Rim swaps made easy

On Friday a package was left in our greenhouse.  In it were various vital bike parts including an Exal LX17 rim.

The rim is a replacement for the Open Pro front wheel on my best bike.  After 2 PBP and 4 years of use the braking surface is looking somewhat concave.

Switching over the rim only took a couple of hours.  I work slowly on mechanical stuff so this is lightening quick.

I used a method I’ve not done before.  This was taping the new rim next to the old rim and moving the nipple ends directly into the new rim, without unlacing them.

I’ve never read a step by step description of how to do this.  Perhaps because once you’ve done it once, it seems obvious.

Rim transfer step-by-step
prerequisites: a new rim with the same ERD as the old one, rim tape, engine oil, 3 in 1 oil, screw driver or nipple driver, spoke key, electrical tape

1. Remove the old rim tape
2. Apply engine oil to the inside of all the empty holes on the new rim. Put a drop of 3 in 1 on the top of each of the nipples on the old rim
3. Line up the valve holes and rim holes on both rims. Tape them together in several places
4. Starting at the valve hole undo all spokes 5 turns
5. Starting at the valve hole undo each spoke that is next to the new rim, remove the nipple, move the nipple to the adjacent hole on the new rim and switch over the spoke. Tighten the nipples in the new rim just a few turns. On the same pass around the rim loosen all the other old rim nipples even more.
6. Starting at the valve hole move the remaining spokes in a similar way to the new rim.
7. Tighten all the spokes on the new rim to the point where the screw driver doesn’t work
8. Untape the rims and admire the laced new rim

Now you need to true the rim, which I won’t cover here. But doing the transfer this way means that the rim starts off fairly true and is quick to get sorted out

I went for a 120km ride over Exmoor on the new rim on Sunday