Wheel rim life.

Signal_ rabbit

I have a set of Shimano WH6500 (105) wheels on my trusty steed, I have just over 8,000K clocked up on them and the rim indicator, (or lack of it) on the rear wheel is telling me its time for a change.

Due to restricted finances I cannot afford too much and a buddy is letting me have a set of new Fulcrum 7's at a reasonable price.

My questions are:

1) What sort of mileage can you expect from a rim before it is time for a change, as I don't think 8,000K is a lot? and...
2) Is there anyway of silencing the freehub on the F 7's? or is it just a case of removing the freehub and packing it with grease?

Well I did around 15,000km on my AlexRims that came with my Giant FCR before the rim exploded on me.

Lumen

Brake less.

It is odd that you've managed to wear out the rear first.

IM0

Im betting you dont wash the rims very often and ride alot in rain/grit?
and dont change the pads often enough? all that road grit turns your pads into a grinding stone and premature rim wear follows if you dont keep up the maintenance

thebouldwhacker

Brake less, wash more grasshopper........:)

Signal_ rabbit

I wash the bike about every couple of weeks, degrease chain, sprockets about once a month and strip hubs and re-grease about every three months. This was why I was so surprised that I got little life out of the wheels and now relegated to the Fulcrums.

The only thing I can think of is maybe breaking just before the bends on the high speed decents?

thebouldwhacker

Well in fairness the cycles you do would have more climbs and descents than normal hence more braking.
8k km does seem a very short life span for what are essentially 'good' rims. Have you checked the rims to see if they do really need to be changed?

Signal_ rabbit

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Well in fairness the cycles you do would have more climbs and descents than normal hence more braking.
8k km does seem a very short life span for what are essentially 'good' rims. Have you checked the rims to see if they do really need to be changed?

Yeah, definitely coming to the end of their life span. I have a small rim wear indicator and although the front one seems okay the back one is practically gone.

Judging by the posts, it would appear that I was correct in assuming that this was a relatively short life span.

On the plus side; I have a good front one, now all I need is a unicycle!

thebouldwhacker

Signal_ rabbit wrote: »

now all I need is a unicycle!

Well I know this guy who is selling one, but he's a bit of a clown!!!!!:rolleyes:

ednwireland

me@ucd wrote: »

Im betting you dont wash the rims very often and ride alot in rain/grit?
and dont change the pads often enough? all that road grit turns your pads into a grinding stone and premature rim wear follows if you dont keep up the maintenance

lmao

its ireland ffs although did a great run today in beautiful weather

Get yourself some KoolStop salmon pink pads. Better braking, less rim wear. The Ultegra pads that came as standard on my bike were lethal for picking up small flecks of aluminium and then abrading the rim. No such problem with the Koolstops and they last a surprisingly long time for such a soft compound.

Signal_ rabbit

Deleted User wrote: »

Get yourself some KoolStop salmon pink pads. Better braking, less rim wear. The Ultegra pads that came as standard on my bike were lethal for picking up small flecks of aluminium and then abrading the rim. No such problem with the Koolstops and they last a surprisingly long time for such a soft compound.

I've read about the Koolstops, are they any good? I mean they seem to get good reports on working well in the wet, are they any good in the dry or are they very spongy?

The KoolStops provide vastly superior stopping power in wet conditions but yes, there is a slightly "spongy" feel in the dry, however full braking power is still available, it's just that the brakes feel less "grabby". It's fine once you get used to it, if anything it's a good thing as it makes it easier to control braking power, shimano pads suffer a bit from on/off braking by comparison.

I recommed them highly. Available from wiggle at a reasonable price here.

route66

I've read some of the reviews on Wiggle and I'm suspecting the colour (any of Black, Blue, Red, Salmon, Silver, Yellow ...) is more than just an aesthetic consideration.

I want Black. Will these perform the same as the salmon ones?

route66

route66 wrote: »

I want Black. Will these perform the same as the salmon ones?

No, it's a different compound that KoolStop advertise as being for dry conditions. I've never used the black ones myself although I've heard they're still pretty good. With the salmon ones you'd barely notice they're not black as you'd want to be looking really closely at someone's bike to notice the colour of the brake block inserts, plus they tend to turn black from road dust/grime except on the actual braking surface, which noone is ever really going to see.

Signal_ rabbit

I put the new wheels on and ordered some salmon Koolstops as look at my pads..... it would appear that the Dura Ace brake pads are made of very strong compound. You can clearly see the aluminium flecks in the pads (sorry about the poor quality pics).

DirkVoodoo

I think your camera is focusing on the background, does it have a macro function?

Anyway, I've had my Ultegra brakes for nearly 2 years and there is still plenty of life left in the blocks after plenty of use (brake happy!), super hard and not the best performance, the Athena brake blocks have a much nicer feel.

Signal_ rabbit

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I think your camera is focusing on the background, does it have a macro function?

Anyway, I've had my Ultegra brakes for nearly 2 years and there is still plenty of life left in the blocks after plenty of use (brake happy!), super hard and not the best performance, the Athena brake blocks have a much nicer feel.

Okay try this one:

The pads have hardly worn at all which leaves me to deduce that the rim was wearing as opposed to the pads.

Joff

Not good, looks like your rims were wearing as oppose to the pads.