Need help to understand rims
 

Hello. I am new to the forum and couldnt find an answer to my question with google.
I would like to give my bike a more classic look, therefore I want to change the black rims into silver polished ones.
I have disc brakes, 28 wheels and want to go for 36 holes.
I liked the velo orange ones, but they are quite expensive.
I could get some Mavic Monthlery or Ambrosio Montreal, but was wondering if «double-eyelet» also means doubled-walled, so that the spikes will not get in touch with the tube?
The other thing I was wondering about is that these two compared to the velo orange are much flatter (10mm compared to 18mm) and are missing this bead (?) that holds the tyres. Hope bead is the right word. Both the Mavic and the Ambrosio do not seem to have that. Can these rims hold for example a Panracer Gravelking 700x35c?

Reason for 36 holes is that the bike has a back hub motor. Are these older rims stable enough for a 250w motor?

Thanks.

I applaud your initiative, but you should spend some time researching wheel building with an electric motor. The tubeless aspect is another issue entirely — the Montherly and Ambrosio rims you are looking at are tubular, and that type of tire is a closed tube that gets glued to the rim, different from clincher tires that use a tube. Those rims are not at all compatible with Gravelking clincher tires. There is a lot to learn, but wheel building can be very rewarding; it’s simple enough to do it on your own, but complex enough that you can get into trouble if you try to tackle too much too quickly.

I would even say (others may disagree) that a disc brake wheel with electric motor is too advanced for a novice. I wouldn’t try to tackle that, and I’ve built a handful of halfway decent wheels (for rim brakes and no electric motors).

Thanks for the answer. I assumed "tubular" was "with tubes", but quite the opposite. That was very valuable information. So with clincher tyres I use clincher or tubeless rims, correct?

Wheelbuilding is a thing you get better at; most of us were not very good the first time.

Humans can (briefly) exert much more than 250W so any ordinary rim should be fine.
Eyelets are little rings that are crimped around the spoke holes to reinforce them; double-wall rims have double eyelets.
The spokes should be the correct length, so as not to extend past the nipples - and their ends are supposed to be covered by a rim-strip, which protects the tube from the nipple ends.
You will likely need new spokes - or at least spokes of the correct length (spokes can be re-used, but more than a mm or so away from the correct length is a problem).

Tubular tyres are sewn together at the base and glued on to a rim that has only a shallow curved surface. Clincher (properly called ("wired-on", even though some of them have a bead that isn't a wire) tyres need a seat on the inside of the rim; those with not-wire beads need a a rim that has a "hook" on the inside of the rim walls, to hold the bead in place.
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You could dis-assemble the wheels and remove the anodizing with a NaOH solution, and re-build them - that would save you the $75 or so you'll need for new spokes.

Unless you plan on rebuilding these wheels yourself, I don't think it will be economical to do this.
If you are planning polished clincher rims, are you including new stainless spokes and nipples? If you are not planning on doing this change yourself, have you found a shop who will and gotten their price?
You could probably buy a nice C&V bike with polished everything cheaper than the cost to upgrade that e-bike.

I think this website will be very useful to your learning curve…..

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

Sheldon does not explicitly talk about motorized hubs but that is mostly irrelevant to what you want to do; just treat the hub like it’s got big flanges and shorter spokes. And once you find rims that work for you the swap is slightly easier than a new build as you can lay the new rim over the old one and just move the spokes over following the same pattern.

Classic, disk brakes, electric? Try here: https://www.bikeforums.net/electric-bikes/

(I should update my sig.)

Unfortunately it won't be that simple.
Unless the spokes required for the replacement rim are *exactly* the same length, they will also have to be replaced - meaning old ones removed from the hub and new ones inserted.

Though possible to do one-at-a-time, that is much more complex than just building anew from completely separated bits; times 36 for a first-time wheelbuilder might need heroic patience.

I would learn to live with the wheels you have.

Fair enough: though it sounds like a modern bike so it should be relatively easy to find a rim that matches pretty closely; and you do have a little wiggle room on length (1-2mm). Spokes too long can be filed; shortish can be used provided there is good engagement in the nipple..and patience is a virtue for everyone building wheels!

Personally I agree with previous posts that the cost of doing this even completely DIY is beyond reasonable (if spokes are needed plus rims and associated tools you are well into the hundreds of dollars) but if someone is inspired and wants to do it why not?

What do you mean by "classic?" If prior to the 1980s, then yeah, silver. But by the mid-1980s, dark anodized rims were de-rigeuer.

With the way e-bikes typically get ridden, I'd go for a rim that is stronger rather than lighter. The Velocity Atlas comes in 36h and polished silver.

"Tubulars" actually do have tubes (at least the vintage ones), it's just that the tire carcase completely envelops that tube, and is sewn up with a seam that lies on the tire-side surface of the rim, onto which the tire and tube are glued. A clincher captures the tube between itself and the rim, with beads (either steel or kevlar reinforced) that hook into "bead hooks" on the tire edges of the rim. Don't buy older clincher rims lacking "hooks", which are still around -- get ones with definite hooks. If you're looking to get into electric power, then get wider rims and tires. The recommendation for the Velocity Atlas rims is a good one. Several manufacturers make more heavy-duty rims. Also, if you want disk brakes (I think I saw that), then there are rims that are made specifically for disk brake wheels, rather than rim brake wheels (they former have no braking track on the rim sidewalls). I guess you might be able to fit disk brakes on a wheel with rim-brake rims, but why bother?

If I'm reading this correctly, the OP has a 28 hole wheel and wants a 36 hole wheel. Since EVERYTHING needs to be changed, the OP just needs to find the new disc wheel with silver rim that fits, which they like the aesthetics of.
Phil

… And a 250 watt booster motor. I believe this would be a custom build since all the prebuilt wheels I’ve seen have black rims. I can’t recall seeing a polished hub motor either. (Black hubs and silver just don’t go together- never mind that I have that setup on my daily rider.)