokes one at a time to the new rim. Otherwise you have to lace from scratch, most likely with new spokes. Then the spokes have to be tightened, the rim brought to center and aligned, and the wheel trued up just like a new build. So the only steps you get to skip is the initial lacing that a new wheel from scratch would need.

As you can see it's not a super simple operation, so it beg the question ---- WHY?

A shop would probably insist on replacing the spokes along with the rims. Reusing spokes is possible (I do it all the time... on wheels I've built for myself) but it's not worth the shop's time to disassemble the wheel and preserve the spokes.

As FB said, this requires some wheel building and truing skills. In fact, swapping rims is pretty easy- producing a round, true, and properly tensioned wheel is what take practice and skill.

I've had to do this a few times when the brake track on the rim wore out from use (after 50 - 75 kmiles). As FB said, taping the new rim to the old and then transferring spokes over worked fine (I selected new rims with almost the same ERD so the spokes would be reusable).

But the hard part about wheel building is getting the truing and tension right and that's the same whether building a wheel from scratch or replacing the rim while keeping the old hub and spokes. I wouldn't be surprised if a bike shop refuses to do a rim replacement. They want to be able to stand behind their work and that's more possible when using new parts instead of an old hub and especially old spokes that have an unknown history.

Something else to keep in mind is the condition of your spokes & nipples.
If the threads are corroded, it'll make truing & tensioning much more difficult. probably to the point that you wish you'd just bought new spokes & nipples.

Since a good hub will last nearly forever with proper maintenance, but rims do not, this is a relatively common thing. Whether a shop is willing to do it for you I have no idea. Some shops will only work with new parts.

As mentioned several times the new rim's ERD must be the same as your current rim if you're going to re-use the spokes.

This happens to me a lot. In many cases I've bought a used wheel and cut the spokes out and replaced with new ones simply because I couldn't true the wheel due to corrosion. A side benefit is that I'm generally replacing straight gauge spokes (with unknown age and miles) with double butted stainless steel. I've been able to turn some really lousy wheels into lighter, much better wheels simply with new spokes and nipples.

Wheelbuilding prices vary but I'm going to guess $50.00 per wheel plus parts would be fair. Rims cost from around $20.00 and up. There are lots of rims in the $50.00 to $90.00 range. Spokes are around $1.00 each unless you're looking for something special. That takes you up to around $130.00 per wheel fairly quickly.

If you're not too picky, you can easily find a pre-built wheel for quite a bit less than that.

If you are mechanically inclined it is not a difficult job. Being new to it, you will need to take your time to true and tension the new wheel. Pick up some new nipples just in case.

Simple answer, no. Wheel building does require a decent level of skill to do well and most riders who build their own wheels do it because they enjoy the process, not because it's cost effective. They had to start with no experience and learn as they went along, which is obviously very possible.

I'd recommend you start by practicing on a couple of old wheels of little value. Completely disassemble them and relace, tension and true them as if you were building from scratch. That way you know the spokes are the right length and you only have to concern yourself with learning the mechanical steps.

More in expensive places. Wheel building can run $70 (don't expect competence for that price) - $90 in California.

Wheel building difficulty is comparable to adjusting front derailleurs, but obviously takes much longer given dozens of spokes to adjust versus height, rotation, tension, and limit screws.

With some mechanical aptitude you can do a decent job starting with Jobst Brandt's book _The Bicycle Wheel_ which he tested by having each of his grade school sons build a pair of wheels with no additional help.

OT PSA Just a note if the wheel is a rear with a freewheel make sure you remove the freewheel before cutting any spokes

Everyone who builds wheels began with no experience at all and screwed up along the way as necessary. If you like to mess with mechanical stuff you will get satisfaction from yet another do-it-yourself project completed. For myself, when I reached a point of maximal frustration lacing up a wheel, I stopped, made a cup of tea, then did something else for a while before going back to the wheel. Working on your own wheels is a useful skill if you ride a lot.

I learned how to build wheels when I was working in a bike shop 35 years ago. I got lots of practice working there, then learned more by experimenting with oddball configurations for my own wheels. I still build wheels, but it's a hobby, not a job now.

There's a certain irony here. Often the worst builders take the longest, struggle the most, and tend to hate the job. Therefore they charge the highest prices. Good wheel builders calmly and confidently build wheels in comparatively little time, and can make the most money while charging the least. Go figure!

Wheel builders also need to charge enough to cover rent, where places like Palo Alto nice retail space runs $40-$80 a square foot triple net as in $400-$800K/year for each 1000 square feet of shop space plus property taxes and building maintenance.

I'm in NY so I know the economics of high rent, but in your example, you slipped a decimal. It's 40K to 80K annually per 1k feet, not ten times that.

Maybe in New Rochelle, but in Manhattan, 400K/year would probably be correct for a 1000 SF storefront depending on area.

I've never met a wheelbuilder who didn't like to do it. Some claim they can build one in around 1/2 hour. I wonder if they are including any rim and hub prep or spoke calculations in that. At my best I could crank them out in about an hour.

I was only commenting about his math, converting 40-80k/ft to what 1,000 feet would cost. But in general, even the most expensive space in Manhattan, just crossed the $300/foot (annually) mark, and you can rest assured that no bike shop is paying anywhere close to that, with most paying something closer to 1/10th of that.

Your talking of "wheel builders" and I agree that those who make it a specialty do o because they like it. But when someone goes to a typical bike shop for a wheel rebuild, he's not likely to have it done by a specialist. It'll be assigned to one of their mechanics who may have little experience or skill. As for how long it takes, it's anywhere between 1/2 to one hour for skilled builders depending on how many they build per week. If I sit down to do a bunch of wheels, vs. just one, I can do 10 in something close to 6 hours. Otherwise, it's closer to an hour for just one because I'm not in the groove.

My experience has been the opposite. In the bike shops that I've worked in, any wheel building has been reserved for one or two mechanics who did them all.

Interestingly, the last shop that I worked in solved the problem by not building very many wheels. They simply sold the customer some new fancy-boy wheelset that was "light enough to break away from the pack and aero enough to make it stick". Wheel repairs there were a PITA because every single popped spoke was some specialty thing that almost always had to be special ordered.

30 mins is actually pretty easy if you build a lot of wheels on a very regular basis. If I do not have side projects, I average around 10 wheels a day but can easily hit 14 or so in an 8hr if there are no distractions. That is simply working steady and not rushing at all. It does help that the majority of my wheels are very similar. If I was only building 20/24h carbon road wheels with perfect rims and radial lacing, more wheels would be even easier, most of what I build are 32h fatbike or 29+ wheels.