My rim has been compromised!

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Andrew_Culture

Internet Marketing bod
This morning I had one of those rides where I was sure the effort I was having to make felt a little tougher than usual. Admittedly I'd gone out on a whim having only eaten a banana and I knew that my legs would be a little tired from the forty miles I cycled through a monsoon yesterday. But still, this morning's ride felt too much like hard graft, even when I was trying to take it easy.

When I put my bike (Mr Blue Bike, a Ribble Audax frame with mongrel groupset) on the work stand to 'Mickle' (clean and lube) the chain I noticed that the rear wheel was sticking against one side of the rear brakes. They are the sort of brakes that mount to the frame via a single bolt (do all brake systems mount that way?) so I figured the brake mount needed tightening.

Then I gave the wheel a spin and it appeared buckled. The wheels are Mavic MA3 rims laced to Shimano Ultegra hubs and as far as I know are pretty solid. I didn't mind if they did turn out to be buckled; they've had a hard time of it over the last few weeks and truth be told I quite like truing wheels (here's how it's done).

So I started giving the wheels a really good clean then noticed something I've not seen before:
split-rim.jpg


Bum.

Mind you, I've done 1,910.2 miles on these wheels (according to Strava) and the whole bike was second hand when I bought it so I don't really consider that it owes me anything. The only question now is do I replace the entire wheel or just the rims and spokes? How many miles can one expect to get from an Ultegra hub?
 

Rohloff_Brompton_Rider

Formerly just_fixed
I've had that on mtb disc wheels with Mavic rims. Easy to replace the rim tho as long as it's like for like. Used to cost me £17 and I'd just put the rims side by side and undo a spoke at a time and move over to the new rim. Once done and tightened to somewhere very near by eye, my lbs used to charge me a five to finish it off properly.
 
OP
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Andrew_Culture

Andrew_Culture

Internet Marketing bod
I've had that on mtb disc wheels with Mavic rims. Easy to replace the rim tho as long as it's like for like. Used to cost me £17 and I'd just put the rims side by side and undo a spoke at a time and move over to the new rim. Once done and tightened to somewhere very near by eye, my lbs used to charge me a five to finish it off properly.

I think I'm going to struggle to justify any other type of fix. There's quite simply nowt wrong with the hub (that I know of).
 

Davidc

Guru
Location
Somerset UK
If the hub's bearings run smoothly and a close visual inspection shows no signs of deterioration why would you spend money on a new one?

I'd view it as a good time to re-grease the bearings (unless you've got hubs with sealed ones) but I'd keep them. My only extravagance when a rim needs replacing and I rebuild a wheel is a complete new set of spokes. A few of the old ones go in the spares box.

My older Shimano dynamo hub is now on its fourth rim and still going well.
 
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Andrew_Culture

Andrew_Culture

Internet Marketing bod
If the hub's bearings run smoothly and a close visual inspection shows no signs of deterioration why would you spend money on a new one?

I'd view it as a good time to re-grease the bearings (unless you've got hubs with sealed ones) but I'd keep them. My only extravagance when a rim needs replacing and I rebuild a wheel is a complete new set of spokes. A few of the old ones go in the spares box.

My older Shimano dynamo hub is now on its fourth rim and still going well.


All good to know! Ta!
 

matthat

Über Member
Location
South Liverpool
I had a stone wedged in brake block a few years ago which carved a nice groove into the rim, Riding home from work one night and the wheel just collapsed underneath me due to scored line in the rim!!:sad:
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
bromptonfb's suggestion is the best. Tape a new rim alongside the old and transfer the spokes over.
 
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