3 Responses to “Another bent rim…”

1. 1 NoCarMan  on Sep 24th, 2005 at 3:22 am

   Sounds like you need to stop thinking about weight and start thinking about durability.

   Tandem wheelsets are higher spoke count, and almost all BMX wheelsets are 48 spoke.

   There are other ways to go but of course your local bike shop won’t carry any useful solutions to your problem because bicyclists in the USA obsess about weight and ignore durability. I really wish more of the cyclists out there would sell their cars and have to rely on their bicycles for transportation. I am a no car Xtacyclist. I need, but cannot buy, a strong wheelset because no maker is worried about strength and durablity, only about weight. The manufacturers have to provide according to demand, and US cyclists don’t rely on their bikes for transportation. Since the demand is for ‘lightweight’ rather than durable, you cannot buy durable easily.

   Flat proof tires and tubes, stainless chain rings, 48 spoke rear wheels, 14mm axle rear hubs, 120psi 2″ tires. These products should be stocked at every bike store, but they are not. They ARE stocked at every BMX store but the sizes are not right for most commuting applications.

   You have a blog that people involved in cycling read. You are suffering the consequences of manufacturers listening to the demands of people who use bikes for play and not for practicality. You can make a difference. Re-read the post on the Surly blog about how the writer broke two(!) seatpost racks. (In the post about the overnight trip) Again the worrying about weight leads to unreliability. I know the brand he was using because I too broke the same seatpost rack-with a two liter bottle of soda and a bunny hop to clear a curb. The manufacturer decided that that was extreme usage, and did not warranty it.

   If all cyclists sold all their cars we would get better parts, because commuting cyclists would demand reliability. Now all we get are lighter, more fragile parts. The people who manufacture parts understand materials. They know that machining parts makes them more fragile. But the market demands light ‘CNC’d’ alloy parts. The BMX crowd does stand for that nonsense. There is no doubt that a lighter BMX bike would fly higher and be easier to do tricks on. But BMX people demand strength and durability. Cranks arms are forged Chro-Moly, chain rings are steel, BB bearings are larger than wheel bearings, axles are 14mm, 120psi 2.1″ tires are the norm, 48h rims are the norm. The same companies manufacture parts for BMX and for MTB. If people demand strength and durability, they would just make the parts more durable.

2. 2 ashwinearl  on Sep 25th, 2005 at 11:42 am

   When the rim has been retrued has the tension been checked for uniformity across all the spokes? Has spoke prep been used?

   What guage spokes are you using? 14, 15, 14/15 double butted? Tire pressure?

   From my experience, truing a wheel only lasts a short time if the spoke tension isn’t correct and uniform across the entire wheel.

3. 3 Carl  on Sep 25th, 2005 at 11:34 pm

   Not sure what gauge the spokes are… I’ll have to check. Generally I run about 45-50 psi on my rear tire. Too high/low? Regarding the uniformity of the spokes, I don’t know. My LBS generally fixes the wheel for me… at $15 a pop, I should probably figure out how to do it myself…

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