bikeolly

I was riding my normal route home from work which entails a slight wooded area, i hit a wooden stump in the ground which caused three spoke nipples to pull through the rim. I got home and took the tyre and tube off and put the nipples back through the rim, they are sitting fine and not falling through the holes. I decided to tighten all the other spokes as they seemed loose and have completely buckled the wheel. Do i need to get a new rim or can the wheel just be trued. Also, i cannot seem to upload any photos.

sweeks

If your spokes pulled through the rim, you will almost certainly need a new rim.
You have to have a certain number (10?) of posts before you are allowed to attach images.
Steve

bikeolly

The spoke nipples are still sitting fine, i am taking it to a bike shop tomorrow but i dont want to be screwed over.

sweeks

Are they under the same tension as before?
Steve

bikeolly

I tightened them as much as i could to see if they would pull through but they didnt.

corrado33

You will definitely need a new rim.

bikeolly

Could anybody tell me the reasoning for why they have come through?

SquidPuppet

How could they possibly pull through and then fight tightly again? Something is wrong with this story, or the way it's being told.

bikeolly

I was thinking that myself but they seem to fit perfectly unless it was the angle at which they came out i dont know.

alcjphil

If a spoke nipple actually pulls through the rim, the spoke holes have been enlarged enough that the spokes can never be tightened enough to be under stress ever again. The rim cannot "heal" itself to where it was before. It is toast

SquidPuppet

If the big part went through the hole in the rim, what you are saying is impossible.

sweeks

Well, it will be interesting to see what the bike shop says. Please post the results.
Steve

EDIT: As others have noted ^^, the rim's holes will have been permanently deformed. Aluminum is not a very elastic metal (and neither is brass, for that matter). For the spoke nipple heads to have passed through the rim, either the rim or the nipples would have had to be seriously distorted. The bike shop will probably tell you you need a new rim... they will not be trying to rip you off.

JohnDThompson 

You definitely need a new rim. You may actually find that it could be cost effective to replace the entire wheel rather than rebuilding with a new rim on your old hub.

bradtx

bikeolly, When a nipple is pulled through a rim, one or both mating surfaces will be damaged. My daughter T-Boned something years ago and she too pulled out three (IIRC) nipples. The rim survived with no damage. The brass nipples were too damaged to re-use. I had spare spokes and nipples, luckily.

Brad

SquidPuppet

Man that is surprising, and interesting. I would have bet the rim would give way first.

Abe_Froman

Steel rim maybe?

SquidPuppet

Oops. Never even considered that. Oddly, too, I was raised on steel rims. Distant (and rusty) memories now.

Abe_Froman

Heh, I've got an old Schwinn racer of my father in laws that I fixed up into reasonable riding condition. The dang steel rims are kind of a deal breaker though....rusty enough in a couple spots to make braking even in dry conditions an adventure. I suppose I could replace them with AL rims, but it would sort of ruin the whole vintage aesthetic of the bike, which is the only reason I've hung onto it.

I think I'm more inclined to build a new wheel around the SA 3 speed hub, which still works great, and use it on a different bike, and hang the Schwinn in the rafters to collect dust.

andr0id

What kind of rim?

I would guess holes are slightly oversized or nipples could be slightly undersized or a bit of both.

But, if they pulled through once, they will pull through again and each time a bit more material will be shaved off or compressed making it easier the next time.

SquidPuppet

Old Schwinns don't deserve to collect dust in the rafters.

They ride nice for just tootling around. Especially when you delete a few pounds of rotating mass. Polished aluminum rims can go a long way toward maintaining the faux chrome steel vintage look.

Shamelessly posts photo of my '77 Speedster.

Abe_Froman

That's a purty bike

I do like this bike, and I do need a project for the winter. You're right though, they DO ride very nicely if you aren't looking to go bombing around at speed. I'd have to strip and repaint this thing for sure, which I'm not totally opposed to doing.

rhenning

If the Schwinns paint is at all saveable do not paint. They are original only once. Roger

SquidPuppet

Thanks. What year is the Racer?

SquidPuppet

I agree. Sadly, mine wasn't.

Look at this beauty. The much coveted Coppertone. 1965..... not mine.

bradtx

I thought so also, I compared the holes where the nipples pulled through with an unaffected hole using a drill bit and all were the same size and no cracking. The rim is a Mavic CXP10 and still in service.

Brad