I just purchased a set of near new WH-6500 wheels cheap off the internet. My question is while the wheels are laterally true the rear wheel has a pronounced radial hop. No visual damage is apparent but the wheel does hop when spun off the ground.

Can the wheel be ridden this way safely and without any damage resulting to the wheel?.
Or, should I spend the $25.00 to have the LBS true the wheel?.

Thanks for you valued opinions.

I just purchased a set of near new WH-6500 wheels cheap off the internet. My question is while the wheels are laterally true the rear wheel has a pronounced radial hop. No visual damage is apparent but the wheel does hop when spun off the ground.

Can the wheel be ridden this way safely and without any damage resulting to the wheel?.
Or, should I spend the $25.00 to have the LBS true the wheel?.

Thanks for you valued opinions.

Where is the hop located? (I presume it hops outward, as compared with the rest of the wheel? also is there another point on the rime which does this?)
It's a little hard for me to give advice without seeing your hoops; Either way I'd say take it your LBS and have them look at it/and or true it. If the work is relatively minor, a $25 flat rate true charge can be expensive....which can be motivation for learning to true your own wheels (it takes practice and patience, and time-and a good spoke wrench). If you want to learn to true there are tips in Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance and there are whole books about wheel building.
With paired spoke wheels (which normally have a much lower spoke count than 2x or 3x wheels), each spoke needs to take a greater amount tension to keep the wheel round than say a 32h mavic rim (laced any way you want), and that hop on your rim, if you're going hard enough, and what your weight is, (on a bad road) could do damage to your rim/hub...the hop (depending on how much of the wheel circumference bulges) could concentrate your weight in a small area around the spokes; and at each wheel rev cause the spokes to flex (shortening the spoke life-and rim life).

Hope that's helpful

Your "pronounced hop" suggests that the wheel might have significantly uneven tension, which is the path to broken spokes and poor reliability. If the spoke tension is even and you have the pronounced hop, then that suggests a rim that is quite out of round. Fix it now or fix it later or send it back. The $25 would be well-spent if your LBS has the skills. Otherwise, this points to the value of knowing how to maintain a wheel on your own.

My local Performance bike shop trued the set for free. Great bunch of guys out there. Turns out the radial "hop" was the result of the weight of the long stem valve...I guess the weld on the other side does not offset the valve on these wheels

how did you get performance to true the wheels for free?

So, your determination of a "pronounced hop" was done by holding the spinning wheel in your hands and watching it move up and down? When placed in a truing stand (or bike frame) there was no hop? Otherwise, there is no way that the weight of a valve stem would cause any movement in the rim. No wonder you got the truing for free from Performance - it sounds like they put it in the truing stand, gave it a spin, saw that it was just fine, and gave it back to you with a grin on their faces.

Well Kerry, clearly I did'nt spend enough time investigating the the "radial hop". My confusion came from mistaking the imbalanced rear wheel for being out of round. My bad. :o Turns out the wheels did need a minor lateral trueing which was performed while I waited.

Since I purchased my bike at Performance their policy is to perform all adjustments for free. Very accommodating people at both my local Performance Bike shops.