Uh-oh, cracked rim
 

I'd say this one is dead...
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d2701879bf.jpg
I've not been able to ride this season due to a few factors, the biggest one being knee surgery which I am recovering from. Anyway, with the potential of being able to ride reasonably soon, I put my rear wheel in the truing stand today and found this - it's a drive side spoke.

This is a 32 hole Open Pro rim that's about 10 or so years old. Spokes are in good shape, so options are to just replace the rim with another, or take the opportunity to do a complete re-build with a more modern rim (depending on availability). This is on a 20-year old steel bike so will stick with a fairly traditional profile regardless. Glad I was bored today and decided to check it.

Yeah, good thing you checked! :thumb:

What's the spoke gauge? If they're double-butted, I'd definitely get another Open Pro and swap it on.

Spokes are DT Competitions Champions, 2.0/1.8/2.0 butted spokes. Likely will just replace the rim with another OP. I like these wheels (DA 7700 hubs), so a new rim will be the path of least resistance.

The Open Pro is my favorite rim, and have used them on several bikes. Never cracked one out, but have put a big flat spot in one on a night ride. Didn't see the 30 foot deep pot hole!

Champions are straight gauge, if they're butted like you say they're Comps.

Yes, correct, they are comps. Good catch. Finding a 32H Open Pro in silver will be the next task. Going to see if my LBS can order one.

yeah I gave up high speed descents in the dark. hope you didn't crash

If this were just a hacking around bike I would just reuse the spokes, but I would still leave the decision about their condition until I had them all off and could inspect the ends.

You might already know, but a rim replacement using the exact same rim is very easy. Just tape the new one against the old one and transfer the spokes over one by one. And I love Open Pro's, I've always had at least one wheelset with them since the 90's. I personally have never cracked one.

Not just the same rim. Any rim with the same effective rim diameter (ERD) will work (± a couple of mm). The problem is finding that a rim with the same ERD. They vary a whole lot.

What would that accomplish?

If the spokes haven't given any trouble until now, I would be perfectly comfortable taping the new rim to the wheel and transferring all of the spoke ends without unlacing the wheel.

I had the same problem with a front. Began using Open Sports because they have a little more al. in them(about one ounce heavier).

There may be corrosion or even cracking at either end. Your wheel has given good service - until now, so there is always a chance of another issue. Anyway, it should not stop you taping the wheels, and probably everything will be OK, but the engineer in me says 'Let's just check, while we have everything apart.' ;)

I can say definitively that the spokes and nipples are just fine, as are the hub flanges. I am also an engineer, which led me to inspect the wheel in the first place.

As soon as I can locate a rim, I'll swap it with the damaged one, I've done this several times in the past; twice on this specific wheel in it's 20 year life as I wore the brake track out on the original and dented it's replacement on an unseen rock in the road.

These are brass nips - I had a bad experience with alloy nipples many years ago, had one break on a front wheel during a standing climb and upon inspection the inside looked like swiss cheese. I went to a bike shop that same day and replaced all 64 nipples with brass in my hotel room that night before the next day's ride. I will never build another wheel with alloy nipples again.

We engineers are prone to overthinking things. ;)

I'd say that if a spoke is cracked, a round of exuberant stress-relief should find it. If you take a wheel apart, then you have to keep track of which spokes were elbows-in/elbows-out for relacing the wheel.

Eyelets are one of the dumbest bike inventions ever. IMO.
My latest buy came with them ....Grrrrrrrr.