The Rim Job

Rim Replacement

Winter commuting + rim brakes = worn rims
The grit of winter, and the braking of urban riding, take their toll on bicycle wheel rims. The rims wear down, becoming structurally unsafe, and require replacement.

If you don’t love your hubs, the situation is much easier to deal with (though considerably more expensive): throw your wheels away and start over!

If, OTOH, you have some nice hubs (like my 41 year old Phil Woods), a not overly difficult task may be the solution: replace the rims.

I only replace the rims, transferring the hubs AND the old spokes, to the new rims. I’ve kept the same spokes, on the wheels of my commuter bike, for perhaps 25 years, with no problems.

Step One: Match the new and old rims as well as you can. If they are not identical, at least the distance, from the virtual center to where the spoke nipple will be seated, should be darn close.

Step Two: Matching the locations of the valve holes, tape the old rim (with tire and rim tape removed!) to the new rim.

Replacement rim has been taped to old rim.  Note the valve holes line up.
Step Three: Working around the wheel, move the near spokes (i.e. those laced to the near hub flange) to the new rim. Do this by removing a nipple, placing it in its new hole, applying heavy oil to the threads of the spoke, and threading the nipple loosely to it.

Near side spokes have been transferred to new rim.

Step Four: Repeat for the far side spokes.  When all spokes have been transferred, remove old rim.

New rim is in place.

Step Five: tension spokes, dish and true wheel, install rim tape, tube and tire, install on bike, ride!

Note: It can be helpful to have several extra (new) nipples available, in case any of the old ones get stripped in the process.