Please help me rebuild my wheel!

[Numenor]

Hi, new member here, I'm looking for help in replacing my bike's rear wheel. Here is my bike -

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B2124.html

It's a single speed with 24" 1.95 rear wheel.

The problem I'm having is this, I need to replace the rear wheel, but I just don't know what to buy. Wheels I've searched don't seem to come as a complete package, meaning I need to buy the rim and then the hub or whatever, most of this terminology is lost on me. So I guess I'd like to know what else I need other than the rim itself. And do I have to buy 'single speed ready' rims? Then what type of hub would I need to buy? If I could just buy a new 24" wheel with a hub already fitted life would be simpler!

I'd really like to learn how to fix my own bike instead of running to the repair shop, and that means knowing which components I need and how to go about assembling them. Would appreciate any help from the resident bike experts!

Thanks.

 

[cyberknight]

Plenty of places sell whole wheels , you can even buy a front and rear set from bike direct, ebay

 

[accountantpete]

The 24" rim is slightly unusual as is the single speed so a ready made complete wheel may be hard but not impossible to track down. Failing that you could ask your LBS to build one up for you.

You could assemble a wheel yourself but it is quite complicated and wheel building takes a bit of skill so I would go the LBS route.

 

[Citius]

Unless every single component of your wheel (ie rim, hub, spokes) are all completely destroyed (unlikely, I would have thought) then just get the wheel rebuilt with the necessary replacement parts. Single speed hubs, spokes or 24" rims are all relatively easy to find.

 

[Numenor]

Thanks for the info. Can you tell me a bit about spokes? What difference do spokes make to the wheel? Are there varying qualities of spokes? What difference does the amount of spokes make?

 

[Smurfy]

The amount of spokes in the rim (number of holes) must match the amount of spokes in the hub (number of holes).

Bikes for BMX, jumping etc etc usually have larger numbers of spokes than those for riding fast on smooth surfaces.

In general terms, spokes come in stainless (expensive but doesn't rust), and rustless (cheap but eventually looks horrible) versions. You may also encounter painted spokes, which are probably non-stainless with a layer of paint to make them look nice or a different colour.

For weight saving you can get butted spokes (single = butted at one end, double = butted at both ends). Butting makes the spokes thicker and therefore stronger at the ends (where they are most likely to break. For BMX and jumping I suspect most wheels are built with plain gauge spokes (non-butted).