Cheap replacement rim for an aksium wuss

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So, I gave a lift to a friend of mine the other day and who knew that an aksium rear rim couldn't support the weight of two fully grown men?!? :pac:
The rim cracked in a few places around the spoke holes so I was fairly lucky to get home after I dropped my passanger off!
Unfortunately this means my aksium is no more! :-(

I'm thinking about building it up again to it's former glory (no lifts given this time!) as the spokes and hub still look to be in good condition but I'm looking around on CRC/evans/wiggle etc. and most don't stock too many 24 hole rims and the cheapest so far is 30ish euro.
At thirty something, the rim costs a significant portion of a new wheel so I'm not sure it's worth my while (before I even find the specs to check out this rim has the correct ERD!)

My question is does anybody on here know a good place to pick up cheap rims online? It looks like at the moment I might just be buying a new wheel. It doesn't need to be super special as it's just for the winter bike/commuter.
Any recommendations appreciated! It would be good to get 'er running again!

Cee-Jay-Cee

Look on the German sites, bike24 and bike-components.com they're generally cheaper than anywhere in Ireland or uk (even when you include shipping price)

c50

ya if you dont care about your life feel free to build it back up.

FirstinLastout

Yeah, your rebuilt wheel will be waiting in the long grass ready to kill you, any nearby litter of adorable puppies and that passing school bus of innocents on their first trip away from the cold dank orphanage that they've been abandoned to!:pac::pac:
Ya big selfish clydesdale [EMAIL="b@st@rd"]b@st@rd[/EMAIL]!!

Rebuild ta' funk and replace what's necessary!

cdaly_

I just finished rebuilding a 24-hole aksium last week. I got the rim from CycleSuperStore in Tallaght for EUR36. If you're handy with building wheels, go for it. If not but you're handy anyway, get Roger Musson's Wheelbuilding book and start learning.

You'll need a spare wheel to get around on in the meantime as it dosen't do to rush these jobs...

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Thanks for the replies!
CJC999 I don't know how I completely forgot all about the German sites like rose etc, I'll give it a look thanks!

c50 I understand your reservations but I think it'll be ok, the rest of the parts look in great nic. I don't think it'll be a problem at all.

FirstinLastoutYeah, I think you're right, have a go, it's a bit o' fun!

cdaly_ That's interesting! Yes, I'd love to give it a go if it's not too expensive. I just finished building a 7 speed freewheel rear wheel last week for an old bike that worked out great so that's why I'm feeling courageous! About 160k done so far and it's still running pretty straight, hopefully that's not just beginners luck though....!

I'm actually using the 7 speed at the moment as a workaround (spacing on 8speed cassete /7speed freewheel are identical - thanks sheldon!) so there's no rush which is good because it did take me a while to get the 7 speed right.

cdaly_ Have you much experience building wheels? i.e. Did you find a 24 hole particularly more difficult than 36 hole to build?

cdaly_

This was my first wheel build though I've done a bit of trueing on existing wheels.

No real bother except I got confused as to which spoke should go where as there was a lot of slack in the spokes at the lacing up stage. It wasn't helped by the straight spokes and no actual holes in the hub so the spokes would keep slipping out. I ended up at one point with pairs of drive side spokes in adjacent holes in the rim before tearing it all apart and re-lacing.

I spent a good deal of time on radial as well as lateral trueing until I got it to the point where there is practically no lateral run-out and < 1mm radial. Then I squeezed all the spokes in pairs to relieve tension before re-trueing.

The other thing you'll need is something to hold the bladed spokes from turning when adjusting nipples. A block of plastic/wood with a hacksaw cut in it should do the trick or Musson suggests a feeler blade trapped between two layers of alu/steel.

Happy building...

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@ cdaly_
Yeah, with very little movement the spokes can slip out of the rim alright. I had noticed before on truing it that the blades could slip around alright. I'd used a small vice grips but this tends to leave small marks on the spokes. I had intended on cutting a slice into a piece if wood but I hadn't had to revisit the spokes... until now! I'm looking at wheelsets too like the shimano r500/501 so I'll weigh up my options over the next while. It is very satisfying to build a wheel though! I'll see! Thanks for the info anyway!