I was cleaning out my shed recently and came across my old Magnum (1981) rear spoked wheel. This was the one that the bearing got chewed up in. The original hub has 17,000 miles on it and it still has braking power, but the chrome is pretty rusted (the front rusted through). So it got me to wondering: Since these hubs can last so long and you can still buy chrome (unspoked) rims for a fraction of the cost of mags, has anyone had experience doing just that? Taking the old hub and spokes and respoking a new rim? Any problems? What about doing the initial work and bribing a bike (or motorcycle) mechanic into doing the truing? I did research and one mechanic (bicycle) states that a top mechanic could build the ENTIRE rim in an hour. So how much do bike mechanics charge hourly? Get my drift?