Mavic wheel help

[ishaw]

I have acquired a set of Mavic wheels recently knowing they had an issue I hoped I could sort.

So, the issue was described as a twisted spike. Simples, get a replacement right? Not so simple.

The rims are the ones with the nipples that screw into the rim bed, still not a problem, but there's something rattling within the rim.

Due to the design of the rim, there's no spoke holes on the inside so I can't even get the early bit to move much around inside the rim. I'd assumed they had a ust rim strip that I could remove but it's all metal.

What to do?

Remove spokes and see if I can get the rattly bit out through a spoke holes?

Drill a hole in the rum bed and remove via that?

Not keen on the latter as they are nice wheels with the zicral blades spikes.

What options do I have?

 

[bikeworkshop]

Those captive alloy spoke cups break easily, so the rattly piece is probably a part of it, maybe just a turn of thread.
They also seize into the rims quickly, in some cases a single broken spoke writes the wheel off.
It will be worth soaking the joins with penetrating fluid.

You need a special tool - we call it the goosefoot. There is more than one size too! The cups are m7 left hand thread iirc, and if you take I've out, you'll have a hole to extract the loose thing, except it will probably be the same size if it's a turn of the m7 thread.

Last time I did this, I was able to break the fragment in half and pull it out with a steel spoke with a blob of grease on the end.

The valve hole also gives access, but it's a little smaller overall iirc.

 

[wynne]

Many of these wheelsets (and others like them) are of an age where components have seized up and importers no longer stock spares. I work as a wheel builder and we no longer take in wheel sets with proprietary aluminium nipples and spokes. You can very easily do more damage in trying to adjust them - sometimes making them unrideable for lack of spares. My strong advice would be to try and straighten the twisted spoke as best you can and generally leave well alone.

 

[bikeworkshop]

But if you need one, pm me the length and a photo of the spoke.
We've probably got spares and still fix these wheels