Embarrassingly this is off my bike. And I’m a professional bike mechanic, ffs. I was able to split it like that with a pick. That was literally moments away from catastrophic failure.
I put 100psi in yesterday and this morning I noted the rear brake was pulsing. The wheel wasn’t out of true so I checked the rim and the sidewall was bulging out. Eek. So I grabbed a new rim and went to do a simple rim swap, unwound the drive side double-butted spokes and two of them snapped. I don’t have any 151mm in stock. Bugger.
I’m getting the train and bus home now. Check your rims for wear kids, and don’t be complacent.
by VisibleOtter
5 Comments
Pumping to 100+ psi is a good check to see if there is a weakness. Rim brakes on aluminium rims make them a consumables item. Good you are safe!
Check them regularly, daily is a little overkill…
Best practice is to be aware of how many kilometres/miles you’ve put into all the parts of your bike and know how many kilometres/miles manufacturers recommend you put into your parts.
I’m also a professional bike mechanic and this is honestly a little embarrassing OP. It’s one thing to notice heavy wear and keep riding knowing the risks (something I know loads of mechanics do) but it’s pretty bad to be a professional and only see this when it fails…
If only Brompton would just bite the bullet and update their bikes to accept disc brakes like they should have ten years ago we wouldn’t be having these issues, glad you noticed it OP that could have caused an accident.
I can do you one better! Drove for about three months on this till I finally had time to replace it.
https://imgur.com/a/zRP3eY9
Checking daily sends a bit excessive, even for those who ride daily. Though this does remind me of probable get a new room for one of mine. Good warning and heads up