Something I never thought about until seeing the recent post on here with the exploding rim. I'll likely head into my local bike shop to get them properly checked but I believe I'm right in saying that both of these (first is rear) require changing rims?
Looks to me that as expected the rear rim is worn more than the front. I got this bike second hand at the beginning of this year and have used it moderately since, with starting a short daily commute at the beginning of the month. The bike is 2016 I believe and it being second hand I'm not sure if / what wear indicators it had. The seller said it was serviced fairly recently and the brake pads themselves are not particularly worn.
Just really putting it out there to get a second opinion / to perhaps get other people to check their rims if they were blissfully unaware of rim wear.
by MORealms
3 Comments
I’m not sure if measuring the curve of the rim is a good check.
It’s much more faff but to measure rim wear I take the tyre/tube off and use dental calipers to check how thick the rim is. Repeat several times around the wheel. Anything less than 1mm is a candidate for replacement
Calipers: https://www.technicare-dental.co.uk/product/calipers/
Without taking the tyre off and measuring the thickness of the rim compared to a new one it can be tricky especially if you can’t locate the wear indicator. From a general observation I think it will need replacing soonish.
That front rim on yours doesn’t look bad at all, just the rear has a bit of wear so maybe check with a Brompton dealer. Might have a couple of years life in it. So don’t panic!
That one a couple of days ago was like ‘ride it like you stole it’ but he kept on going for 15 years.
Just replaced my rear rim. Rim and new spokes were like 45 euro. I also ordered a fully new rear wheel with the SA hub, that was 220 euro, but that includes a fully true’ed wheel, bolts, washers, the little gear chain.
I notice they charge 70 euro an hour here for bike repairs so I was like, how many weeks, how many hours pay.
I have no idea how many hours it takes to rebuild a wheel.
The bike is a must have thing to go to work (and preferably faster back home) so time is an issue and bike dealers here are like ‘an appointment, does September work out ok for you?’. Getting an estimate for the amount of work and price is also a really difficult one here.
Mine is a 2017 (6-speed) and while really well maintained I thought like lets get a new wheel with a new SA hub etc and keep the old one as a spare. Swapping tyre and sprockets takes like 15min tops and the rest was put forward for when I had time. So I replaced the rim and spokes myself last week which took a couple of hours. I was seriously ill so everything went in slow motion with the needed breaks. Replacing the spokes is easy if you have an new example next to you. I don’t have a stand to true the wheel, it is straight like an arrow but there is some up down movement and that is a bit more difficult to do without a stand so I will need to let a shop do that.
If you replace the rim or wheel maybe also change out the brake pads. Mine were also shapped round’ish a bit. Can see the grooves on the new rim now. I have new pads but have yet to replace.