travelinhobo

I had a grinding a sensation in the front wheel and took it in. The guy checked it out and said it's the "racer" and it would be cheaper to buy a new rim rather than replace the hub because it's a 20-something year old hybrid and the hub may not be the same for the spokes and with labor it'll cost. Never heard of a "racer", but I assume he's on the up and up. He lubed it and said it would last for a bit longer. I'm also assuming that the rear hub is in the same condition. So I'm in the market for a pair of used rims and have some questions. My wheels are currently around 700x35 and Schrader (that's the size of the tires that came on the bike when I got it months ago).

1. Does it matter what wheel size I replace them with? I'm thinking no, just as long as there's leeway between the fork (not suspension) and tire.
2. My previous bike was also the same age and wheel size; It's not a common size for finding tires. Would it be better to get a more common sized wheel? If so, what would that be?
3. How is the free wheel going to play into this on the rear wheel? I'll have to look up the specs for the cogs to see teeth count. I'm a chick, so this doesn't matter much to me other than I live on my bike and use it for long distance biking sometimes.

Thanks for any input/comments/opinions in the positive.

shelbyfv

So everyone is on the same page, some terminology. You have a wheel. It is made up of a hub, spokes and rim. Apparently the races in your hub are damaged. You want a pair of new wheels. You can use your old tires on your new wheels. It will be best if you can post a pic of any labels on your wheels and a pic of the cassette or freewheel so someone can ID which and how many cogs. Should be easy to find what you need.

Kontact

He said "race" not "racer". The race is the surface the bearings run on and will be damaged if you don't do any hub maintenance.

And you wouldn't replace the "rim", you would replace the complete wheel, which is the hub, spokes and rim.

You are going to need a wheel approximately the same as your current one - 700c. Larger or smaller won't work right with your brakes and steering. This is a very common wheel size used on road bikes and hybrids, so you should have little difficulty finding a used one. (The rim width is relatively unimportant compared to the diameter.)

travelinhobo

Okay, sorry. I understood their pronounciation of the word to be 'racer'. But you guys know what I'm talking about. Yes, I know I can use my current tires, which actually are new now that I think about it, so I'd want to stick with the same size, I guess. It's 7 cogs and the specs I'm finding say 11-28 teeth. Rims are Araya 700 PX45. And yes, you're right Kontact. I meant the wheel (I know the rim is just that).

700's are easy to find, however, from my experience in buying new tires when I need to, the 700x35-38 tires aren't so common. I never have much of a choice to choose from.

shelbyfv

Have you considered looking for a donor bike? People give hybrids away and even on CL there are plenty for $50 or less. A new set of wheels will be closer to $100.

travelinhobo

Yeah, I know. I asked at the bike shop how much one goes for and he said about fifty each. So I'd rather go with used, but I'd have to be sure that the hubs have been maintained. Unfortunately, I'm not in an area with tons of bikes - been looking! And there are no used bike shops here.

The Quiet One

If you like the bike and plan to keep it, shell out for new wheels. $100 isn't too much to spend on a bike that works for you.

MRT2

IMO, just bite the bullet and buy new wheels.

travelinhobo

I hate my bike and didn't want to put any money into it, but that's beside the point. I'm looking at wheels on Amazon and just realized that the rear won't include the freewheel. Does this mean that it would be transferred from the wheel I'm currently using on the bike or I'd have to buy a new one of those too? Thanks.

Steve B.

The current wheel at 7 speeds is likely using a Shimano freehub with a cassette (the rear gearing cogset). Pretty much all current Shimano 8-9-10 speed hubs are backwards compatible and need in this case, a 4.5mm spacer, thus your 7 speed cassette should work. The system might need tweaking in terms of cable tension, but that’s easy.

Question though, do you plan on having a LBS do the work ?, or at home. If do-it-yourself, you’ll need a chain whip and a lock ring removal tool (that’s a Park FR-5 tool, about $7). https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair...d-installation

2nd question is did the shop quote you new rims ?, at $100, or new wheels ?. Rims I can maybe see, but seems high, unless they are including the price of labor to walk over the spokes and true the wheels. If new wheels, that’s very cheap and I’m not seeing new wheels for $100, unless they have some used wheels. If so, ask them to transfer the cassette, tune the shifting and adjust the brakes.

And finally, if you hate the bike, why bother. If you like riding, use the bike a lot, take it everywhere in vacation, etc.... I would not necessarily be throwing money at a 20 year old bike that you hate.

And as BTW, as I do a quickly search of some of the better known online bike part vendors, such as Nashbar, Performance, Jenson, Cambria, BikeTiresDirect, REI the cheapest 700C wheels I see in (7)-8-9-10 hubs, are Shimano WH-R501 at $110 (at REI). They are also 130mm rear hubs designed for a road bike, so you would need to verify whether your current rear wheel uses 130mm road spacing, or 135mm mt. bike spacing,

travelinhobo

Steve- thanks for the reply, however your first paragraph has me lost. Don't worry about it. I have no idea what an LBS is, but the answer is that if I end up replacing only the wheels, I'll have to either buy new from a shop or from elsewhere. If from a shop, they can change over the freewheel with no problem. If from elsewhere, I'll have to end up going into the shop to have the freewheel changed over and pay for it. The guy who got into the hub told me the cheapest new ones (and honestly, I don't remember if I asked for rims or wheels, but I'm sure he knew I was talking about the wheel as we talked about it) cost around $100. I know nothing about how long or how good cheap wheels are as I've only ever replaced wheels once before and it for a new bike I'd bought for my first tour (the owner bought me Mavic's and they were great for all the years and tours I owned it!)

As to the other question which is why I'm even bothering with all this and not just buying another bike... I live on my bike and don't have the money to spend to buy either another bike or a new wheel set. But I have no choice since the hub(s) are kaput. (My medical needs now take a back seat.) There is absolutely nothing used on CL near a price I can pay in the area I live - I'll have to travel to if I want another bike. This is really all my fault as I should have had the hubs overhauled when I first got this bike back in April. No one to swear at but me.

Steve B.

Got it. Good luck with all this, I feel for you as 30 years of cycling has made me more aware of all the intricate hardware I needed to learn about. Plus I can't afford to run to a Local Bike Shop (LBS) everytime something breaks so had to learn all the terms and tools needed to get things fixed.