Shimano R501 Lifespan?

[fossyant]

I thought this was about right but 4700! seems a bit low

It depends upon conditions and sometimes brake blocks. Some are more harsh. I clean my rims and blocks after wet rides and only get 18 months.

 

[TheDoctor]

Any of the salmon / pink brake blocks will be a lot kinder to rims than the standard Shimano blocks IME.
The stopping is better too. The blocks wear out faster, but you can't have everything...

 

[Arjimlad]

 

[Deleted member 1258]

It is a very hard question to answer as it will depend very much on you and your useage, miles alone don't tell the whole story, that said your cleaning regime needs improving, once a week is not enough IMO, a quick wipe of the rim and brake block after every ride with a thorough weekly clean would be much better and not much more effort.

In my experience and the sort of use I get from rims, if a pair of rims had worn out with the mileage you have had, I'd be contacting the manufacturer and telling them the product was either faulty or not fit for purpose. In fact I recently did this with Pro-Lite after a rim wore to the point of cracking, in what was, in my experience, a disgustingly short amount of time. This was after 3k miles at most, more likely ~2.25k of mostly dry riding, relatively little braking as I don't commute and bar a few traffic lights on the way to my training routes, I only ride to train on uninterrupted routes and clean my bike after every ride (they tried to tell me I had done more miles than that, but I know better as I log things in such a way I can deduce the actuality within a pretty good range) but for you and your riding style, cleaning regime, where you ride, etc that mileage way well be completely normal and acceptable.

I've never changed a rim, I normally find the wheels are years old and knackered before the rims give cause for concern.

 

[cyberknight]

I have switched from my commuting bike with 501s to a rigid MTB with disc brakes for this very reason, i do not want to destroy the rims with the sludge and grit about.

 

[DWiggy]

I have switched from my commuting bike with 501s to a rigid MTB with disc brakes for this very reason, i do not want to destroy the rims with the sludge and grit about.

If I ever get another commuter, I will definitely considerer discs, should be much cheaper changing them than the whole rim

 

[DWiggy]

New wheels have arrived..wooo (gone for the same) and wow my old ones are really phucked, knew they were bad but woha!!!

 

[Accy cyclist]

How do you know when wheel rims are worn out? I'm curious as i've done around 25,000 miles on one of my bikes on the same wheels. I'm not being controversial just keen to learn.

 

[DWiggy]

How do you know when wheel rims are worn out? I'm curious as i've done around 25,000 miles on one of my bikes on the same wheels. I'm not being controversial just keen to learn.

The braking surface was badly ribbed and concave, also the last set of brake blocks wore out in about 600miles.....and the bloke at my LBS said too

 

[Dragonwight]

How do you know when wheel rims are worn out? I'm curious as i've done around 25,000 miles on one of my bikes on the same wheels. I'm not being controversial just keen to learn.

Snap, the distances given are what i would expect from tyres not rims, I have 20K on a set of old Alex Rims and the bearings are more knackered than the rims, ridden on officially the worst roads in the UK too. Very strange indeed.