While doing a service I have just discovered that some of the rim (WTB HTZ i27 TCS 2.0) has cracks in the holes where the spokes come out. How worried should I be?
by lucari2000
While doing a service I have just discovered that some of the rim (WTB HTZ i27 TCS 2.0) has cracks in the holes where the spokes come out. How worried should I be?
by lucari2000
14 Comments
It will be fine until suddenly it isn’t. No way to know when it will fail. Time for a new wheel.
I have the same problem on my focus atlas 6.8 with their novatec 25. Last year I noticed it had happened during a bikepacking trip and got the wheels replaced with the same type (guarantee thing) and this year it happened again. My girlfriend has the same bike and it happened to here bike too, even though we’re both well below the weight limit with bike+gear (systemweight). We are going to ride them home but they will be replaced with a different set after.
Never trust a rim that’s done crack.
I had the same failure on a WTB rim. Replacement was easy and cheap. Also WTB sent out a free replacement. It was no hassle at all.
Replace it at the first opportunity if you’re on a trip. When it goes you’ll likely be stranded.
Loosen the spokes at the crack a bit since this usually starts from exceeding rim load limits rather than usage fatigue. This will likely require lowering the whole wheel evenly by a couple Kgf to keep things true & in dish. Long term yes you will need a new rim. This is why balancing wheels and checking tension (with a calibrated tension meter) is a good idea every now and then as well as something bike shops *should* do when building new bikes.
Mark the extent of the cracking and minimize loads while riding and you should be okay for a bit longer. As others have mentioned it might fail quickly however we had an e-mtb customer do a full season on a wheel with similar cracking with very little further growth of the cracks after we balanced the spokes better and stayed at 95% of max rim rating. We eventually built some new wheels up but they’ve continued to use the cracked rims as winter stutter tire wheels.
I cracked every eyelet on a rear Velocity Dually. It happens. Since I went Carbon rims, no issues…For reference I am 6’6″ 240
Time for new wheels.
It’s not ridable. You need a new rim. Use nipple washers and keep the tension even.
It’s dead, Jim.
The beginning of the end. No longer sendable
Thank you for your answers! I’ll go to the bike store tomorrow and ask for a new rim / have it fitted.
In a week’s time I am supposed to leave for my trip from Germany via France to Barcelona (Spain), so it’s too risky for me. I’m curious to see if it all works out in time. It’s annoying, that shit like this always has to happen just before deadline…
I had a nipple start to pull through like that on a tour down the west coast from Vancouver., BC. I fortunately found a store on the Oregon coast that could replace it. No idea why – used that wheel on my Rando/touring bike for decades.
Replace