I’ve got a Mavic Crossmax rear wheel in need of a new rim. It’s 20 spokes, the drive side is laced radially and the brake side is crossed, but with straight pull spokes. I’ve built plenty of normal wheels but all have been 3 cross with 32 or 36 j spokes. Is it even worth bothering with this one? I’m expecting it to be a bit of a nightmare to get it straight and true with even tension. Was planning to re-use the spokes as well…

Tape rims together. Swap one spoke at a time.

It’s not the lacing I’m worried about, more just the tightening and truing process with so few spokes.

I actually find it easier- everything is really obvious, small changes instantly have an effect. I learned to true wheels on big old 36 hole dh wheels and that was relatively hard because you had to adjust several spokes at a time.

YMMV of course, you do have to be a bit more subtle. And, well, it’ll be less forgiving of a bad build.

Mavic wheels aren’t really any harder to build than a normal wheel, the spokes sometimes pop out of the hub whilst lacing but once you start getting some tension in them it’s fine. The biggest problem is reusing the old spokes, if it’s a Fore drilled rim they are almost always IME seized in and need chopping out, Mavic spokes and (wheelset) rims aren’t cheap, you may find a complete wheel more cost effective.

As long as you lubricate the eyelet & spoke threads, use a good spoke key & spoke holder; then getting the spokes up to tension is hassle free.

Just tried to straighten a Mavic wheel and the nipples seize and on top of that are very crumbly…. even with the correct Mavic spoke key…

@twisty, there are no eyelets or spoke threads on a Fore drilled Crossmax, the alu nipple threads directly into the alu rim and is extremely prone to seizing!

@twisty, there are no eyelets or spoke threads on a Fore drilled Crossmax, the alu nipple threads directly into the alu rim and is extremely prone to seizing!

So could a potential course of action be
1) Give threads a good blast of penetrating oil and wait a while to sink in
2) Unscrew nipples
3) If nipples are in good shape then buy new rim, if not then buy a new wheel instead.

Yes, in theory that would work, however as rickmeister aludes to up there, if the nipples are seized they’re generally corroded and crumble when you try to turn them, if you’re at that point a new wheel is probably a better idea from a time/cost perspective.

Thanks all. I’ll strip and check the old one first.