Do thin wheels affect handling?

[merlin321]

Hi all, my Alex DA22 rims have gone past the point of the wear indicators and are now due for changing but finances are resricting replacement at the moment.
This may be a dumb question but as the rims get thinner does it affect the handling of the bike. ie is there more flex in the wheels that leads to a different feel when riding?
Over the past month or so the bike feels more drifty on the road. weather conditions and road surfaces don`t make a difference, but occasionally it feels like riding on an oily surface - really vague and uncertain.
I`ve done all the obvious mechanical checks to make sure nothing is loose, tyre pressures are checked every day -105psi and there is no apparent casing distortion.
Has anybody else come across this or have any idea of the cause.

Cheers m`dears.

 

[TheDoctor]

I've never heard of this. If the rims are so thin that they are flexing under cornering, I'd expect the sidewalls would have blown out under the tyre pressure

 

[Garz]

On traction difference I noticed was going fast on a damp surface was far dodgier (more sliding).

 

[GrasB]

I'm sure they do, when the metal starts to get thin I find the Marin is no where near as sure footed when laden. One of the reasons I'm thinking about going for a disc brake up front on the bike when my next wheel set is up for replacement.

 

[fossyant]

No - never noticed an old pair of wheels deteriorate in performance. Retired them as the rear rim started to split due to wearing thin.

 

[brodie]

Could be a tight headset.

 

[02GF74]

have you checked spoke tension - with much use the spokes will loose a bit of tension, not a lot, but iot may be enough to be noticeable.

 

[andrew_s]

As rims wear the tyre pressure can splay the rim sides apart at the top, so it's like you've got a wider rim. 23mm tyres on 19mm touring rims don't handle very well. This should be fairly obvious as a pronounced dishing of the braking surface.
By the time things get like that, there's not much life left in the rim.

If you are lucky and a rim fails, you just get a small split and knocking brakes, and you can let some air out and ride home carefully. If you are unlucky, the tyre explodes, with sharp bits of rim flailing about. If you are very unlucky, you are doing 40mph down a steep hill at the time.

 

[02GF74]

^^^^ even more extremely unlucky, I heard of a case where the rim sheared off and sliced the leg of the rider, much like the wheels in Ben Hurr!!

 

[Fiona N]

The floaty feeling sounds like the headset needs attention. Sometimes an old unit gets a 'favoured' position, due to past damage, and the steering tends to prefer to stay there or return to it, so it can cause a rather weird sensation of instability, especially if the favoured position isn't straight ahead.