Rim Wear

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The more you pay, the thinner the rim wall. A few quality rims are made thicker for specialist touring use.
I had a set of commuter wheels built by my local bike shop using lower grade, thicker rims and they were very durable for all weather riding with rim brakes.
 

roubaixtuesday

self serving virtue signaller
What is the recommended criteria for rim replacement?
 

andrew_s

Legendary Member
Location
Gloucester
Google "iwanson gauge" for a rim measuring tool (£5 - £6).
My experience is that rims fail at about 0.7 mm minimum wall thickness, so replace once under 1 mm.

I also found that the brake blocks used can make quite a lot of difference - some get bits of glass, gravel or metal embedded in them more easily than others. I found stock shimano quite poor and settled on koolstop, but YMMV.
 
Location
Loch side.
The more you pay, the thinner the rim wall. A few quality rims are made thicker for specialist touring use.
I had a set of commuter wheels built by my local bike shop using lower grade, thicker rims and they were very durable for all weather riding with rim brakes.
That is so true. The problem is that people buy bike parts by the gram, instead of by assessing quality. The lighter, the more desirable. On something like a wheel, where can one possibly save weight? Thinner rims, thinner spokes, smaller bearings and aluminium nipples. Eacvh one of these savings except for the thinner spokes, is a wrong step if you are after durability.
 
D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
Google "iwanson gauge" for a rim measuring tool (£5 - £6).
My experience is that rims fail at about 0.7 mm minimum wall thickness, so replace once under 1 mm.

I also found that the brake blocks used can make quite a lot of difference - some get bits of glass, gravel or metal embedded in them more easily than others. I found stock shimano quite poor and settled on koolstop, but YMMV.

I've ordered one from EBay, should be more accurate than my finger and thumb.
 
D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
Google "iwanson gauge" for a rim measuring tool (£5 - £6).
My experience is that rims fail at about 0.7 mm minimum wall thickness, so replace once under 1 mm.

I also found that the brake blocks used can make quite a lot of difference - some get bits of glass, gravel or metal embedded in them more easily than others. I found stock shimano quite poor and settled on koolstop, but YMMV.

For a long time now I've been fitting Koolstop Salmon brake blocks as soon as the blocks that come with the bike need changing.
 
D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
I've just bought some of those but at £10/pair vs £35 for a rim I'd need to know that they wouldn't wear the rim down by a factor of 3.5 less compared to "normal" (shimano) brake blocks.

I said up thread that my winter fixed is getting close to 10000 miles and the front rim is just starting to cause concern, I went on to my computer and had a look at my records and the mileage and its 8800 miles, and I've not had to dig slivers of metal out of a Kool Stop.
 
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Drago

Legendary Member
Ife never worn a rim out, and I'm far heavier than average. My oldest bike is 40 and the Wolber rims on that are actually very good. It doesn't help that too many riders comfort-brake to compensate for a fundamental lack of control skill in the same manner most car drivers do.

in addition to that, the Weinmann centrepulls need far less attention averaged over the years than any Shimano hydraulic system I've owned, so its really horses for courses - you've only got to look at the number of "I've a problem with my disc brake" threads to gain an insight into that one.

Bicycle discs arent a panaca, they simply move the needle of compromise to a different position on the scale.
 
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