What’s with this wheel then?

Picked up this pair of wheels cheap ages ago... lx hubs and Mavic UB control rims... I think the spokes are ti, they don’t attract a magnet... like many “bargains” they’ve ended up being a right ball ache... serviced both hubs - they needed new cones... and the freehub was sticking and needed a good clean and lube. Anyway I finally got them trued up, tyres fitted and on the bike.

Truing the rear was a bit tricky and I ended up with one really loose spoke that I couldn’t do much about but i got it nice and round... they looked good...



After a few days (of just sitting on the bike) the rear was out of true.

My best guess is that there is some damage around the eyelets causing spokes to lose tension. In other words, the rim has had it. I can’t see any cracks as such but there is some corrosion and general grubbiness.



Any better ideas? Are these rims known for this? Have had similar issues (i.e. cracks around eyelets) on a Mavic rim before, I forget which model though...



Is it for the bin?

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Maybe a bad nipple? I have a set of titanium tie dye spiked rims... for about 30 years, never a problem. I think mine are aluminum nipples.

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Maybe the spoke you cant tighten is too long and runs out of thread? Maybe a dodgy nipple?

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ishaw":hyog5g6o said:

Maybe the spoke you cant tighten is too long and runs out of thread? Maybe a dodgy nipple?

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Ah, I should have been clearer, the loose spoke was intentionally loose in order to keep the wheel true - clearly the rim has had a bit of a hard life... some of the surrounding spokes ended up very tight, a bit of a compromise really, I didn’t want excessive tension on the opposing spokes so left one fairly loose...

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Ah, got you. If there is uneven tension, I'd guess there is room for it to equalise or loosen where the opposing forces are weaker.

I'm no wheel builder but have built a few sets of wheels myself, always found the tricky bit was keeping it round. I'd be tempted to back the spokes out a bit and give it another go.

One tip I picked up was that after finishing it, put something like a crank arm (something to get leverage), put it between the spokes (under one, over another) and give it a gentle but firm tweak. Repeat on one side, then the other. Check and retrue/tension if needed. This is supposed to help, did when I tried it on the builds I did, which I'm still using.

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ishaw":1tu9dipx said:

I'm no wheel builder but have built a few sets of wheels myself, always found the tricky bit was keeping it round. I'd be tempted to back the spokes out a bit and give it another go.

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Yeah, I think maybe I will... or maybe even just a tweak and see whether it stays put? To be fair it’s still more than round enough to ride, my nervousness is more about its potential to get much worse quickly if/when I do ride it...

I guess my feeling was that it ought to stay round if it’s not been ridden. But who knows... as you say if there’s uneven tension it’s never going to be as strong as you’d hope... maybe fitting and inflating the tyre was enough to knock it out of whack?

Sounds like it's trashed, if you need loose spokes to make it straight then it sounds like the rim is cracked. Probably around the eyelets, but sometimes the cracks start very small and can't be seen at first because they're under the eyelet. You could try loosening all spokes and trying again, and check the length and nipples of the ones that are loose, maybe even replace them, but it's probably going to be a waste of time and effort. Good luck with it though!

It looks like the spokes are stainless steel which is also none-magnetic. Ti spokes are a deeper matte grey or tie dye/rainbow coloured.

Hotwheels.":22hz37l0 said:

stainless steel...is also none-magnetic.

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Oh! So it is! Blimey! I feel stupid now... you learn something every day!

https://www.bssa.org.uk/faq.php?id=24

Some stainless steel is magnetic, and some is not.