peripatetic

Anybody know if standard steel rims from the 70s and early 80s had a common ERD? Or, in the alternative, is there a standard 27" alloy rim that easily swaps with a steel rim without requiring different length spokes?

clubman 

You'd be lucky to buy replacement rims with the exact same ERD without measuring them. IMO, it would be penny wise and pound foolish to not use new spokes anyway.

pastorbobnlnh 

Do you know the make and model of the steel rim you need to replace. There's always a chance one of us has it, or the complete wheel, that we'd be glad to send to you for shipping. I have several steel rimmed wheels I'd be glad to let you have. Do you have a picture?

auchencrow

Spokes will cost you almost as much as a new generic alloy wheel - Are you sure you want to go that route?

Grand Bois

I think that his point in asking the question is to avoid buying spokes. There's nothing wrong with reusing spokes.

sailorbenjamin

It's also really easy to put a new rim on by holding it next to the old rim and moving spokes over one by one.

peripatetic

Thanks for your responses. This was exactly my point. I just want to swap the steel rim for an alloy one on my lady's 27" rear wheel. It's not worth it to me to buy a new wheel or new spokes (probably the same cost, as someone above pointed out.)

Sheldon Brown/Jobst Brandt on reusing old spokes: "You can usually just transfer the old spokes to a new rim, avoiding the need to relace the wheel -- see Jobst Brandt's article."


This is a 70s drop bar frame that's had minimal and light use, and I'm not concerned the spokes have suffered structural fatigue.

Seems I'll just have to measure the ERD and then hope I get a matching rim. Thanks again for the replies.

fietsbob

Steel rim era spokes were galvanized steel,
... now every one tends to use stainless steels.

you may have frozen sapoke-nipples that will break spokes,
rather than unscrew.

Use anti seize on the threads when you rebuild.

cyclingd

This assumes the spokes are rust free. Can rusted spokes be sanded down and reused?

auchencrow

No. - that is, they will rust all the more once you break the surface on the zinc (which may be only about 10 microns thick to start with)
Unless they are pretty crisp and new, I personally don't think its worth the trouble of relacing with galvanized spokes.

SJX426 

ANY corrosion becomes a stress point. The weakest point is probably where the corrosion is the deepest and the remaining cross sectional area is the least. Risky business reusing non SS spokes. They are like cracked rubber bands. You can still stretch it, but do you trust it?