Changing rims on a wheel
 

I have a CXP 22 front wheel with ERD of 597 and want to lighten up the wheel. Do you think I can just use the hub and same spokes and swap the rim for a KinLin xr-200 with 594 ERD and use the same spokes and hub? Is 3mm of ERD going to necessitate different spoke length?

It's either going that route or paying for a new Novatech hub and Sapim laser spokes and building the wheel up from scratch. Just thinking of ways to save some money - know what I mean?

Thanks.

I did the same thing earlier this summer, except I swapped out my old Ritchey OCR rims for Kinlin XR-270 rims. In my case, the ERD was off by a couple of millimeters.

If the new rim has an ERD that is 3mm less, then the difference in effective radius would be half of that, which means that your current spokes will be roughly 1.5 mm longer than necessary.

If it were me, I'd check to see how far the spokes are embedded into the spoke nipples, in order to judge whether or not the extra spoke length is going to cause any problems. I doubt that it will.

Sweet, thanks for the info!
Are you happy with the results? Can you feel a difference in the weight and performance?

Do not under any circumstances use the same spokes. Its poor wheelbuilding and a safety hazard.

+1

if it were i, i'd get new nipples, too

OMFG - just don't.

1. Not all rims are created equal - you can't just select rims based on what you see as the catalog weight. You make tradeoffs in feel, durability and performance that a catalog won't explain to you. You don't mention your weight....spoke count of existing wheel, etc. Building ANY wheel without first addressing the specific rider weight FIRST is a recipe for failure.
2. You're trying to save money on the spokes? Then don't change the rim. It's not worth it. If you don't have the budget to spend $30-$60 on spokes then why in the heck are you even remotely thinking about changing out a good Mavic rim for a flimsy climbing rim.
3. Change the spokes. Change the spokes....change the spokes......oh and especially the nipples too.
4. What are you trying to achieve again? Oh yeah...you want a new wheel but you only want to change the rim....Do you have the tools needed? Do you understand how tension affects a spoked wheel system? Do you understand how it's a tradeoff between the natural imperfections in the rim combined with the imperfections in the spoke and the hubs?


...so why are you wanting to change this again? You think it will be "easier to spin up"? How is that going to "help" you with a problem you are currently having?

If you want to do it for the challenge of doing it then yes...go for it. Learn and have fun. If you are asking because this is a serious pursuit by you to somehow make your setup better....I would highly encourage you to simply ride what you have until it breaks. Especially if you are trying to save money.