I was doing some Cyclocross with my aluminum rims and there was a section with concrete that gave me a nice ding in my rim. It still holds air as best as I can tell but I was wondering if it is cool to continue to use these or should I look to replace them. They are the stock wheels that came with my Roubaix. I have a second set of wheels that are the Roval C38s that I was considering using for gravel rides if I replace these alum wheels with something like carbon Elitewheels. Just looking for input if this wheel should be fine to continue to use or not.
by tw0tonet
18 Comments
That looks like it’s compromised the integrity of the rim, I wouldn’t ride it.
Ouch. Carbon rims will break tough…
That’s not a ding, that’s properly fucked.
Replace ASAP
Not this one. Those sharp creases are not good.
Front wheel? Would ride it home, but not afterwards…straight to the bin.
Rear wheel? It’ll eventually give out prematurely, especially if you take another hit in that area. So, might be OK if you put it on a shit beater bike used to ride super low speeds…if it gives out, likely worse that happens is you walk home. Personally, I’d just bin it.
Yea that’s not a ding, that’s a cracked rim unfortunately
It does look knackered, and you have your own teeth and collar bones to consider, but at ‘cross pressures I’d quite probably carry on riding it.
More like a dong than a ding. Them shits is all done. Sorry.
I thought it was a carbon rim.
Time for a new rim unfortunately, it’ll only get worse
Fellow cross racer here. As others have pointed out, that rim is done. If you feel like the hub is worth saving, you could buy a carbon rim from say LightBicycle and have the wheel rebuilt. It might (or might not) be slightly cheaper than buying a whole new wheel. I have wheels built up on LB rims, and they’ve been perfect. As an aside, is that a Vittoria tire? I have a Terreno Mix on my front wheel, and it was the hairiest tire I’ve ever seen; it looked like yours does. I spent like an hour with nail clippers cleaning it up. Marginal gains and all that.
That buckle is irreparable. If your hub is still good and there’s a local wheelbuilder in the area, you might be able to upgrade the rim and spokes for the cost of a new wheel.
Do you like your front teeth and money bank account? If no consider continuing riding. /s
She’s dead, Jim.
I don’t think that’s as bad as it looks. You have to scrape that paint away and make sure the aluminum isn’t cracked. Ive done much worse and banged them back to straight.
Based on the paint this is also a cheaper rim so it’s going to be soft and easy to move back
‘Tis but a flesh wound
This is an aluminum rim, the black cracks are paint.
If it were carbon fiber, it would be toast.
Because it’s aluminum, it’s probably ok. It doesn’t look like it’s affecting the seating of the tire on the rim. To be sure, you could remove the tire and inspect the aluminum more closely – you could also remove the paint, and maybe touch it up with nail polish afterwards.
Whatever you do, don’t bend it back, that will weaken it further.
I’ve ridden an aluminum rim with a ding like this for 10k miles with no deterioration.
It’s ding dong done.