How many miles do you get out of your rims?

[thornie1543]

Pumping up my front tyre today and I noticed my front rim has a hole approx 4mm by 4mm in the braking surface (the rim is a rigida grizzly 6005 alloy ),bought this wheel from sjs cycles on 10/12/14 and it has had pretty constant use,roughly about 5000km fully loaded miles (two quite full back panniers ,tent and drybag on front,including this because I presume a weighty bike will obviously speed up the wear on the rim),I also do about 450 miles a month(sometimes more) when back home all through the year in all weathers and I do tend to use my front brake about 85% of the time when braking.
I'm only asking really as the rim/wheel it replaced was a sun rim model cr18 that seemed to go on for years and they can be bought for 30 pound and the grizzly costs atleast double that.As an aside I bought the wheel as a set and I have been happy with the build quality from sjs so this isn't a complaint more just curiosity as to how long I should expect this rim to last before wearing out as I haven't a clue to be honest,i realise this is abit of a how long is a piece of string question really though,just thinking aloud I suppose,and that's what forums are for after all

[reohn2]

It sounds as if the wear indicator is showing and it's time for renewing.
I'd advise Rigida Sputnik :- http://www.spacycles.co.uk/m2b0s116p67/RIGIDA-Sputnik

[rualexander]

I only got about 2000 miles, if that, out of a Sun CR18 rim about ten years ago. Changed to Rigida Sputnik and got getting on for 10,000 miles out of them.

[thornie1543]

Thanks folks,looks like a sputnik next then.

[bikerwaser]

I got 12,000 miles on my Rigida Grizzly's which included about 3000 miles of heavy touring, track and trail use in all weathers and lots of commuting. They still have a couple of thousand left on them but I changed them for new ones when i went on my last tour just in case.

What I tend to do though is angle the blocks slightly across the braking surface to create a wider point of wear. It's just my idea that i'd get more out of it. Well, it seems logical to me.

I love the Grizzly's I got from SJS. Super light and very strong. they're still as true as the day they rolled out of SJS, which is why I bought another set exactly the same.

[rjb]

I never understand why some riders get so few miles from their rims. I'm now at 26,000 miles on the tandem. Original wheels with rigida rims. Nothing special, and being a tandem is always fully loaded.

My previous tandem carried on for 113,000 miles with the original front wheel without problem before i sold it on, weinmann concave rim, single wall not a box section.

[meic]

Brake wear, especially through protracted gentle braking and even more so with an unbalanced application of the pads by the brake.
I wore through one side of an Open Pro, on the back, in under 7,000 (Welsh, hilly) miles.
I decided to stop buying open pros and sort out the adjustment and lubrication of the brake calipers.

[yakdiver]

My rear Sun CR18 cracked at 10,000 the front is still going at 45,369 a new rim is 22.5mm wide so I just keep an eye on it, but it all depends on how many time you use your brakes in a ride and what weather/road conditions are like.

[MikeF]

Like the OP I use the front brake 85% of the time. I'm wondering how long my Exal LX17 will last on the front. It's seen 6000 miles but the wear indicator seems to have very little depth left so I'm not sure it will be fine for 10,000 miles. The rear is almost as good as new. Replacing a front rim is less faff than replacing a rear one in my view.

I'm not heavy and the bike is not heavily loaded, although the rims may receive dirt from "trail" routes in winter. Obviously terrain and the sort of riding play a big part in how much brakes are used, but nevertheless an interesting topic.

[The utility cyclist]

Over 10,000 on a front second hand 1990s built MA2/Sansin that's used in all weathers, I do regularly clean the braking surface and the pads however I have for a long while tended to use the rear for lower speed retardation as it's a ceramc rim.

[blackbike]

The rims on my year 2000 531c road bike are still OK after about 50,000 summer miles on the thing.

[mercalia]

I think high mileage users need to use coated rims eg carbide or ceramic or live with changing them often? what do other people think here?

[thornie1543]

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

[geocycle]

I think high mileage users need to use coated rims eg carbide or ceramic or live with changing them often? what do other people think here?

Yes indeed. Sun rhino did 6700 miles replaced by rigida grizzly CSS rim that has done 20,000 miles so far.

[Binkyboy]

I find the type of brake block makes a big difference.
Some are very aggressive and rip small bits of aluminium out of the rim, embedding themselves in the face of the block. Digging the bits out simply removes that bit, it doesn't stop more bits being ripped out.

If the block makes a scraping noise (not a squeal, that's a totally different thing) first see if it's just a bit of grit, and dig it out, but if the bit of "grit" is shiny, and/or it keeps happening, it's a bit of your rim and you should change the blocks for a different make asap.

Riding on gritty roads does encourage the blocks to get grit embedded in them.

You really should change the rim when it gets to 1mm or less thick at the thinnest point on the sidewall, or risk a blow out and a walk home. This can be checked with a few old spokes and a vernier gauge. There may still be a link on the main CTC site showing how to do this, under the technical section, if it still exists.