How many miles do you get out of your rims?

[meic]

I very recently bought an old but hardly used bike with the original Shimano pads still fitted. They were diabolical rim eaters and the noise was unbearable, replaced as soon as possible otherwise it would have been new rims much too soon.

[axel_knutt]

I very recently bought an old but hardly used bike with the original Shimano pads still fitted. They were diabolical rim eaters and the noise was unbearable, replaced as soon as possible otherwise it would have been new rims much too soon.

You mean M55/T? I use those, they are very abrasive but they stop better than Kool Stop in the wet. I've had 21,000m & 28,000m out of my A719s, the original Vuelta Tempest failed at 6100m, but that was fatigue fractures.

[bikerwaser]

I changed my pads from Original Shimano Deore ( as they were squelling like Babe on a spit ) to Asda "Bell" pads for £1.37 a pair and they're great. They last me about 4000 miles.

[flat tyre]

Just had to scrap a badly worn mavic Krysium equipe wheel after only about 2000miles..won't be using those in wet weather again.

[bikerwaser]

I think carbide maybe the way forward for me for the front,should have said in my original post that I live in wales and I do go over the mountains on forest/fireroads ,not exactly mountain bike wheel territory but still quite hardwearing surfaces for my rims so i'm not surprised they have worn out quicker than they would in normal tarmac use.Guess you can't have it all

I ride in all conditions and use tracks and trails that are more like mountain bike tracks. Sometimes i'm deep in mud and well past the rims and I never clean my bike and I still got 12000 plus miles out of my rims.

One thing I will say is that the new rims I bought were by "Ryde" not Rigida as they changed name but the rim looks different. I hope they haven't compromised on materials and quality !!!!

[niggle]

+1 re brake block/pads choice. In my personal experience/opinion:

OEM Tektro on V or DP brakes = poor braking in the wet, very heavy rim wear: POOR

Fibrax canti blocks = quite good in the wet, heavy rim wear, blocks last for ever! MEDIOCRE

Standard black BBB canti blocks = good in the wet and dry, light rim wear, blocks wear quickly but are very cheap. GOOD

OEM Shimano V or DP brakes = v poor wet braking, moderately heavy rim wear, pads wear quickly: POOR

Kool Stop dual compound on DP brake = good wet and dry braking, light rim wear. GOOD

Kool Stop Salmon and BBB Tristop,very similar performance with V brake = good in the wet and dry but can lag slightly in a downpour, very light rim wear, pads wear quickly. Both GOOD but BBBs are the better choice due to price.

SwissStop GHP green on DP brake = best in the wet, very light rim wear. A bit pricey at purchase point, but not as bad as it looks when searching on line as they come in packs of four, plus last well so work out best in the long run: THE BEST

I am about to fit Swisstop GHP green to the v-brake on the front my tourer replacing BBB Tristop, then to my new build Alfine 11 Pompino when I finally get it done.

[robc02]

Thanks for the summary niggle.
I have been using BBB Tristops for some time now and agree with your comments on them. (They replaced standard Shimano and Tektro pads).
You rate both BBB Tristops and BBB Black as GOOD. Would you say they are equally good or does one have the edge over the other in some respect?

[belgiangoth]

Depends on type of riding and where you ride really.

I have an open pro rear wheel that has lasted 10 years (15k maybe) and is 2/3 of the way worn, reckon another year or two and it will need to go. That said it is a fixed wheel so gets less braking.

[eileithyia]

I guess a lot of it depends on the terrain you ride in and how heavily you have to brake. Riding into work with best part of a mile long 1:5 winding downhill start then the constant braking for junctions / traffic lights / heavy 'stop start traffic' my commute rims lasted considerably less distance than my race wheels where the brakes are not applied anywhere near as much. Add in a nice bit of grit that often got washed down the hillside and you have a nice recipe for rapid rim wear.

[iow]

OEM Tektro on V or DP brakes = poor braking in the wet, very heavy rim wear: POOR

cartridge or 'moulded in one' pads? - I find the oe tektro cartridge pads to be excellent.

[Brucey]

conditions of use and routine maintenance count as much or more than the type of brake block IMHO.

Also (as I posted recently elsewhere) I think it is perhaps worth noting that most rims have machined sidewalls these days, and when they are new, it isn't uncommon to have tiny pieces of aluminium swarf embedded in the surface of the rim, which can come off in service. Not all rims are similarly afflicted, but it can mean that when such a rim is new almost any brake block can start to pick up swarf. After a while the rim usually settles down and can then go for a long period without shedding more chunks of Al that get embedded in the brake blocks.

I think this may explain why it is that so many people report "started out with brand X and they were dreadful, picked up swarf etc, then changed to brand Y and they have been much better". I'm sure there are differences between them but IME almost every brand has been both blessed and condemned in almost equal measure.

I would note also that a tiny embedded piece of grit in a brake block will often pick up aluminium. I have known folk remove the aluminium from the brake block, but fail to remove the piece of grit that caused the aluminium to wear/build up there in the first place. The inevitable result is that more aluminium will appear and the rim will keep wearing.

So anyway, if brake blocks are properly cleaned (by carefully having all the hard particles removed from them as well as any aluminium build-up) or are replaced with new, and are then fitted for use on a well-used rim (from which any 'from new' embedded swarf has already been removed), this is a pretty fair test of how that rim/brake block pairing behaves. Many other circumstances are not a properly fair test, and results (good or bad, relatively speaking) might just be circumstantial.

BTW shimano manufacture several different compounds of brake block and they certainly don't all work the same.

Finally, the issue of grooves and slots in brake blocks is possibly controversial; such features can perhaps help to trap grit in some cases, but then again the extra squirming/water clearance etc in the brake block might help to shed grit too. On balance I think that having grooves is better than not, provided the grooves are not too deep. I have often recut shallow grooves into brake blocks where they have worn away, and this often seems to help the brakes work well again.

cheers

[niggle]

Re Tektro, I have only used the one piece blocks*, I ditched the OEM Tektro pads* in a set of R737 deep drop DP calipers before first use on my Genesis, see below, so I cannot comment on those to be fair.

*I use 'block' to mean the moulded in one piece design and 'pad' to mean the type with replaceable rubber in a metal shoe, but I have no idea re the authenticity of that

Brucey I understand what you are saying, and it could apply a couple of times where I started with a new bike with new rims and Tektro or Shimano brakes, however I put new rims on my Genesis Equilibrium (used for Audax and all year, all weather Sunday rides) first with part worn Kool Stop dual compound, then with SwissStop GHP green and had very little rim wear over 15000 miles or so. However maybe these were particularly good rims (Rose Bikes own brand Xtreme R490) and of course this is just an anecdote and many other variables may be involved.

I have to buy a new brake for the Pompino, which will be either Shimano or Tektro RX6 90mm v brake, plus at the same time will be fitting new rim and new pads on the Dalesman, so if I keep the OEM pads/blocks on the Pomp future wear can be reasonably fairly compared, as long as I expose both bikes to similar conditions. The other main variable is that the Pomp rims are Exal LX17s and the CBD will have Ryde Zac 2000s (or possibly Zac 19s)- but not much I can do about that as all of these already purchased.

[Invicta Tourist]

I have covered 30,000 plus miles as the second owner of a bike which had Mavic MA40 rims. From what I understand, the previous owner was something of a mileater, so it would be interesting to see how many miles others may have covered using similar rims. The brake blocks I used were Fibrax red. The bike was used for late autumn/ winter /early spring rides.

[JohnW]

In the early 1980s I bought several pairs of Mavic G40 grey anodised, Module 3 CD and Open CD (they were sporty looking, slightly triangular cross-section. They were a good investment - the several pairs have lasted me all these years and the very last pair I'm still riding. I rode Module 3 on the rear and G40s in the front on the last pair in use. I have figures for both sets - I do keep records.

One pair of Mod3/G40 was taken off a couple of years ago having done 14,242 (G40 on the front) and 14,714 (Mod3 on the rear). I seem to remember that the reasons for taking them off was deformation of the rim around the joint.

The second pair of similar, the front (G40) has just been taken off for a similar reason as above at 17,005 miles but the rear (Mod3) soldiers on. The first pair were used generally and in all weathers whereas the second pair haven't seen so much winter weather.

On the 'Open CDs' the rear failed dramatically on the rear, without prior warning. I wasn't far from home, and managed to 'limp' back, but I took both wheels off on the basis that the front wouldn't be much better and such a failure on the front would be less funny. Amazingly they had exactly 17,000 miles on them.

When the above bulk purchase had all worn I started to buy Mavic Open Pros and Mavic A319s for 'heavier' use.

One pair of A319s gave me 10,850 miles in mostly dry weather - they became very concave and I just made the judgement. I cut through one of them with a hacksaw, and from the thickness of the alloy on the braking surface I thought I'd not taken them off a minute too soon.

Another pair of A319s is currently on 6,304 miles and just beginning to show signs of wear - very (very) slightly concave.

One pair of Open Pros has been taken off at 9,332 miles and looking quite concave.

I had a pair of drc/STI rims - one (the rear) was wrecked when somebody drove a Volvo estate into me but the front soldiers on with the abovementioned Mod3.

I have a pair of Open Pros, currently in use, they've done 8,247 only in dry conditions - on my 'best' bike. They're just beginning to show slight signs of going concave - I need to put a straight-edge to them to see it.

I always use the Fibrax 'X' pattern blocks - traditional blocks in shoes - not changed for decades, and I stop as well as anyone on the more sophisticated multi-coloured stuff. I've tried other - far more expensive - blocks for occasional short periods but found no advantage in any conditions.

I live in a hilly area - there is very little level road and we have to use our brakes a lot. The roads are liberally salted in winter, and they're generally in bad condition. I don't ride 'off-road' as such, but we have useful towpaths and cycle-tracks, most of which are not tarmacked. I'd expect rims to last much longer in the fen country.

Those are my facts. My own one conclusion down the years is that in terms of mileage and longevity, rims are not what they used to woz.