New road wheelset suggestions?

In article said:

I have an old Schwinn aluminum roadbike and have to put some new wheels on it (one is damaged). The
current components are Shimaon Sport LX with a 7-spd cassette. I suspect there aren't any hubs
available for 7-spd cassettes, so I'm considering new derailleurs/shifters too if I have to go with
a new 9-spd hub/wheelset.

I really want to spend between $100 and $150 for the whole wheelset. I'm not a hardcore rider at
all, but I'm going to start doing some riding with a friend. What brand is good for this
pricerange? Nashbar has some Mavic/Shimano wheelsets for this price. Any suggestions? I really
prefer a wheelset with Shimano hubs.

What to do depends on how wide the rear dropouts are on your bike. If you have 126mm spacing (ie,
common for 6/7 speed) then you will have trouble with a wheel that is 130mm spacing (ie, 8/9/10
speed road hub). Aluminum frames should not have their rear triangle re-spaced because it may damage
the frame, so whatever your spacing is, it stays that way.

What about the rear wheel is damaged? Is the bike otherwise functional? If the rim is damaged, I
propose you have a bike shop rebuild the wheel with a new rim and not replace anything else.

Also, I'm sure you can find either a whole wheelset or just a hub in 7-speed, ask on
rec.bicycles.marketplace and look on eBay.

--Paul

"Neal Matthis" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have an old Schwinn aluminum roadbike and have to put some new wheels on it (one is damaged).
The current components are Shimaon Sport LX with a 7-spd cassette. I suspect there aren't any hubs
available for 7-spd cassettes, so I'm considering new derailleurs/shifters too if I have to go
with a new 9-spd hub/wheelset.

I really want to spend between $100 and $150 for the whole wheelset. I'm not a hardcore rider at
all, but I'm going to start doing some riding with a friend. What brand is good for this
pricerange? Nashbar has some Mavic/Shimano wheelsets for this price. Any suggestions? I really
prefer a wheelset with Shimano hubs.

Buy one of those sets, rim tape, a spoke wrench and a freehub/cassette spacer. Read (the FAQ, web
articles) about stress relieving & tensioning wheels. Use your old cassette with the spacer on the
new wheels, leave your shifters, derailers, and everything else alone.

Peter Cole said:

"Neal Matthis" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have an old Schwinn aluminum roadbike and have to put some new wheels on it (one is damaged).
The current components are Shimaon Sport LX with a 7-spd cassette. I suspect there aren't any
hubs available for 7-spd cassettes, so I'm considering new derailleurs/shifters too if I have to
go with a new 9-spd hub/wheelset.

I really want to spend between $100 and $150 for the whole wheelset. I'm not a hardcore rider at
all, but I'm going to start doing some riding with a friend. What brand is good for this
pricerange? Nashbar has some Mavic/Shimano wheelsets for this price. Any suggestions? I really
prefer a wheelset with Shimano hubs.

Buy one of those sets, rim tape, a spoke wrench and a freehub/cassette spacer. Read (the FAQ, web
articles) about stress relieving & tensioning wheels. Use your old cassette with the spacer on the
new wheels, leave your shifters, derailers, and everything else alone.

Having just recently picked up a set of the wheels (I think) you are referring to, I can attest,
these are pretty nice wheels. Shimano 2200 hubs with Mavic CXP22 rims. After doing some stress
relieving and minor tightening of spokes, they are running strong and true. Not the lightest set on
the road, but work well. I picked up a nice set of Vittoria Techno Sport TT (kevlar) tires with
them. Wheel set price was marked at 104.95, but after adding them, it dropped them to 89.95 - then I
applied a 10% discount. Cant beat that kind of pricing!

I went to a local bike shop and talked to someone. He said I could get a wheelset with a 9-spd hub
and put a spacer on it so my 7-spd derailleur will work. I didn't think about whether a 9-spd hub
was the same width, dropout to dropout, as a 7-spd. Hmm, guess I should ask him about that.

Anyway, I think I will do what you're saying; keep my exising hub and get a shop to build a new rim
and spokes around it. I didn't think to ask the guy at the bike shop, but I wonder how much that
will cost, compared to a complete wheel? Any ideas?

Neal

"Paul Southworth" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article said:

I have an old Schwinn aluminum roadbike and have to put some new wheels

on

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

it (one is damaged). The current components are Shimaon Sport LX with a 7-spd cassette. I suspect
there aren't any hubs available for 7-spd cassettes, so I'm considering new derailleurs/shifters
too if I have to

go

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

with a new 9-spd hub/wheelset.

I really want to spend between $100 and $150 for the whole wheelset. I'm not a hardcore rider at
all, but I'm going to start doing some riding

with a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

friend. What brand is good for this pricerange? Nashbar has some Mavic/Shimano wheelsets for this
price. Any suggestions? I really

prefer a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

wheelset with Shimano hubs.

What to do depends on how wide the rear dropouts are on your bike. If you have 126mm spacing (ie,
common for 6/7 speed) then you will have trouble with a wheel that is 130mm spacing (ie, 8/9/10
speed road hub). Aluminum frames should not have their rear triangle re-spaced because it may
damage the frame, so whatever your spacing is, it stays that way.

What about the rear wheel is damaged? Is the bike otherwise functional? If the rim is damaged, I
propose you have a bike shop rebuild the wheel with a new rim and not replace anything else.

Also, I'm sure you can find either a whole wheelset or just a hub in 7-speed, ask on
rec.bicycles.marketplace and look on eBay.

--Paul

Neal Matthis said:

I went to a local bike shop and talked to someone. He said I could get a wheelset with a 9-spd hub
and put a spacer on it so my 7-spd derailleur will work. I didn't think about whether a 9-spd hub
was the same width, dropout to dropout, as a 7-spd. Hmm, guess I should ask him about that.

Anyway, I think I will do what you're saying; keep my exising hub and get a shop to build a new rim
and spokes around it. I didn't think to ask the guy at the bike shop, but I wonder how much that
will cost, compared to a complete wheel? Any ideas?

Neal

Unfortunately, probably similar to the cost of a new wheel. Im going to assume that the wheel you
have is not a top of the line item. I would suggest buying a new wheel, or even a new set. Find a
great deal at a mailorder house (Nashbar has a good deal on a set for around 100 bucks). A single
wheel will probably run about 50. Labor will be at least 30 or 40 dollars plus the cost of the rim.
Not a good deal unless the hub is of top quality.

Of course, you could use this as a learning experience and build the new rim onto the old wheel.
It's not really that tough. Get it close and bring it to the shop and have them true it if
necessary.

FYI a "good" rim will run about 20 (less sometimes mailorder) and "really good" ones go much higher.

"Neal Matthis" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I went to a local bike shop and talked to someone. He said I could get a wheelset with a 9-spd hub
and put a spacer on it so my 7-spd derailleur will work. I didn't think about whether a 9-spd hub
was the same width, dropout to dropout, as a 7-spd. Hmm, guess I should ask him about that.

Anyway, I think I will do what you're saying; keep my exising hub and get a shop to build a new
rim and spokes around it. I didn't think to ask the guy at the bike shop, but I wonder how much
that will cost, compared to a complete wheel? Any ideas?

Most shops won't reuse spokes (too labor intensive), and the same spokes won't work unless the new
rim has the same "effective diameter" as the old (not too likely in practice). So, what it boils
down to is parts + labor, maybe $30 rim, $20 spokes, $25 labor. Salvaging the old hub may be a false
economy. Factory-built wheels are usually available for less than the price of the components, the
only drawback being the usual lack of stress relieving and inadequate spoke tension. These things
are easily correctable, and are good skills to learn. If you can find a matching rim and save the
spokes doing the swap yourself, it can be cheaper, otherwise a new wheel is probably the most cost
effective route.

"Peter Cole" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:ULD9b.364596$cF.108813@rwcrnsc53...

Quoted message said:

Most shops won't reuse spokes (too labor intensive),

I don't see how it's more labor intensive. If anything, it's less. The hub is already laced. All you
have to do is lay the new rim over the old one and transfer the spokes.

Many bike mechanics (probably most) may think new spokes are preferable, because the old ones may be
"worn out" or something. That's because bike mechanics are not engineers or metallurgists. In fact,
old spokes are preferable, because they're already stress-relieved. So if you can just replace the
rim, by all means do so.

Quoted message said:

and the same spokes won't work unless the new rim has the same "effective diameter" as the old
(not too likely in practice).

This is the real problem. In the past, you could buy the same rim again and again for 20 years. Now
they change the models every couple of years, so you have to buy everything new.

Quoted message said:

Salvaging the old hub may be a false economy.

I don't think so, unless it's been built 2-3 times already. In that case, there may be greater risk
of cracking around the spoke holes.

Quoted message said:

Factory-built wheels are usually available for less than the price of the components,

This is true. You can often get a whole new wheel cheaper than the MSRP of a rim. Have a look at
www.nashbar.com This is what I've done the last couple of times -- once I needed a new cassette
body, and walked out of Supergo with a whole new wheel, for $5 less! I stress-relieved and
retensioned it, and I'm still riding on it.

Quoted message said:

the only drawback being the usual lack of stress relieving and inadequate spoke tension. These
things are easily correctable

Exactly. The problem with factory wheels is that they're not properly tensioned and stress-relieved.
If you can do this yourself, or have it done, these wheels will be as good as any.

Now that I may have confused the issue, let me clarify. Either:

-Have a shop rebuild your wheels on your existing hubs, reusing spokes if possible.

-Do the same thing yourself.

-Buy some new factory built wheels at a huge discount, and stress-relieve and retension them You can
do this yourself, or have it done. Some bike shops may give you a hard time about working on stuff
bought elsewhere. They shouldn't, but they do...

Matt O.

Matt O'Toole said:

I don't see how it's more labor intensive. If anything, it's less. The hub is already laced. All
you have to do is lay the new rim over the old one and transfer the spokes.

It's twice as much labor. Lacing the hub with spokes out of the box and using new nipples is much
faster than having to unscrew a nipple, move the spoke, and redo the nipple.