Rim made cracking sound

[e-rider]

Last night I was building a new road wheel and as I was tensioning the spokes the rim made a loud cracking sound unlike anything I've heard a wheel make before during building - my initial thought was 'oh shoot'! Inspected the rim and could see no damage and finished building the wheel which looks great now. However, should I ride this wheel or for the sake of £20 buy another rim and rebuild it? I wouldn't want to crash and die if it fails one day!

 

[Alien8]

I would have thought it much more likely to be tension release in the spokes than some sort of failure in the rim. If the rim integrity really is compromised than it probably won't take much riding for it to lose its shape and hence you should quickly notice that something is wrong.

 

[e-rider]

I would have thought it much more likely to be tension release in the spokes than some sort of failure in the rim. If the rim integrity really is compromised than it probably won't take much riding for it to lose its shape and hence you should quickly notice that something is wrong.

this was definitely the sound of metal cracking - I've built many wheels and never heard it before. I was thinking that it could have been one of the eyelets moving that wasn't seated properly. Difficult to say under tension if the eyelet is now loose.If it is related to the eyelet then it shouldn't be a huge problem. I think I gonna ride it and and keep a close eye on it for now.

I've emailed the online seller to see what they think. Unfortunately it wasn't CRC or Wiggle; who would probably have a free replacement in the post by now!

 

[amaferanga]

I've emailed the online seller to see what they think. Unfortunately it wasn't CRC or Wiggle; who would probably have a free replacement in the post by now!

Doubt it. They'd suspect the rim was overtensioned.

 

[e-rider]

Doubt it. They'd suspect the rim was overtensioned.

perhaps they would suspect that but it depends how much they want to keep a customer happy - in this case the cost to them would be about £10 or so and from experience, some online sellers don't question these things if it's just a case of £10. If the item was more valuable I'm sure they'd want it sent back for inspection.

Anyway, just for the record it wasn't overtensioned!