First fall, wheel and tyre need replacing?

[Dave7]

Edit: we all fall off at some point, just get back on ASAP and take care, least you took nothing but a few bumps and scrapes.

I came off soon after getting my nice shiny bike (forgot I was clipped in).
Got home with blood running down my leg.
Wife...."where were you when that happened"?
Me......"I was on my a**e in the middle of the road"
Oh how I laughed

 

[KneesUp]

It is surprising how intuitive the extra braking you need in the wet becomes - as others have noted it's mainly because the blocks need to clear the water from the rim first. I have honestly never been aware of allowing extra braking distance in the wet, and have always thought that the need to brake earlier was exaggerated. However, now I have a drum brake onmy front wheel (which being sealed, works the same in the wet as it does in the dry) I realise that I was compensating for the rain sub-consciously, because now when it rains I brake too early, because my sub-conscious brain allows for the rain, but it doesn't need to, if that makes sense. Different brake blocks do make a big difference though.

I actually think clipless are safer in the wet as there's no chance of your foot slipping on the wet pedal
Also Tektro brakes aren't the best, keep an eye on the classifieds in case some 105s or Ultegra or similar come up (they fairly often do)

I'll just add my usual - toe clips also stop your feet from slipping off the pedals, with the added benefit of allowing you to wear your normal shoes.

I'd also question the implication that Tektro brakes aren't as good as Shimano - it's a simple mechanism really. It's possible they're not as light or a smooth, but it's the blocks that make the difference ultimately. I've got Ultegra on my road bike because I was offered them for cheap and they look nice, but I can't say I put them on and noticed any difference in the actual braking performance, it was just vanity!

 

[MikeJD]

Replace the tire definitely. The rear wheel is much more of a how you feel on it kind of thing. Structurally it will be fine, however the biggest concern it that the gouges have made the top of the rim rough and liable to cause damage to a new tyre you put on.

I'd take a fine gauge file to make sure that the outer round edge of the rim is smooth, then as @I like Skol said, get some emery paper (not sandpaper as it's too rough and not intended for metal) and just finally smooth the rim out. Do the same (emery paper not file) on the braking surface until it is smoothed out. You don't need to get it perfectly smooth, just no longer sharp in any place, if you can run your finger along it and feel nothing grabbing it, that's fine.

I wouldn't worry overly much about your brake pads - they last long enough and are cheap enough to replace - but they will improve your braking no end, I found Tektro pads quite hard and lacking power in the wet, which won't have helped your confidence any.

As @I like Skol also said, if you are locking up your rear wheel, your braking technique needs work. A lot of the time people tend to over-use their back brake because they are afraid of going over the handlebars like we often did as kids, but that's the wrong way to use your brakes. As with motorbikes, about 80% of braking power comes from the front brake, there are lots of good articles explaining why this is the case, so if you're interested I can post one or two. But nevertheless use your front brake most of the time.

When braking for a corner, you should aim to do all your braking before you start turning, braking in a corner is a recipe for the rear wheel in particular to lose traction and slip. Also watch out for patches of oil or diesel on the road as these are murderous on a corner or roundabout.

Lastly, you don't say what type of tire you are running, nor what size, and how heavy you are. It's unlikely that having the tire pumped up to 100psi (I run that sort of pressure all the time) will have caused your wheel to slip, but running a lower pressure may well make the ride more comfortable nonetheless.

If you let us know roughly what you weigh, and how wide your tires are (you can tell by the markings on the tire itself, you will see something like 700x25c or the like, the 25 is the width (25mm in this case)), we can advise on a good pressure to run. It is also possible that your tires are not particularly great in the wet - different tyres have different rubber compounds which behave differently, a stickier compound is better in wet weather as it grips the road better - but it does wear faster. Different tread patterns make no difference to how a road bike tyre performs in the wet, so slick tyres are just fine.

I'm around 80-82kg on a Giant Contend SL 1 (Size XL), the tyres fitted where Giant Gavia AC 2 tubeless 25mm.

I definitely need to work on breaking, at all times I've just been applying each of the two brakes at the same time, with the same pressure, no intentional difference between the two.

No need to remove the gouges, just any burrs that are proud of the rim surface plus a little bit more. This should allow the pad to pass over the damage without being cut into each time. You are also only looking at a small part of the contact as the other 95% of the contact area will be running on good, undamaged rim wall so even if that tiny area at the edge of the pad loses some rubber the rest of the pad will still be fully functional.


Something wrong here! If the brakes are set up well then it should be difficult to pull the levers back to the bars (if I am understanding you correctly).


I would say practice and experience. Try hard braking in a car park or somewhere clean. Even in the wet it should be possible to lift the rear wheel without the front wheel sliding when braking in a straight line. The rear wheel will lock and skid very easily when all the weight has moved to the front. when turning and braking it takes very little to lock the rear wheel and for it to step out of line.


Going into a corner with one foot (the inner one usually) off the pedal just in case, sets you up for a fall from the outset. Your position and balance on the bike is all wrong and the weight distribution and bike control is all wrong with only the weight on the outer pedal and at the bottom of the stroke. Clipped in with weight on both pedals allows you to distribute the weight Fr to Rr as required.


As I said, something wrong here. I have a roadbike bike from 2011 with the original Tektro brakes and pads and these were always adequate even in horrible conditions. Obviously some reduction in performance when wet but even on a hilly ride and downhill at enthusiastic speeds there was never any fear of not stopping (looking ahead an appropriate distance obviously). My son used the bike for a wet miserable ride to Scarborough last weekend and there were no complaints from him about the brakes even though he normally only rides with good hydraulic disc brakes. I suggest you get someone to check over the brake set up and cable tensions/routing before condemning the brakes themselves. they should work better than this.

Thanks for that, I'll give that a go and hopefully I can achieve a finish good enough for a new tyre.

The levers don't go back to the bars, I just mean full engagement (as hard as they can be pressed).

I don't know what could be wrong with the brakes, on the flats they bring me to a stop fine, but going downhill on steep descents they really struggle to bring the bike to a stop (even in the dry).

 

[MikeJD]

I’d never mess about with wheels and tyres. Any heavy damage and I’d replace the wheel and tyre, you don’t know how badly the rim has been weakened, and you don’t want it failing, at speed.

Would there be any way to test this? You've made me fearful that the impact may of caused more issues than are visible on the surface.

If it did need replacing, does anyone know where I should start looking in terms of recommendations for a replacement wheel?

Pricey job after just 500km

 

[vickster]

Would there be any way to test this? You've made me fearful that the impact may of caused more issues than are visible on the surface.

If it did need replacing, does anyone know where I should start looking in terms of recommendations for a replacement wheel?

Pricey job after just 500km

If concerned, ask your LBS to check the wheel?

Presumably the bike had its 6 week check?

 

[MikeJD]

If concerned, ask your LBS to check the wheel?

Presumably the bike had its 6 week check?

Unfortunately I purchased the bike online, due to a distinct lack of any XL bikes in my area (both in store and available to order).

The bike was taken to a bike shop a couple weeks after purchase for a gear cable issue, I'm not sure they'll of checked the breaks over too.

I don't have much confidence in the LBS within my town, had some poor experiences there. I think I need to visit one in the next town over and start building a relationship with the owners, but I also enjoy doing the work on the bike myself, knowing it's done 'right', or as it should be, without rushing etc.

 

[woodbutcher]

Not with that rear tyre on.

Yup, sticks like the proverbial to a blanket in the dry though. And its amazing how a modicum of risk focuses the mind

 

[Globalti]

The braking surfaces on a new wheel will have been quite smooth, not great for a cheap, hard brake pad in the wet. Once you've used the brakes a few times in wet gritty conditions the alloy will erode and become an even grey and more grippy. After a dry summer it will have polished itself again. That grey paste you saw is a mixture of metal paste and rubber. Think of polishing metal and the blackening of the polishing cloth.

 

[si_c]

Would there be any way to test this? You've made me fearful that the impact may of caused more issues than are visible on the surface.

If it did need replacing, does anyone know where I should start looking in terms of recommendations for a replacement wheel?

Pricey job after just 500km

I really wouldn't worry about that too much. Looking at the damage done, it's really just a surface scrape, very unlikely that there has been any significant damage to the wheel. From what you've said about how your brakes are setup, it sounds like you just need to replace the hard compound pads with the softer koolstop pads you already have - I've run tektro brakes on a couple of bikes and they do stop well enough, but as I said before, the compound on the brake blocks is really hard and doesn't grip well in the wet.

Lastly, I reckon you will be fine with 85psi front and 90ish psi in your rear tyre, that should be plenty at your weight with 25mm tyres.

 

[Alan O]

Would there be any way to test this? You've made me fearful that the impact may of caused more issues than are visible on the surface.

If it did need replacing, does anyone know where I should start looking in terms of recommendations for a replacement wheel?

Pricey job after just 500km

Just wondering - is the wheel still true? If it's not out of true, I really can't see it having sustained sufficient force to do any significant damage.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I really wouldn't worry about that too much. Looking at the damage done, it's really just a surface scrape, very unlikely that there has been any significant damage to the wheel.

Famous last words, I’ve had a rim disintegrate after a knock which showed less visible damage than the example above, it depends on what was hit, and how hard. As I said, through experience, I’ve never messed about when it comes to wheels and tyres, after a knock. It may be fine, it may not, you can’t possibly say for sure. I personally wouldn’t fancy finding out the hard way.

 

[MikeJD]

The braking surfaces on a new wheel will have been quite smooth, not great for a cheap, hard brake pad in the wet. Once you've used the brakes a few times in wet gritty conditions the alloy will erode and become an even grey and more grippy. After a dry summer it will have polished itself again. That grey paste you saw is a mixture of metal paste and rubber. Think of polishing metal and the blackening of the polishing cloth.

Yeah there was a lot of that grey stuff all over both the pads, inside of the forks and a layer over the whole braking surface itself.

 

[MikeJD]

Just wondering - is the wheel still true? If it's not out of true, I really can't see it having sustained sufficient force to do any significant damage.

As I took both wheels off to clean, I forgot to double check this. I imagine just spinnig the back wheel while the bike’s on a stand and checking it’s straight will answer this?

Thanks

 

[Globalti]

Yes. About 1mm of sideways movment is OK.

 

[Alan O]

As I took both wheels off to clean, I forgot to double check this. I imagine just spinnig the back wheel while the bike’s on a stand and checking it’s straight will answer this?

Thanks

Yep, that's all it takes.