Wheel Fail
Another rim failure. I try to watch spoke tension but only seem to get a few years of loaded touring out of a rim. I am hoping now that I am 45 pounds lighter that will help. At least this one was near home and easy to replace. I have had two failures while touring that were more than 100 miles from a bike shop, Newfoundland and Western Oregon along the Columbia River. No fun hobbling along with your wheel wobbling and no brakes worried that you could have a catastrophic failure at any time. It really take the fun out of touring.
I have been a Mavic fan. I like the design and construction of their rims but was a little disturbed at the bike shop today when I went to buy a replacement. They claim that they have seen quite a few Mavic rim fails this year. Mavic will replace if it is under 2 years old. Mine had under two years of usage but because I was off the bike quite a bit is more than two years old.
I wonder if other riders are seeing a lot of Mavic Rim failures and agree with the guys at the bike shop. The good new is the bike shop has a rear wheel that looked adequate for my industrial usage and I’ll have a replacement by 4PM.
Anyone have suggestions on how to prevent rim failures?
Hi Roland, When I ordered my Slipstream I requested a 40 spoke rear wheel like those used on tandems. Being a fat old guy living out in the sticks, this seemed prudent. Although I have not had the opportunity to do a loaded tour, the wheel has not been touched since it arrived. Not bad for hauling my 283 pounds & stuff around for 2-1/2 years.
Charles
July 28, 2009 at 10:44 am
Don’t feel alone Roland – I just had my $600 Peter White built touring wheel’s rim split open like a banana after on 1100 miles – http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3Tzut&page_id=116070&v=1Z
Mike A.
July 30, 2009 at 12:03 am
I had a Mavic 317 front rim fail this spring under light breaking/slight downhill(disc).The result was a tacoed rim ,an immediate endo followed by a broken collarbone and a pretty big hospital bill.Any info at all would be greatly appreciated on Mavic rims as I am considering legal action for some of my bills.
rush
September 16, 2009 at 5:03 pm