Ksyrium rim cracked at nipple - any come back with Mavic?

cantalach

I noticed my wheel was out of true this evening and, on investigating, found that the rim is cracked at one of the nipples. See photo below. It's a 2009 model Ksyrium Elite (same rim as the Ksyrium SL afaik but steel spokes instead of alloy).

The wheel is only 22 months old and has done less than 20,000km. I expected to get more out of a rim than that but maybe I'm wrong? Another issue I discovered with this rim a couple of months ago is that it is corroding around the valve hole on the inside. So perhaps it was just a bad batch.

Has anyone any experience with taking up this sort of issue with Mavic through the original dealer? I don't want to hold off for weeks on buying a new wheel in the feint hope that Mavic will cough up only to finally hear that they won't and that I've been wasted weeks riding around on my sh1t turbo trainer wheel for no good reason.

C3PO

20,000kms doesn't seem unreasonable to me, particularly on Irish roads!

cantalach

Maybe you're right. Seems odd to me though that the rim lasts only four times as long as a good tyre. I mean, that's almost putting rims in the 'consumables' category too.

I'm blaming the low spoke count design. Too much tension on each spoke.

C3PO

Wouldn't mind getting 5000kms out of a tyre either!! Must be my "fat arse"!

Lumen

cantalach wrote: »

I mean, that's almost putting rims in the 'consumables' category too.

Epiphany!

How many cents per km is that?

Moreofthatjazz

i've always put rims in the "consumables category" the braking surface will eventually wear... open pro's i found this at about 15-20k... never had a "quality" rim crack like this before... mileage is quite high but you have nowt to loose by contacting them, they will probably receive them back and make a call on it from there... for the few they get back a year its an exercise in quality control and will most likely replace...

morana

yeah I have had this happen on a few mavic alu rims. I think I got anew rim the first time it happened because it was within the warranty period 1 year. the other times I think it was a few years down the road it happened. I think this is quite common.

its prob back on the drive side?

cantalach

morana wrote: »

its prob back on the drive side?

Correct - drive side. And Thanks.

cantalach

RPL1 wrote: »

Wouldn't mind getting 5000kms out of a tyre either!! Must be my "fat arse"!

Naa, it's the super smooth roads we have all over County Cork.

morana

if you wanted to use and cant get a replacemnt just rotate the rim 1 spoke so the non drive side holes become the drive side and it might be alright for training on. TBH I have been using a cracked one for a few years but if its really bad as you say then you might need a new rim.

I tried to get new rims for my wheels but they couldnt get source them in the lbs

cantalach

morana wrote: »

but if its really bad as you say then you might need a new rim.

The photo doesn't really do justice to how bad the crack is - I can get my nail right into it. So I wouldn't be happy to ride on it. Thanks for the suggestion though.

CheGuedara

morana wrote: »

I tried to get new rims for my wheels but they couldnt get source them in the lbs

I've had to deal with getting a wheel rebuilt recently - the Mavic situation in Ireland is beyond a joke. Seriously, I could tell one heck of a story about a certain Munster based shop that's on paper as a Mavic dealer in Munster...

What I ended up doing was emailing Mavic France who put me in touch with the service centre in the UK (the manager in there is a gent) and dealing with him. I'd be inclined to recommend this route.

Holyboy

CheGuedara wrote: »

I've had to deal with getting a wheel rebuilt recently - the Mavic situation in Ireland is beyond a joke. Seriously, I could tell one heck of a story about a certain Munster based shop that's on paper as a Mavic dealer in Munster...

What I ended up doing was emailing Mavic France who put me in touch with the service centre in the UK (the manager in there is a gent) and dealing with him. I'd be inclined to recommend this route.

Most of the supply situation in this country is a joke,it frustrates me so much,it's got slightly better since before I left seven years ago but is still poor as over seas companies won't supply a shop here because a small company has the distribution rights,but their service can be so bad it's just not worth dealing with them so shops are completely stuck!!
Any way enough of my rant, I have to say rims are very consumable, they don't really cost all that much more than a tyre and I think a year of riding is all one can expect from a light weight rim with good braking performance,though they shouldn't really crack,is it rude to ask how much you weigh?

blorg

A rim should last longer than a year, I would get that out of my brakepads FFS!

In any case this is about cracking, not wear. FWIW I have had nipple cracking on an Open Pro, only noticed it when a big chunk of the rim fell off. I had been using it for loaded touring which is not what it is designed for.

cantalach

Holyboy wrote: »

though they shouldn't really crack,is it rude to ask how much you weigh?

About 91kg when I first got the wheels. About 81kg now.

blorg

cantalach wrote: »

About 91kg when I first got the wheels. About 81kg now.

That shouldn't be a problem; Ksyriums don't have a weight limit and even weight weenie wheelsets tend to have the limit at 90kg. Many far far heavier guys on Ksyriums.

cantalach

Update: The LBS where I bought the wheels have just been on to me. I had tagged them in a Facebook post in which I was having a whinge about the crack and they had gone to the trouble of phoning Mavic about it before they even phoned me!

I would have to pay for postage back to the UK regardless (about €35) and then if Mavic don't deem it covered by warranty, I would have to pay for the replacement rim itself and the cost of re-rimming. This would be a few hundred in total. My LBS reckons Mavic are unlikely to cover it given the number of kms done on the wheel.

sirwallis

had the same problem after 6 months

Beasty

If you wish to discuss your problem please start a new thread and don't dig up one that's 3 and a half years old

Thanks

Beasty