Rim wear - when to replace

harrier

I have a hybrid bike with 700c vuelta airline 1 wheels. The rims had a very visible machined groove when the bike was new. It's still visible on the back, but the front rim has no groove left, and seems to be worn concave (done about 10km). Despite plenty of abuse the wheels have given no trouble at all and still completely true. Dont think I've ever had to take a spoke spanner to it.

How would I tell if there's much more life left in the wheel, or is it already time to replace? And if replacement is due, what would be a suitable wheel for such a hybrid? It's mostly for commuting and a bit of foul weather training.

murph226

Not sure about the rim wear but Mavic Aksiums are a good all rounder for reasonable money.

I have a set for the last year or so, use them for commuting and a few sportives, never had a problem with them and they're not a bad looking wheel either for the price.

seamus

If the groove is gone, the rim is gone. If you continue riding it, you're pushing your luck and eventually this happens, usually when you're 50km from home and it's lashing rain.

murph226

What about rims with no groove?

cdaly_

The concave wear is usually an indicator. It's not so relevant with steel rims but alu rims should have some kind of wear indicator. Could be just dots rather than grooves.

seamus

murph226 wrote: »

What about rims with no groove?

Take any straight edge (like a ruler) and place it perpendicular to the rim surface and the rim direction to see how "not flat" the rim surface is. You will see some degree of concavity, but if it's approaching 1mm at the deepest point, then it's time to replace it.

Seaswimmer

seamus wrote: »

Take any straight edge (like a ruler) and place it perpendicular to the rim surface and the rim direction to see how "not flat" the rim surface is. You will see some degree of concavity, but if it's approaching 1mm at the deepest point, then it's time to replace it.

I have been through a couple of front rims over the last 5 years. I have found that if you angle the brake shoes slightly so that they touch across the whole depth of the rim when braking it greatly reduces the effect shown above. However Seamus is correct. What eventually happened to mine was that the piece of the rim nearest the tyre was pushed out by the pressure and broke off from the rest of the rim. The first time it happened I was getting a bumping feeling when braking for a few weeks before but didnt realise what was happening until it sheared off.

07Lapierre

Seaswimmer wrote: »

I have been through a couple of front rims over the last 5 years. I have found that if you angle the brake shoes slightly so that they touch across the whole depth of the rim when braking it greatly reduces the effect shown above. However Seamus is correct. What eventually happened to mine was that the piece of the rim nearest the tyre was pushed out by the pressure and broke off from the rest of the rim. The first time it happened I was getting a bumping feeling when braking for a few weeks before but didnt realise what was happening until it sheared off.

+1 and keeping the surface of your brake pads clean and removing any embedded metal also helps.

harrier

Thanks for the info. More than 1mm of concave wear right enough so better go for a replacement.

Another soft question:-
The bike has 38mm tyres. Would an Easton hub & rim off a road bike (curently with 28mm tyres) take the 38mm tyre & work with v-brakes?

I might then think about getting better wheels for the road bike rather than a cheap replacement for this.