Slow wearing rims

[botty]

My hilly, dirty back country commute is leading to quite high rim wear. Can anyone suggest a rim with a low wear rate that might give me better mileage?

The current rim is a halo white line that my local bike shop put on and I suspect this is not the best I can choose.

Please don't suggest cleaning after each ride. I can't clean the bike when I get to work so that's never going to happen.

Edit to add: I'm about to change to Koolstop pads which I believe can help reduce wear.

[The fat commuter]

I have a similar issue with my rims. I use my bike for commuting in a hilly, congested city. My current rear rim has about 2,000 miles on and is very worn.

My answer, which probably won't help you, was to ride a longer way into work where the congested bits are on the flat - so I don't use my brakes as much. When I do get a new wheel I may get a drum brake.

I have just bought myself a new bike with disc brakes for commuting, nice Dawes Super Galaxy 2014 - but having ridden it once, I don't like it.

Oh, I use soft brake pads - jagwire ones

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001 ... ge_o03_s00

Don't last long but don't tend to clog with metal bits.

[Brucey]

Halo white line rims are made of fairly soft material and furthermore it isn't that thick on the braking surface. IME one day the rim will start to splay outwards if you pump the tyres up to the recommended pressure and then it is time for a new rim.

Obviously disc, coaster or hub brakes do stop rims from wearing out but all add weight and complexity to some extent.

There are a few things that help reduce rim wear or (such as thicker rim walls) at least reduce the interval between rim replacements. I'd suggest that a rim is a £20 part that can be changed in an hour or so (with practice) for an identical replacement, so you can perhaps learn to live with the wear.... at the other extreme there are such things as carbide coated rims that basically don't wear out in the same way (although they will still get dented and/or break for other reasons). Carbide coated rims are pricey though....

cheers

[pwa]

There are all the non-rim brake options, and there is the carbide rim option. I have carbide rims on a bike and they show no wear after thousands of miles of commuting. On one wheel the hub gave up and I put the old carbide rim on a new hub! These rims are very expensive and they go through a phase of poor wet weather braking (that colin531 says is solved by using Koolstop Salmons). But they last and last.

But perhaps the simplest solution is Brucey's suggestion of learning to replace rims yourself. It is very empowering and not all that difficult. You need a truing stand, but it will save you money in the long run. I started replacing my own rims last year, and the rebuilt wheels have been good.

[Bicycler]

My Rigida (aka. Ryde) Sputnik rims have a thick braking surface

[geocycle]

Carbide coated rims are indeed expensive, but can pay for themselves. I wore through a pair of Sun ST19s in 7000 miles. They were replaced by rigida grizzly carbide rims and they have lasted for more than 16000 miles so far. The special SS blue blocks are also long lasting, I'm only on my second pair in 16000 miles. As I don't build my own it also reduces down time waiting for wheels to be built.

[The fat commuter]

One thing to consider if you're after long lasting rims. The rims aren't the only thing to be affected by commuting in all weathers. Two of my spoke nipples snapped with the daily bathing of salt over the winter.

When I next have a reason to receive presents, the 'book' on wheel building by Roger Musson is on my list so that I can replace rims and spokes and keep the wheels true for my harsh commuting.

[Brucey]

One thing to consider if you're after long lasting rims. The rims aren't the only thing to be affected by commuting in all weathers. Two of my spoke nipples snapped with the daily bathing of salt over the winter....

It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that your spoke ends were appreciably short of the slot in the nipple. A lot of wheels come like this these days, and IME it puts extra stress on the nipple, quite unnecessarily. Additionally some nipples are badly made and are drilled off-centre; again they can break.

So IMHO the 'Gold Standard' for spoke length is have the end of the spoke finish anywhere (within reason) above the bottom of the slot in the nipple. Since the slots are about 1mm deep and spokes won't go much more than +1 mm out of the top, this gives you a 2mm wide 'window' to shoot for.

If pushed, I'd argue that the most important spokes that should meet this standard are the drive side ones on a dished rear wheel, since they see the highest stresses. Just the static stress and salty water can be enough to set brass nipples off cracking....

cheers

[rmurphy195]

I have a similar issue with my rims. I use my bike for commuting in a hilly, congested city. My current rear rim has about 2,000 miles on and is very worn.

My answer, which probably won't help you, was to ride a longer way into work where the congested bits are on the flat - so I don't use my brakes as much. When I do get a new wheel I may get a drum brake.

I have just bought myself a new bike with disc brakes for commuting, nice Dawes Super Galaxy 2014 - but having ridden it once, I don't like it.

Oh, I use soft brake pads - jagwire ones

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001 ... ge_o03_s00

Don't last long but don't tend to clog with metal bits.

Is there a reason you don't like the Dawes?

[The fat commuter]

I have just bought myself a new bike with disc brakes for commuting, nice Dawes Super Galaxy 2014 - but having ridden it once, I don't like it.

Is there a reason you don't like the Dawes?

Started a thread here:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=96278

[PH]

Carbide Grizzleys - I've just replaced my 2nd, the breaking surface certainly lasts well but the single eylet construction leaves a lot to be desired. Both built by respected wheelbuilders, SJS and Harry Rowland, both split around several eyelets, the first one I replaced as soon as I noticed the hairline cracks at around 8,000 miles, the one I'm replacing now I continued to use after the craks appeared at around 12,000 miles and got another few thousand before a spoke pulled through. I'm 100kg, it's a 700c Rohloff wheel and I'm back to the Sputniks and grey sludge...

[MikeF]

I have a similar issue with my rims. I use my bike for commuting in a hilly, congested city. My current rear rim has about 2,000 miles on and is very worn.

I use my front brake more heavily than the rear, and as a result that rim has more wear than the rear. It's also easier to replace and true a front rim. If you haven't a truing stand you can use the front forks.

[Sweep]

I use my front brake more heavily than the rear, and as a result that rim has more wear than the rear.

Well i think that is the recommended way of braking isn't it? In my experience the front wheel also gets muckier/more debris on it. Always seems that way when i'm doing my regular rim cleaning.

[Brucey]

my experience is that the rear wheel gets a lot dirtier than the front.

Any issue related to dirt or corrosion is almost invariably far worse on a rear wheel.

BTW the carbide grizzly failures reported above are almost certainly corrosion-assisted.

cheers

[brucelee]

+1 for jagwire pads but buy in bulk, you'll get through them.

Think brucey has forgotten how long it took him to learn to change a rim in an hour - still takes me half a day to get it right, and there's plenty of scope for ballsing it up expensively when your learning. Though it's worth it in the end.

My first post to the ctc forum was to moan about a rim cracking when worn out and here's my solution : Keep them clean. I should come clean (doh!) and say I don't commute and avoid the rain on my nice bike (my beater has steel rims). When servicing the chain and doing tyre pressures, I wipe the rims with a damp rag. Also work it under the brake blocks, maybe unhook them and give them a once over with an old toothbrush. You can get a cheap garden sprayer (like http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spear-Jackson-P ... en+sprayer) and give the wheels and tyres a once over when you get home on rainy days, when the muck is already wet and will shift easily. Leave the sprayer near the door to where you keep your bike, the pressure on mine holds for weeks. This may all sound like a pain in the ass but if you organise and co-ordinate it, it takes no time at all.

cheers,
Bruce.