Broken front hub: what action to take?

[mrfacetious]

Hi all, as the title suggests, the hub of my precious front wheel has broken. A large piece containing two spoke eyelets has clean snapped off during a ride (how the hell this happened I have no idea) and now I'm not really sure what to do. If somebody can help me weigh up the pros and cons of the options it would be much appreciated:

1. Have the wheel completely rebuilt with a new hub. This sounds very expensive and I'm no wheel builder, so it would have to be a shop job. However I will know I have a good quality wheel as my rim will be kept. Also I could toy with the idea of having a hub dynamo fitted (something I've never done before due to lack of excuse for a rebuild)
2. Buy a new wheel. I don't know much about them, so I wouldn't know whether I was getting a quality item or not. My current wheels are custom built touring wheels that came with my bike, with Mavic rims. The hub in question was made by Edco. I think the last owner said the wheels set him back £120 new.
3. True the wheel and continue riding sans two (adjacent) spokes. This really doesn't seem like an option at all...
   

If I was to consider a rebuild, is a hub dynamo likely to have the strength of a normal hub? Are they much heavier?

Thanks

 

[PpPete]

How many miles has the rim done? They wear out on the brake track if using rim brakes so it may not be worth re-using.

Dynamo hubs are quite a bit heavier, but you'll only really notice it on the hills if at all....the difference is less than a bidon of water.
This is the one I have (much cheaper from Rose than any of the regular UK folks), it's top of the Shimano range.
The SON ones are very slightly lighter, but cost 3 times as much.

If you do go down the rebuild route with a dynamo it will almost certainly need different length spokes, which may affect the economics.

But you can learn to build your own wheels - just get this. Best £9 I ever spent on bike stuff.

 

[albion]

It probably snapped because it was lightweight.

Being more top end means stuff has less damage tolerance.

 

[mrfacetious]

I'm not sure about the mileage, but I'm not a heavy user. The bike is about four years old. I've located a fully built dynamo wheel for about £75 (not new), but I'm not really sure this is a good deal or not, or whether the wheel itself will be any good.

If I was to buy a regular replacement wheel I'm not sure what to look for or how much to spend either - I imagine I could get a good one for about£60 or second hand for about £40. I guess this would be cheaper than a shop rebuild.

Although I'd love to try my hand at wheelbuilding one day it's not a step I'm willing to take yet.
Thanks for the reply