Never be in a hurry when it concerns…

Bike repairs. I know this but still sometimes events come up and you need something done fast so you try to find a shortcut here or there. The problem is that shortcut usually works out disastrously. Such is my plight with Nimble. Nimble is a big name in triathlon wheels and they make a carbon rim that last year all wheel builders were raving about. After doing my research and finding a wheel builder that had comparable ideas on wheel building I had a set of carbon tubular wheels built.

The wheels were beautiful. A mix of Nimble Fly carbon rims, Sapim CX-Ray spokes in a 3x/2x pattern, White Industry hubs. They were light and strong. Of course as all of us know occasionally you run over stuff or hit something in the road. The more miles you put on a wheel set the greater the chance they will go out of true. I of course had those same problems.

Last year the rear rim was replaced by the original builder, Troy Watson of Ligero Wheelworks. Troy is now building his own branded wheels that will be available through select bike shops. This was done under warranty as a spoke had started pulling through the rim and Nimble claimed that they had never seen that issue before. Rode the now repaired wheel the rest of the year and into this one until just a few weeks ago when I hit a big pothole on the way to Howard’s Gap. It was enough to crack the rim from one side to the other right at the valve hole.

Now as all of you know Mitchell was last weekend and I wanted the wheels for that ride. My thought was that I was a competent enough wheel builder that I could just buy a replacement rim and re-lace it myself. When I called Nimble they told me they could rebuild it and turn it around fast. They gave me a price that I could live with so off went the wheels to Texas.

I get the wheels back on Friday before Mitchell. I quickly apply some Tufo Extreme tape on the wheel and mount my tire. I fill the tire and set it aside. It looks like a good strong build. At the moment I am happy.

The next day it comes time to mount the wheel and to get ready I place the wheel sensor magnet on one of the rear spokes. This is when I notice something very strange. The Sapim CX-Rays that cost 3x what a standard spoke costs are gone. What I have is some no name spokes specifically made for Nimble in their place. Besides that I also see that the spoke pattern was changed to 2x/2x. I can’t call Nimble to find out what is up, but I am angry.

They did not attempt to call me or contact me in any way, they just imposed their ideas on how the wheel should be rebuilt without even considering that I had already done the research and built them the way I wanted in the first place.

Now Tuesday and it gets interesting. First let me say that Nimble is not a big outfit and that they do not always answer their phones, allowing things to go to voicemail which they never manage to get to. So I call a few times until I actually speak to Dave, the owner.

Dave tries to convince me that he did the right thing by changing the spoke pattern to 2x/2x. Then he tried to overwhelm me with techno babble about how Sapim CX-Rays are junk and that he would never use them in a build. My gut is telling me that they just don’t want to spend the money on them. Something about inferior grades of wire, cut threads instead of rolled, sourcing wire from China, etc. Everything to convince me that they did the right thing and the only error they made was to not tell me in advance. Dave even says that he knew about the differences before hand. That his wheel builder told him about the mismatched spoke pattern and they went ahead anyway.

Since it is obvious to e that he does not have my original spokes and I can’t get them back I ask about DT Aerolights, They are comparable to the Sapim as far as looks and function. He reluctantly agrees to check on them to see if he would be “comfortable” building a wheel with them. Dave promises to call me back later tat afternoon with an update.

No call from Dave! The next day I call and ask what is up. He said he had no news about spoke availability. I try to remind him that I am a paying customer and CS101 says if you promise to call you call, even if there is nothing new to report. He proceeds to tell me that he did not make any money on me and that “he did me a favor” when he replaced my rim and spokes at his advertised “Crash Replacement” price. I suggest that he replace the spokes at his expense. He agrees that he would pick up the shipping and the rebuild but insists that I pay for the DT Aerolites, since it was my fault the wheel was damaged.

Dave does provide me with another option, I could cut the spokes out send him back the rim and cut spokes and he would refund all my money. This was his way of basically telling me to f— off, that I should be thankful he did anything at all. I asked him why he would even suggest the second option since that would leave me without a wheel. He said that way I would be able to build anything I wanted and make myself happy. What an ass!

During this time I posted my story as it was unfolding on one of the Internet bicycle forums. The original builder stepped in and made me an offer to restore my wheel to its original state. It is now off to the person I should have sent it to in the first place.