My 4 year old Flow\Hope wheelset is showing some wear, at least 10 nipples need immediate replacement on each wheel and the rest are not doing great either because of corrosion (I live and ride near the ocean). Hubs are in good condition and rims are ok, they have taken some hits but are still reasonably true.

Would it be a total waste of money to rebuild the wheelset using the same hubs, rims and spokes only replacing the nipples?

Are they really that bad? Brass nipples should corrode less than the alloy rim. Rebuild shouldn’t be a problem if you want. You could do it yourself. Get the wheelpro book and give it a go. Or, just swap them one at a time. Just tighten the nipple until it pulls the wheel straight again.

Yes they are pretty bad, they are alloy nipples (if I rebuild I’ll go brass) and many are visibly about to crack open, the rest are corroded and cannot be tensioned properly.

Replacing them individually is out of the question because this is a tubeless setup with adhesive tape.

I was thinking that since the rims are old they could rebuild out of wack or the wheels thing could not last long.

Cheers

Sorry, I assumed they were hope hoops but not if they have alloy nipples. Doesn’t matter if you rebuild or do them one at a time, the tape will have to come off. There’s no other way to remove the knackered nipples. If the rim is straight and true now,.it will be at least as good after a rebuild.