IdahoSpud

We were wandering through downtown Coeur d'Alene today, and I saw these wheels at an antique store, of all places. They were tagged at $22 each. I don't have a bike they will go on (mine have 126 mm spacing), but it seemed like too good of a deal to pass up.



Now I have sort of an excuse to buy a newer frame, if I can get a grudging go ahead from the Chief Financial Officer.

Kimmo

Hmm, they could be fairly vintage for straight pull.

$44 the pair is nice and cheap!

Iride01 

We used to joke about a friend that bought, at the same time, five new clothes irons because they were such a good deal.

Psimet2001 

That store did really well.

Litespud

nice - however the freehub body splines look pretty chewed up

IdahoSpud

Pretty sure that's grease that you're seeing. I will clean them up and have a closer look at the splines though.

blakcloud

You did well. For the price of 14 Caffe Latte at Starbucks you got yourself a pair of wheels.

It's funny though, if you built a bike with budget finds like your wheels and posted it, you would get praised on how well you did. You wouldn't get comments "like the store did" well or "the cassette is chewed" or whatever criticism spews out of someone's mouth.

What I have learned on Bike Forums is that there always has to be "that guy".

Enjoy your new wheels, you got a deal on them.

Mark Dominck

I can't tell from here,are they tubular or clincher rims? I like having extra rims and tires hanging around I just bought s nice set of tubulars and I love them,light, sleek and ride like a dream. Collecting bike parts is all part of cycling in my book,you did well don't let anyone discourage you.

vane171

I think these two links to user comments about these wheels refer to the ones shown here, probably clinchers.
Few highlights - the spokes are inverted and need special wrench, also are said to be straight and so less strong than the classic 'j-mold' or something (would that be because they are length-wise stiffer?). If there is not something wrong with them, rendering them unusable, this is a steal.

User comments 1
User comments 2

Kimmo

You have it backwards. IIRC, a round cross section can only take 80% in shear of what it can take in tension; elbows are a weak spot.

But spokes only fail by yielding when the wheel is destroyed in a crash, so it's irrelevant. Spokes fail from fatigue, caused by the cyclic tensioning and detensioning of loaded rolling.

Now consider what happens at the elbow when tension cycles like that - it bends back and forth, which is how you cause a fatigue failure.

Old school types turn up their nose at straight pull and/or low spoke count, but both innovations address fatigue. Besides being a tiny bit more aero and looking cool AF, low spoke count means higher tension, which guarantees no complete detensioning of spokes, vastly reducing fatigue and nipple unwinding. Rims have to be stronger (hello carbon), but since spokes have traditionally operated far below their yield point simply because they need to be thick enough to resist the torsion of tensioning, they don't need to be any bigger to take double the tension; you just need the nipples to be bigger if they're ally.

Shimano's RS20/21/80/81/Dura-Ace 16/20h OCR or 16/21h deep wheel family pretty much establishes a new standard that renders the old 32h J-bend formula comprehensively obsolete, IMO. Straight-pull spokes are a commodity now, there's no shortage of low-spoke count rims to choose from, and wheelbuilding could totally come back and give system wheelsets a run for their money, but where are the Shimano hubs? Shimano's parts support is absolutely woeful (you'll know what I mean if you've ever tried to source a cone for a 10yo hub) - they need to not only step up their game to something acceptable in that regard, including whole spare hubs, but wake up and smell the coffee with their silly old 32h hub range for wheelbuilding, which should include all the Ultegra and Dura-Ace hubs that go into their wheelsets.

chaadster

I had a pair of those; somewhere around ‘00 vintage, IIRC.

Psimet2001 

While my comment may have been flippant it comes simply from experience and looking at the big picture. I have, quite honestly, thrown out piles of similar wheels.

They are narrow. They weren't very well built to begin with. They were really flexy. They were 10 speed.

As for them having some sort of intrinsic value based on the fact that they are round, 700c, and still exist... ugh. I have 3-4 sets of Campy tubular track wheelsets hanging at the shop at the moment. Worth nearly nothing. I pitched a pile of single walled 26" wheels when I moved the business in January. You should be able to find piles of similar wheels available anywhere used up parts are re-sold.

If they have value to you personally then great. You saved some wheels from the trash. Reduce, reuse and recycle and all that.

If you feel you got a great value out of the transaction then kudos.

As a shop - if I had someone come in and pay $44 and save me form having to throw those away...I would have felt like I won the lottery. My original statement stands. If my way of thinking just seems completely weird to some of you then I highly recommend you go down to your local shop and ask if you can look through their garbage parts for your own personal rusty gold. It's all relative.

veganbikes

I may not be Ed McMahon but I could be pretty close are they 32 or 36h wheels or the newer Campy Track tubs? If 32 or 36 would take 'em all for $44 buckaroons (or whatever shipping is) I can't make much but I can get them sold and buy some drinkable whiskey with the money.

vane171

Thanks for the response, makes for an interesting read but it is the 'users' who expressed the concern on the links I provided, that have it backwards, by your reasoning.
What is certain is that these wheels are very custom built, non traditional (till now, I had no idea you can have nipples at the wheel center on hubs), and if they need some more serious work done on them before being able to ride them, maybe they are not worth it. By the time you order special spoke wrench and what not, maybe that's why they ended up in antique store.