Just found a cracked rim on my allant 8

[Stefan Mikes]

As you foofer know, my rear wheel on the Vado got "plasticized" after over three years of use. The heavy rider, cargo, and e-bike load was too high for the stock 28-spoke wheel, and riding rough terrain added its load, too. I have ordered a strong DT Swiss 32-spoke wheel built from premium components. Specifically, the rim is equipped with eyelets. I'm only not sure what spokes the wheel-builder will use. Will know this week.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I understand all that...and that's kinda my point.
Buying a name brand and/or high end at the LBS is no guarantee of anything.
I'm not suggesting that you buy the cheapest everything... but your montra against everything that may cost less seems to return often to bite you

your hacked together bike could have weak parts too unless you buy higher end everything. sometimes cheap lasts sometimes it does not. usually better quality lasts but not always. in this corporate greed time we live in things are made to fail so we keep having to buy them.

 

[jabberwocky]

Bike rims are subjected to a lot of load cycles and weird forces as they spin around, and aluminum doesn't actually handle load cycling all that well. There are all sorts of tradeoffs in bike wheel design. You can get wheels built that are pretty damn bulletproof (look at what DH mountainbikers or tandem tour riders run) but pay a significant weight penalty.

I can say that I've seen both low end and high end rims eventually develop those sorts of cracks; its not necessarily a defect. Sometimes you've just reached the realistic lifetime of that rim, per the loads put on it (your weight, the terrain you ride, the way the wheel was built, power you put through them, etc). Could also be a build issue, not necessarily a rim issue. Machine built wheels (which is most OEM wheels) tend to have a little more variability to spoke tension than hand built wheels do.

 

[Gionnirocket]

your hacked together bike could have weak parts too unless you buy higher end everything. sometimes cheap lasts sometimes it does not. usually better quality lasts but not always. in this corporate greed time we live in things are made to fail so we keep having to buy them.

And yours seems to be costing you more and more... not only in dollars but downtime as well.
I'm still riding my hacked together bike with no issues and with over 20k mi... 10k of those being with a hacked together add on motor.
If you don't appreciate post as this.... Think how yours come across.
Enjoy

 

[jabberwocky]

Is there some context I'm missing here? Because turning this into a "off the shelf bike vs home built bike" pissing match seems really stupid. I've built many bikes from frames over my cycling career, and I've also bought several off the shelf bikes, and I've had both be trouble free and have issues of various stripes. s*it happens, parts fail. Sometimes its a part that a bike manufacturer picked, sometimes its a part you picked.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Just

Is there some context I'm missing here? Because turning this into a "off the shelf bike vs home built bike" pissing match seems really stupid. I've built many bikes from frames over my cycling career, and I've also bought several off the shelf bikes, and I've had both be trouble free and have issues of various stripes. s*it happens, parts fail. Sometimes its a part that a bike manufacturer picked, sometimes its a part you picked.

Just giving Foofer a little bit of his own bs as he is quick to condemn.
Not that I really care... but it is fun.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Bike rims are subjected to a lot of load cycles and weird forces as they spin around, and aluminum doesn't actually handle load cycling all that well. There are all sorts of tradeoffs in bike wheel design. You can get wheels built that are pretty damn bulletproof (look at what DH mountainbikers or tandem tour riders run) but pay a significant weight penalty.

I can say that I've seen both low end and high end rims eventually develop those sorts of cracks; its not necessarily a defect. Sometimes you've just reached the realistic lifetime of that rim, per the loads put on it (your weight, the terrain you ride, the way the wheel was built, power you put through them, etc). Could also be a build issue, not necessarily a rim issue. Machine built wheels (which is most OEM wheels) tend to have a little more variability to spoke tension than hand built wheels do.

our tandem wheels that it came with have been good. the custom built wheel had a cracked rim in 2000 miles. fixed for free. it was just a combo of things. I have always been hard on rear wheels out of the 4 e bikes 3 had issues with the back rim or spokes.

 

[PedalUma]

@fooferdoggie, Is it the front or the rear? Was there undue stress on it?

 

[fooferdoggie]

@fooferdoggie, Is it the front or the rear? Was there undue stress on it?

no not really but lost of rough pavement and my big butt and lots of groceries.

 

[linklemming]

I wouldnt narrow down my selection based on a rim having eyelets. I have had failures similar to what was shown on rims with/without eyelets.

The rims that failed were all OEM rims and the failures happened pretty soon (with 2-3k miles). Unless you are spending $$, manufacturers try to cut corners every way possible.

Almost every wheel I have built (9 of 11 so far) have not had eyelets. I typically try to use velocityusa rims but have used WTB rims as well. Due to my weight, I go with max spoke tension of 120-130kg. No issues yet.

Google searches will show that opinions are all over the place on this issue.

A rim like the velocityusa blunt35 as can be seen from the picture is reinforced around the spoke holes. This is a super popular MTB rim.

Seems like eyelets may be a way of being stronger for less cost (not always though)

 

[fooferdoggie]

the bike has 650 rims they are pretty wide I think 35mm inside but I think with a smaller tire I may be able to go to 700's I would have to see. but the 650 tire choices are super limited. plus the rim has to be tubeless ready. but too broke to upgrade for awhile.

 

[PedalUma]

DT Swiss. Rims, hubs, with Alpine spokes. I have an almost three-hundred pounder riding them with 120 nm on his M620 mid-drive. All is good. The rains have killed the bike biz here across the board, suddenly every one will want bikes and service the same first sunny week. Supper Moto Plus comes in 650B and they kick butt.

 

[PedalUma]

@smorgasbord, everyone needs to see that video. You are the first.

 

[tomjasz]

your hacked together bike

Stefan? Or just another “Richard”?

 

[PedalUma]

Sometimes less expensive parts will have a longer service life because their focus is not on counting grams. A steel chainring is going to last longer than an aluminum one, for example. And if you have assistance a few grams is no big deal. It is really about balancing factors. Danny McCaskill is a superhuman on a bike.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Sometimes less expensive parts will have a longer service life because their focus is not on counting grams. A steel chainring is going to last longer than an aluminum one, for example. And if you have assistance a few grams is no big deal. It is really about balancing factors. Danny McCaskill is a superhuman on a bike.

very true but if they use really crappy metal then the opposite can be true.
now speaking of cracks this guy is at 1.53 so almost gone but it is overheating and it cracked.

 

[PedalUma]

Is that off the tandem? I have never seen a rotor so baked.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Is that off the tandem? I have never seen a rotor so baked.

ya. I think its baked because its so thin. I never had overheating on the front and we have not done any long descents in months. the worst was a 22% grade but it was only 3 blocks.

 

[PedalUma]

22% grade

But that is say, 6 minutes of bake time. Think of how long and how much pressure it takes to light a farmer's match. You had enough heat to discolor the stainless! It must have been glowing. Wow. I do downhill runs much slower than my buddies and I pump the brakes allowing a little air to reach the pads several times each minute. 22% is huge. I have seen the photo. Now I wonder about the wheel rim. Could it have been extreme braking force on the hub and spokes that cracked the rim?

 

[fooferdoggie]

no long braking sessions in many months. it overheated because it is so worn.