To what extent are rear wheels consumable parts?

[Yellow Saddle]

I was told to avoid the ceramic coated rims on my fixed commuter when I had the wheels made, why, chip the coating with debris/pot holes, and it will make braking not so good. Stuck with standard rims, and replaced the rims every 18 months of city commuting.

This is a different issue. Kinda same material, but a different issue for a different situation on a different part of the rim.

 

[fossyant]

Nor do I.

but the chap in my LBS took my creaking wheel apart, refitted with new spokes...I guess stronger ones that could take more tension, or perhaps double nippled? and rebuilt it. I never had a problem afterwards.

Your wheel might haven't been built that well in the first place.

 

[jonny jeez]

Your wheel might haven't been built that well in the first place.

most likely wasnt

 

[jonny jeez]

None of it makes any sense.

perhaps it was magic, some things are explainable.

I cant get my head aroud wifi in cars.

 

[Spoked Wheels]

Hello team,

I seem to have a lot of problems with my rear wheels on my commuter. First up, I should say I am rocking 15 stone, but not a lot of fat... not that the bike cares.

I ride a Kaffenback 2, and I love the thing, but the Shimano Rx05 it came with were losing a spoke a month before I made it a dedicated turbo trainer wheel (no probs since, but that's because "turbo" and "unused" are almost synonyms).

I replaced it with the budget LBS recommended rear wheel (something like a Mach 1? It has a Shimano hub and I didn't keep the stickers on long) - 32 spokes and it has been fine basically. When I dusted the bike off in the first splash of sun this year I noticed some severe structural issues.

Is 13 months acceptable for a wheel? I use it every weekday for about 16k a day, and a couple of times a year for a century. My Schwalbe Marathon Plus on this thing will have outlived two wheelsets, and still looks fine...

I guess the only other questions are, is there any point showing this to the LBS - and is there a well established wheel for fatties?

I'm going to try to add my 2 cents without reading the thread so please ignore me if I'm repeating what other people already said

15 stone is not too much for good 32 spokes wheels. I ride such wheels and although I built them for me when I was around 16 stone and hoping to go down to 14, instead I went up . I have done about 11k miles in 3+ years. So, it can be done with good rims, sufficient spokes and good tension. My wheels are black Archetype rims - 32 spokes and no eyelet but the spoke bedding is twice the tickness of most rims.

Is there any point in showing the wheel to your LBS? Maybe, a good wheel should last a lot longer than 6k or 13 months.

The problem seem to be over tensioned spokes.

I'm seeing more problems like this with 11 speed hubs. These hubs require a wider free hub which affects the tension ratio between the left and right side so one has to put more tension on the right side spokes to get the kind of tension we were used to getting on the left spokes with 10 speed hubs. By doing so, one can over tension the spokes so picking good rims is very important.

If you are worried then go for 36 spokes but I'm sure that a good 32 spokes wheel should do the job too.

 

[Deleted member 35268]

And there you go. That noise yesterday on my commute, sounded like a twig through the wheel, that was a rear spoke breaking. Only spotted it when I wen't to clean the bike. I ended up spending an hour replacing a spoke.

 

[gaijintendo]

And there you go. That noise yesterday on my commute, sounded like a twig through the wheel, that was a rear spoke breaking. Only spotted it when I wen't to clean the bike. I ended up spending an hour replacing a spoke.

At least they live to die another day!

 

[gaijintendo]

That's pretty sweet, the LBS' distributor has taken the wheel away and the guy says he is expecting a replacement at some point. More than happy with that!

In the meantime I seem to have a wheel on that has about three times as many pawls(?) and sounds like a swarm of angry bees. On the upside, i don't need to ring my bell on the short path part of my commute! Yay for PX bargains.

 

[gaijintendo]

That's my ratty tyres on a new wheel provided as a replacement by the LBS. It's another 32 spoke, Mach 1 this time on a Deore hub (rather than unspecified Shimano).
I have to say, I really enjoyed commuting in on some Luganos on my day trip tourer instead of my usual Marathon Plusses...
I guess i will start saving up. Spotted Spa Cycles will build a wheel to spec. Thanks everyone for the input.

 

[Deleted member 35268]

Here's my collection of broken / not used wheels and tyres.

I have three dead back wheels what probably need putting in the skip but I am reluctant to chuck them