Jesus Christ. Eleborate on this accident so ill learn something new
ghidfg on
who built the wheel? wonder if the nipples were the wrong size
andi052 on
She‘s dead, Jim.
blueghosts on
Looks like it’s absolutely toast judging by all the cracks beside the spoke holes
DeadBy2050 on
1. Looking at just the pic, there is absolutely no way anyone can confirm whether the rim still good.
2. Even if the rim were still good, it’s probably not worth rebuilding. Just buy another complete wheel. I realize that advice may not work because your fork apparently takes a quick release wheel that has a disc rotor.
highenergyhair on
What kind of crash? If the rim really sustained no or minimal impact and is not visibly bent it might be ok. I’d inspect at and around the holes of the rim for cracks, take tire and rim tape off and look at that side too. Be meticulous. that looks like it was a serious crash!
Caldrenfitz on
Cmon man, photos like that need to be marked as NSFW…
But glad you SPOKE up….
terdward on
A closeup picture of the spoke holes would be required for better assessment but assuming those are NOT cracks I see, then you can rebuild it.
48x15 on
I’d frame it and put it up in the garage as art.
squirlybumrush on
It seems unlikely that the rim came away from this unscathed. It doesn’t appear to an overly expensive wheel so the replacement cost of the entire wheel might not be much different than a rebuild. If you get it built and find the rim isn’t ok then you’re back to square one (assuming of course you’re having someone else build the wheel).
rickard_mormont on
If the rim isn’t cracked or bent, yes. But it’s a complex procedure as it’s basically the same as rebuilding a whole wheel. So a mechanic will charge a lot for it, maybe more than what the wheel is worth.
Chinesericehat on
Honestly, there is a chance the rim might be 100% fine. Dt swiss rims are pretty bombproof. But I would personally just get a new wheel.
TipPsychological3996 on
Take the tire off, remove the remaining spokes and put the rim on flat ground, if it is touching most of the way around without any crazy bends in it and there are no visible cracks anywhere (especially at the holes for the spoke nippels) it can be rebuilt into a decent wheel.
My advice if you are anywhere near a serious racer is however to get a new wheel, or at least a new rim and spokes, because this one will never be as strong as it was (not that it was very stout if it tore apart like that).
Edit: rebuilding a wheel like this is only cheaper if you do it yourself. If you need to go to a shop it is time for a new wheel (since labour costs are high with these kinds of jobs)
SillySpook on
For a second I thought this was the askashittymechanic sub
unoriginal_goat on
From what I can see the rim looks to be intact and the eyelets are in place. To my eye the lines appear to be scratches in the finish, not cracks, because many of them change thickness midway and some are segmented. For example the one near 22.5 on the tire skips making it two marks.
I can’t tell the condition of the hub from this picture.
It may be worth a shot but what I’d do is take the tire off and inspect the holes from the back before buying any supplies.
Maybe rebuild, if the rim is good (questionable), and you’ve got new, slightly longer spokes, a few hours, and a lot of experience. Or buy a new wheel. Probably buy a new wheel.
ipilotete on
Hub and tire might be okay, trash the rest. How’s the dude that crashed?
Rammipallero on
Easy to true. Finally you can use your whole arm to tighten since the other spokes aren’t in the way.
Throwaway-244466666 on
I would ask DT Swiss what they recommend. Their support answers usually really quick.
MTB_SF on
Cheap pinned rim that almost certainly has some sort of deformation from the crash. Definitely not worth re using.
Re building that rim will take more than twice as long to get true, and won’t have even tension.
Budget-Engineer-7394 on
Theres no way that wheel ends up looking like this after not being thrown down 10meter cliff. From here it looks that only spokes or nipples have been broken, meaning whoever built that wheel have had bad combination of spoke/nipple lenghts. Use dt swiss spoke calc to figure it out
CanDockerz on
Can you upload some better pictures of the damage? For example are the spoke nipples broken or did they get pulled clean out?
They look like the wrong nipples to me, I think for that rim they’re supposed to be the squorx ones.
They’re cheap cross country wheels so probably cheaper to just buy something more trail oriented. You can pick up a new enduro rim like the DTswiss 532 for £50 and rebuild it yourself fairly easily.
0verlow on
Take the tire out lay rim and lay the rim on flat surface (floor does fine) and if it lays mostly flat on the surface it can be saved. Looking at the photo the spoke nipples seem to have failed and you have eyletted spoke holes which from the visible part look completely ok.
Now while I have strong believe a good wrench is able to save this. Another question is is it worth the repair. For most of the western world a complete wheelbuild with spokes will run you 100-150€$£ or more for which money you can get complete new wheel with warranty and guarantee no damage suffered. Reacing/ a wheel makes sense when the wheel costs half a grand or more and by doing so you can reuse expensive hub and/or rim. Or in retro case when one must absolutely save the look of the original rims but spokes are all fatigued or a hub is failing.
lrbikeworks on
Take the tire off and lay the rim on a flat level surface. If it lays perfectly flat, the wheel MIGHT be okay. If not, I would toss it. You’ll never get the tension right if you rebuild and it won’t be as sturdy as a new rim.
Alter-Igor on
The hub might be reusable, if you make sure that there in absolutely no damage to the flanges. Which would be a minor miracle jn the context of all the other.
Economically, as you will need new spokes, new rim, with a full rebuild, and in light of your time constraints, buy a new wheel. You can always keep the hub in your spares box.
Grgo_jdm on
poor rim literally got ripped apart 😂
jokes aside stuff still looks good from this pic, try looking for some wear marks or craks in the hub and rim, if the nipples were ripped out the rim they might have damaged the holes that held them in place, disc and trough axle should be fine if they arent bent, so judging from here you might just have to buy new spokes, but still do a detailed inspection on rest of the stuff before using it again
Alter-Igor on
May I also congratulate you for posting pictures of the most fucked up wheel I have ever seen.
googlehowdoisignin on
That’s nuts. I’ve seen wheels get tacoed but never this. It makes me think there was something wrong with the spokes/nipples. How is the rim still round and in one piece? What’s the rest of the bike look like?
Gullible-Factor-8927 on
Would you really trust that wheel again? I’d get new ones
shivay1008 on
It looks like the heads got torn off the nipples. Those rims are pretty tough but you need to put it on a bench to be sure. First is the rim bent or cracked? Are there any eyelets that got stretched open and let the nipple pull through. How many nipple heads are trapped between the rim walls. If it’s a pinned rim you’ll want to flex it near the joint, could have shared a pin. All in all its really not worth it to reuse a crashed rim. It looks pretty standard. You should be able to pick up a wheel for your race from your lbs
idkwtfisgoingon323 on
If the rim isn’t cracked or bent hard anywhere it should be fine. If you’re not building the wheel yourself it might be quicker, cheaper and safer to buy a complete wheel.
SoftwareOdd8846 on
It’s a puncture or did I miss something.. doesn’t really see the problem.. sry. Hope everyone is ok
Baseline88 on
I’ve only seen this like twice in my life, once the dude was hauling ass down hill, overbraked the front started going over the handle bar, turned the wheel while the bike was falling and suddenly the spokes “plucked out” as the wheel spun most diagonally with his chest smashing the bar. Brutal end man, his face swole up like a tomato. The other time I came up to a rider after it happened like in your photo at a Bike NY Discover Hudson Valley Ride, pretty hilly.
If the rim isnt cracked and the holes weren’t enlarged or made oblong, go for it. But that first crash, the rim holes damaged
GoCougs2020 on
Not worth the risk. You can find used rims in good condition for like $20-$30.
$80-$110 for a new one.
Especially if it’s front. I wouldn’t mess around with it.
i’m going to guess the spokes weren’t properly tensioned. probably a new wheel that didn’t have a nice re-tensioning after bedding in. either that, or… no idea, particularly tough stick?
as for the rim: i can’t tell from the picture. the eyelets look like they’re in ok shape, but a few of those spokes have ripped out with the nipples still attached, which would make me think those spokes took out the eyelets with them. if this is the case then, no, the rim is not re-usable.
if the eyelets are all in good shape, then take off the wheel and lay it on a flat surface. if there’s an S-shaped curve that spans only a handful of spoke holes, that will indicate a deformity in the rim that no amount of spoke tensioning will ever fully correct. if it doesn’t lay perfectly flat but only has a gradual lift of a few millimeters that spans many spoke holes then it’s probably usable.
38 Comments
Jesus Christ. Eleborate on this accident so ill learn something new
who built the wheel? wonder if the nipples were the wrong size
She‘s dead, Jim.
Looks like it’s absolutely toast judging by all the cracks beside the spoke holes
1. Looking at just the pic, there is absolutely no way anyone can confirm whether the rim still good.
2. Even if the rim were still good, it’s probably not worth rebuilding. Just buy another complete wheel. I realize that advice may not work because your fork apparently takes a quick release wheel that has a disc rotor.
What kind of crash? If the rim really sustained no or minimal impact and is not visibly bent it might be ok. I’d inspect at and around the holes of the rim for cracks, take tire and rim tape off and look at that side too. Be meticulous. that looks like it was a serious crash!
Cmon man, photos like that need to be marked as NSFW…
But glad you SPOKE up….
A closeup picture of the spoke holes would be required for better assessment but assuming those are NOT cracks I see, then you can rebuild it.
I’d frame it and put it up in the garage as art.
It seems unlikely that the rim came away from this unscathed. It doesn’t appear to an overly expensive wheel so the replacement cost of the entire wheel might not be much different than a rebuild. If you get it built and find the rim isn’t ok then you’re back to square one (assuming of course you’re having someone else build the wheel).
If the rim isn’t cracked or bent, yes. But it’s a complex procedure as it’s basically the same as rebuilding a whole wheel. So a mechanic will charge a lot for it, maybe more than what the wheel is worth.
Honestly, there is a chance the rim might be 100% fine. Dt swiss rims are pretty bombproof. But I would personally just get a new wheel.
Take the tire off, remove the remaining spokes and put the rim on flat ground, if it is touching most of the way around without any crazy bends in it and there are no visible cracks anywhere (especially at the holes for the spoke nippels) it can be rebuilt into a decent wheel.
My advice if you are anywhere near a serious racer is however to get a new wheel, or at least a new rim and spokes, because this one will never be as strong as it was (not that it was very stout if it tore apart like that).
Edit: rebuilding a wheel like this is only cheaper if you do it yourself. If you need to go to a shop it is time for a new wheel (since labour costs are high with these kinds of jobs)
For a second I thought this was the askashittymechanic sub
From what I can see the rim looks to be intact and the eyelets are in place. To my eye the lines appear to be scratches in the finish, not cracks, because many of them change thickness midway and some are segmented. For example the one near 22.5 on the tire skips making it two marks.
I can’t tell the condition of the hub from this picture.
It may be worth a shot but what I’d do is take the tire off and inspect the holes from the back before buying any supplies.
There’s a thing where you want your spoke to extend enough into the spoke nipples to provide additional structure and strength for the spoke nipples (like the image in this link: https://wheelfanatyk.com/blogs/blog/wheel-building-tip-no-9-succeed-with-alu-nipples). It looks like that thing wasn’t done on this wheel.
Maybe rebuild, if the rim is good (questionable), and you’ve got new, slightly longer spokes, a few hours, and a lot of experience. Or buy a new wheel. Probably buy a new wheel.
Hub and tire might be okay, trash the rest. How’s the dude that crashed?
Easy to true. Finally you can use your whole arm to tighten since the other spokes aren’t in the way.
I would ask DT Swiss what they recommend. Their support answers usually really quick.
Cheap pinned rim that almost certainly has some sort of deformation from the crash. Definitely not worth re using.
Re building that rim will take more than twice as long to get true, and won’t have even tension.
Theres no way that wheel ends up looking like this after not being thrown down 10meter cliff. From here it looks that only spokes or nipples have been broken, meaning whoever built that wheel have had bad combination of spoke/nipple lenghts. Use dt swiss spoke calc to figure it out
Can you upload some better pictures of the damage? For example are the spoke nipples broken or did they get pulled clean out?
They look like the wrong nipples to me, I think for that rim they’re supposed to be the squorx ones.
They’re cheap cross country wheels so probably cheaper to just buy something more trail oriented. You can pick up a new enduro rim like the DTswiss 532 for £50 and rebuild it yourself fairly easily.
Take the tire out lay rim and lay the rim on flat surface (floor does fine) and if it lays mostly flat on the surface it can be saved. Looking at the photo the spoke nipples seem to have failed and you have eyletted spoke holes which from the visible part look completely ok.
Now while I have strong believe a good wrench is able to save this. Another question is is it worth the repair. For most of the western world a complete wheelbuild with spokes will run you 100-150€$£ or more for which money you can get complete new wheel with warranty and guarantee no damage suffered. Reacing/ a wheel makes sense when the wheel costs half a grand or more and by doing so you can reuse expensive hub and/or rim. Or in retro case when one must absolutely save the look of the original rims but spokes are all fatigued or a hub is failing.
Take the tire off and lay the rim on a flat level surface. If it lays perfectly flat, the wheel MIGHT be okay. If not, I would toss it. You’ll never get the tension right if you rebuild and it won’t be as sturdy as a new rim.
The hub might be reusable, if you make sure that there in absolutely no damage to the flanges. Which would be a minor miracle jn the context of all the other.
Economically, as you will need new spokes, new rim, with a full rebuild, and in light of your time constraints, buy a new wheel. You can always keep the hub in your spares box.
poor rim literally got ripped apart 😂
jokes aside stuff still looks good from this pic, try looking for some wear marks or craks in the hub and rim, if the nipples were ripped out the rim they might have damaged the holes that held them in place, disc and trough axle should be fine if they arent bent, so judging from here you might just have to buy new spokes, but still do a detailed inspection on rest of the stuff before using it again
May I also congratulate you for posting pictures of the most fucked up wheel I have ever seen.
That’s nuts. I’ve seen wheels get tacoed but never this. It makes me think there was something wrong with the spokes/nipples. How is the rim still round and in one piece? What’s the rest of the bike look like?
Would you really trust that wheel again? I’d get new ones
It looks like the heads got torn off the nipples. Those rims are pretty tough but you need to put it on a bench to be sure. First is the rim bent or cracked? Are there any eyelets that got stretched open and let the nipple pull through. How many nipple heads are trapped between the rim walls. If it’s a pinned rim you’ll want to flex it near the joint, could have shared a pin. All in all its really not worth it to reuse a crashed rim. It looks pretty standard. You should be able to pick up a wheel for your race from your lbs
If the rim isn’t cracked or bent hard anywhere it should be fine. If you’re not building the wheel yourself it might be quicker, cheaper and safer to buy a complete wheel.
It’s a puncture or did I miss something.. doesn’t really see the problem.. sry. Hope everyone is ok
I’ve only seen this like twice in my life, once the dude was hauling ass down hill, overbraked the front started going over the handle bar, turned the wheel while the bike was falling and suddenly the spokes “plucked out” as the wheel spun most diagonally with his chest smashing the bar. Brutal end man, his face swole up like a tomato. The other time I came up to a rider after it happened like in your photo at a Bike NY Discover Hudson Valley Ride, pretty hilly.
If the rim isnt cracked and the holes weren’t enlarged or made oblong, go for it. But that first crash, the rim holes damaged
Not worth the risk. You can find used rims in good condition for like $20-$30.
$80-$110 for a new one.
Especially if it’s front. I wouldn’t mess around with it.
https://preview.redd.it/6mp7fcuiohxf1.jpeg?width=3048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce816a9e69249d64e74c4ab2de3070d6fe88c625
For anyone interested, i took some closeup photos if they help
https://preview.redd.it/qysvitukohxf1.jpeg?width=4064&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=766a23e4f0e77ccbbe0c0ea711aabd5a02767a3d
https://preview.redd.it/d36a8hbnohxf1.jpeg?width=3048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5a93967f171440778b58e1dc7e79fdd6df4e4ed
this is…. impressive…
i’m going to guess the spokes weren’t properly tensioned. probably a new wheel that didn’t have a nice re-tensioning after bedding in. either that, or… no idea, particularly tough stick?
as for the rim: i can’t tell from the picture. the eyelets look like they’re in ok shape, but a few of those spokes have ripped out with the nipples still attached, which would make me think those spokes took out the eyelets with them. if this is the case then, no, the rim is not re-usable.
if the eyelets are all in good shape, then take off the wheel and lay it on a flat surface. if there’s an S-shaped curve that spans only a handful of spoke holes, that will indicate a deformity in the rim that no amount of spoke tensioning will ever fully correct. if it doesn’t lay perfectly flat but only has a gradual lift of a few millimeters that spans many spoke holes then it’s probably usable.