KC8QVO

I had a bit of a mishap and drove over my bike a little while ago. I think the only casualty is the front rim, aside from the tire and tube. I am having trouble finding the same rim. Anyone have any ideas? The bike is a 2014 Surly Disk Trucker with 700c wheels. I have the complete bike, stock wheel set (for what it is worth the bike is maroon in color).

Any help/ideas would be appreciated.

On a side note - the rim is not kinked at all. I tried to bend it back by jumping on it and then tried to re-lace the wheel. The results stink. I am not sure what happened, but I ended up with a lot of different length spokes. I think all I am going to re-use is the hub.

veganbikes

If you want to do a direct 1-1 replacement just go to your local bike shop that has an account with QBP and they can order it for you or even likely order the exact same front wheel (QBP is the parent company for Surly and usually has the stock wheels for sale) I know last time I looked which was last week they had those Alex rims in stock.

indyfabz

A while back someone on BF said the rim has been discontinued, but they are still available. Here is an example:

Alex Adventurer > Components > Wheel Parts > Rims | Jenson USA

KC8QVO

That is a 26". That seems about par for the course. Surly/QBP has 26" in stock also, no 700c's.

fietsbob

The wheels are built in the factory that shipped the carton with your LHTD in it, across the Pacific.

Perhaps they take all the rims the Alex company, Also on that island,... Produced .

Wilfred Laurier

The 'different length spokes' comment makes me think there was an error in the lacing pattern.

nfmisso

You could up grade the rim to a Velocity Dyad (same internal width, lighter, stronger) - new spokes required due to different ERD.

Aushiker

Or a Mavic rim such as a the A719. Plenty of options and it does not need to be a an Alex Adventurer unless one wants matching rims without buying a rear I guess.

geoffs

What do you use the bike for?
for heavy duty work go for Velocity Dyad or Cliffhanger
Lightweight commuting you could try U shape 29er rim 30mm wide hookless MTB bike carbon rims tubeless compatible Light-Bicycle
I'm going to build up a set of these for my wifes new commuter. Shutter Precision front hub, DT rear

KC8QVO

The bike is used for everything but commuting - recreational riding and day trips up around 100 mile rides. I travel heavier than most. I do my day trips self supported so I carry everything - food, water. Most of the time I have a backpacking cook set and my hammock along. Weight-wise, so far, loaded I have about 30-40lbs of combined bike/camp gear.

I'd like to replace the rim with a matching one to what I have. I never had a problem with the rims until I smashed the one.

fietsbob

You may not be able to reuse the same spokes But just get another rim

You wont see that it is not an exact Match while you are riding the Bike somewhere.


Over thinking and over/pre worrying Is Optional

run of the mill shimano hubs , 36 spokes and a rim that will handle your chosen tire size.

the time to rebuild a wheel will be a luxury , busy summer touring season even more so..




./.

KC8QVO

You were correct. I tried to lace the wheel without taking the spokes off the hub the first time. This round I totally removed them and put one in at a time. I used the rear wheel to model the pattern off of and check myself as I went. The lacing came out good this time.

However, the rim is pretty bad. If I had the time and a hydraulic press I could work it back to a lot better shape. Unfortunately, I have neither a press or the time.

I think I am going to replace the spokes and rim. Any thoughts on either the rims or spokes? It looks like the Alex DH19 is the current rim on these bikes from Surly. I would expect that is at least as good as what I have.

As for spoke length and a different rim go - I suppose I can calculate the difference in thickness/how tall the extrusion is between the rim I have and something else and factor that in to the difference in spoke length (I know there is some trig involved in that).

Booger1

Set your rim up on some 2x4's,add a 2x4 across the top and jump up and down on it to straighten.....Your not going to hurt it!

There are online calculators for spokes.

DH 19 is plenty strong.They use them for tandem rims.....You can use just about anything for the front.

Doug64

Try Universal cycles in Portland Oregon. They will build you a good wheel for less than you can buy the parts separately. Use their custom wheel calculator to get the cost.

https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...3&category=856

KC8QVO

That is how I got it straightened as best I could already. It is still real wobbly - too much to have the spoke tension pull back.


I am not interested in a new wheel set. All I am interested in replacing are the spokes and rim. I will lace it up myself. My plan is to build up an ECR at some point, full custom build, so I am using this to get some experience, though under the wrong circumstances (I am out a bike to ride in the mean time). When the stars line up things will come together. My riding time between now and the middle of September will be non-existent anyway, unfortunately.

Will Wheeler

Good on ya for wanting to fix/build your own wheel(s). Your first failed attempt was most likely caused by misplacing the third set of spokes and you ended up with spoke lengths that seemed weird. It is at the third set many people do it wrong, and so did I. Twisting the hub and putting the first spoke in the correct hole is the crux here.
Here is a video on how to do lacing the proper way:

I built my rear wheel with Sapim Strong single butted spokes, Deore XT hub and a DT Swiss 545d rim. After some fiddling about I think I got an excellent wheel.
Good Luck!

KC8QVO

Does anyone know what the factory spokes are that Surly uses for this wheel set by chance? They are marked with a "TU" on the hub flange.

KC8QVO

Thanks for the video. I watched almost the whole thing, skipped around a bit. The guy talks a ton. Lots of good stuff in that one.

wschruba

It is easy to mis-read DT Swiss' logo as a UT/TU.



Unless Surly/QBP went through a sweeping change with their wheels, they use DT on everything. It is difficult to find reasonably priced individual DT spokes (which you would need 16 or so of two different sizes, usually, whereas spokes come in boxes of 50). Sapim are just as high quality, with several stores selling them individually.

KC8QVO

Why would I need 2 different sizes for a front wheel?

On another note, I measured one of the spare spokes on the frame (surly gives you a couple extras attached to some frame brackets). The one I measured is 284mm (inside elbow to end of threads).

The Alex DH19 rims are 1mm less in inside radius (with the tire side of the rim down it would be the top of the rim being 1mm taller than the Adventurer). I don't know how that translates to the spoke radius as I don't know what the wall thickness is there and how it compares to the Adventurer. That having been said, if I use that 1mm dimensional difference - I don't think I will run in to any issues with the same size spokes. What are your thoughts? I am assuming the spoke radius is going to be a hair shorter.

KC8QVO

I tried to true up the wheel as it sat and was able to get a lot of the wobbling out, it is still bad but I thought I would do a ride just to do a ride last night. 18 miles, pretty short. The front end rides terrible but it rode. It was an interesting exercise in ability. Now I know how bad this rim was and what I did to get it rideable. That will be good knowledge to have if I screw something up on a trip.

3 of the spokes are banjo string tight. I was expecting them to pop but they never did.

On the subject of spokes - What are people's thoughts here on thinner tapered/butted spokes? They will save on rotational weight. How well would they hold up with a loaded bike? Any concerns?

saddlesores

the googles, they be thine freind.

Alex DH19 700c, 29er rim dimensions | Freespoke dh19 erd 599.7
Alex Adventurer 700c, 29er rim dimensions | Freespoke advventurer erd 605.0

next you googles a spoke length calculater.
enter the rim info and hub info, or select from dropdown menus.
select number of spokes and a lacing pattern.

prolly don't want to use the spare spoke in your build.....surly most
likely gives you rear spokes. may or may not be same length as front.

mstateglfr 

The theory goes that butted spokes are stronger as they are able to deflect and flex more. So rather than a snap at some certain point, the spoke will continue to flex and return to shape.

In practice, I have no idea. I have bikes with straight spokes and butted spokes. The both spin when i pedal.

KC8QVO

I did a better job measuring the spokes here just to triple check. I used a tape measure earlier and converted standard to metric as best I could with estimating the length between 1/16th increments. I found a metric ruler here and correlated the accuracy of the ruler to a digital Starrett caliper accurate to .0005". Furthest I can get on the caliper is 150mm, but doubling that the ruler was right on at 300mm - within the limitations of eyesight and positioning.

My spare spokes are 2 lengths - 288 and 290mm. Since the two ERD's are within 1mm I should be fine with the same longer spokes. I am not sure how I came up with 284mm earlier, just error in the fractions I suppose. Best to double triple check.

I am unsure of the exact hub that the bike has to plug in to a calculator. Though, the current production (2016 model year) one is:
"Shimano XT M756 Disc, 36h. 100mm, black w/QR"

saddlesores

the two spare spokes might then be one drive-side, one non-drive-side for the rear.
you don't know if they are correct length for the front. remember the rear is 135mm
and the front 100mm wide.....different spacing between the flanges?

did you measure the front spoke length?