Need rear rim advice
 

I've been commuting (and doing group rides and some training) on my 1992 Trek 1420 7-speed road bike for the past 4 years. I always carry a rear pannier and in the last year or so started pulling my kid to daycare in a trailer. The bike has the original wheels but I've recently started breaking spokes in the rear - 3 in as many months. The wheels are 32-hole Matrix ISO CII laced 3x to 105 hubs. Other than the spoke breakage, the rim appears to be ok (brake track isn't scooped, no cracks) but there does seem to be a pattern of more brake wear at the spoke holes.

I've taken the rear wheel apart and plan to either rebuild it with the existing rim and new spokes/nipples or use a new rim. Many of the nipples were getting very sticky and some were rounded off so I figured it was at least time for new spokes either way.

Since this is primarily a commuter bike, I don't like to spend a lot of money on it. My goal is to maximize the miles/$ investment. For that reason, I'm having a hard time justifying the purchase of a new rim. It's been recommended to me by a riding buddy that I should get a Velocity Deep V but I'm not completely certain I need a new rim.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Should the Matrix ISO CII rim stand up to a few more years of commuting duty if I rebuild it or should I drop coin on a new rim?

My two cents: go with a new rim, they are consumable like the chain. Check out the Sun CR 18. On rounded nipples, that's not wear its poorly fitting spoke wrench, get the new Park with 4 corners, probably the red one. Last, my LBS dips the spoke ends in boiled linseed oil (available at paint store). He says it lubes the threads and then dries into an acceptable threadlocker called shellac.

Yes, I know the rounded off nipples are due to a poorly fitting spoke tool. I'll blame that on the last mechanic to work on my bike. Because of the difficulty of turning some of the nipples, I have not been able to bring all the spokes up to the proper tension when I last checked it over. I had to loosen all the spokes to the tension of the stubborn one(s) to keep true. This is probably a good reason for my spoke breakage problem.

So, after much thought, I've decided to reuse my existing rim. It doesn't appear to be worn out (brake track is fine, no cracks, etc.) and it will hopefully give me a few more years of service with new spokes.

I've read on Sheldon Brown's site about wheel building and he only recommends lubing the drive-side spoke threads in some lubricant while the non-drive-side can remain dry. You can optionally use some kind of thread lock on the non-DS but it isn't necessary. I'm sure I'll do more reading/research before I start threading spokes.

Another good resource is The Bicycle Wheel, by Jobst Brant. I am planning to do my first wheel build soon, and I'm a lot less nervous about doing so having read the book.

I had a similar issue. I ended up getting a used Deep V off of Craig's list for $50. In the long run this was cheaper/easier than buying new spokes and doing a rebuild. The best bet for the rebuild is the experience, but do not expect your first build to be trouble free.

Please don't use standard threadlock on your spokes. People hear "threadlock" and most will think blue Loc-Tite. Use either linseed/flaxseed oil, or a commercially available spoke prep compound.

1) Linseed oil doesn't become shellac when it dries. Linseed oil is pressed from flax seeds, shellac is secreted by the lac bug. Two totally different things.

2) Spoke prep compounds act as a "locking" compound, providing some additional necessary off-torque capacity when spokes are at low tension.

3) Spoke prep compounds act as a lubricant/anti-seize at higher spoke tensions, so you don't end up rounding off spoke nipples (unless you have the wrong size spoke wrench.)

If you put standard threadlocker on your spokes, good luck trying to adjust them when things go out of true some day down the road.
Being that the OP is in central TX, the chance of riding through persistent rain like I get here in the PNW is low, but corrosion and thread seizure can happen regardless. I'm a big fan of spoke prep on all the spokes when I do a build, not just one side. Think about truing a wheel; chances are that you'll need to tweak spokes on both the drive and non-drive side, so why chance not having anti-seize on one that you'll need to turn?
But it's the dark art of wheelbuilding, and just one guy's opinion, so take it or leave it. Your choice.

As for wheel books, if you're reading Brandt you should also pick up Roger Musson's book for a slightly different perspective with equally helpful skills from basic builds up through boutique-type wheel design.

Skip anything tacky that may impede truing the wheel a decade from now and stick to anti-seize on all the spoke threads and nipple sockets. Use an acid brush with half the bristle length cut-off to apply.

Provided that you achieve uniform and sufficient tension (the Park TM-1 tension meter is fast, easy, and affordable for the home mechanic; although on lighter box section rims you can alternately tension and stress relieve until the wheel deforms in waves at which point you back off half a turn and re-true with $0 additional equipment costs) the wheel will stay true until you bend the rim on a road obstacle/crash although you may wear out the brake tracks before that happens.