Anybody ever replaced a Mavic Ksyrium rim?

[Globalti]

I've done a few standard rims with plain alloy nipples and I've seen how easy it is to replace a spoke on a Ksyrium wheel. My rear rim is wearing out faster than the rest of the wheelset so I fancy having a go at fitting a new rim. I would do it by taping the new beside the old and swopping the spokes over.

Bad idea? Will I die? Where to buy a single Mavic Ksyrium rim? Where to buy a Ksyrium spoke key that's not made of plastic?

 

[confusedcyclist]

I strongly recommend having a bash at wheelbuilding. You'll have fun and it's a great skill to learn, as you'll then know how to true your own wheels at the roadside. If you're a competent wheelbuilder, regular wheel maintenance becomes a thing of the past though as most well built wheels require little attention over time. So unless you have loads of bikes, it's a skill you might not get to apply that often.

My only reservation about your specific task is the low spoke count rim will be harder to true than a 36/32 spoked wheel. So you're starting with a tougher build for a newbie, but the principles of the build are the same.

Sourcing a rim will be your next challenge, you probably won't be able to find the exact same rim, as Mavic only sold them as complete wheels to my knowledge. This might mean in turn you need to source new spokes to complement a different rim, though this is only necessary if the diameter of the rim is too far out. You can get spokes quite cheap if you look online (SPA cycles being my favourite dealer) or haggle with your LBS, you'll be looking to pay no more than 40-50 pence a spoke. By the time you've added this cost on. You might as well throw in a hub which will allow you to build a higher spoke count wheel, which will make the build more durable, but not heavy! If you build up a Mavic Open Pro, widely regarded as the best bang for buck for serious road wheelbuilders, you just need a nipple wrench and driver, and you can do away with proprietary spoke keys entirely. They only come in higher spoke counts, because they are 'proper' rims (see Sheldon Browns's great spoke scam), so as mentioned, you'll need to start with new everything... still worth considering though!

Alternatively, just discard the wheelset and buy new. It's probably not cost effective to get a bike shop to rebuild, unless they can source a very cheap rim. The benefit of building your own durable wheels is that the next time your rims wear, you can easily source and replace the rim without an LBS intervention. I like to have a couple of spare rims in stock, and a few spare spokes in case of breakages. My Open Pro build and touring rims are both going strong after many thousands of miles.

 

[iluvmybike]

You can get some Ksyrium rims - depends on what you have. JEJames have the older version for about £70 a piece.You'll need exact match otherwise you may be into new spokes and those cost an arm and a leg. You can also buy better spoke keys - there are different versions of that so best establish which one before u buy. The Park tool ones are good but not cheap.

 

[Racing roadkill]

It’s do-able, but I’d use it as excuse for a new wheelset if I were you

 

[Globalti]

Well I'm not a novice, as I wrote I've done a few wheels by the rim-swopping method but this would be the first time with a Mavic Ksyrium, which has externally-threaded nipples with a coarse thread and very high spoke tensions. The threads are also reverse, I don't know why.

My front Ksyrium is in great shape but the rear rim is wearing quite a bit now as it's always wet and gritty in winter. The freehub is not too badly worn because I understood the importance of regular cleaning and lubrication of the simple boss design so that's nowhere near the stage of the Mavic howl of death. Therefore it would be a shame to ditch a good set of wheels for want of a rear rim.

Nowadays when out in wet conditions I purposefully do most of my braking with the front brake because the rim is usually clean and the brake works quietly and smoothly. I bet 100 metres of braking on a wet gritty rear rim causes more wear than 100 kms of braking on a clean front.

When eventually the Ksyrium SLs are beyond economic repair I will sell the bike and replace it with something with disc brakes for winter use.

 

[confusedcyclist]

Well I'm not a novice, as I wrote I've done a few wheels

That'll teach me for not reading your OP properly!

The threads are also reverse, I don't know why.

Call me cynical, but it's probably so you have to buy their proprietary spokes and nipples when something goes wrong. Surely there is no extra benefit from an engineers point of view.

 

[derrick]

Did one a year ago, no problem at all, except some of the nipples were a bit tight, I changed the rim after it was hit by a car, Spokes are available, Am trying to get hold of a Cosmic Carbone rim at the moment as the breaking surface is getting a bit thin.