Avoiding Europe Update (and moan!)

Percycp

Hi all

Working my way down the Italian coast now - West Coast - regular updates as always here:

http://www.avoidingeurope.blogspot.com

As there's always a lot of talk on here about rims/strength of components etc., I'll mention this:

Before I left (In March - about 3500 miles ago) I had new Sun Rhyno rims fitted front and back, using the Shimano XT hubs that had been on the bike for two years, and about 2500 'light' miles (no heavy touring), and a new cassette/chain (Shimano XT).

Today I am having the rear wheel and cassette completely replaced beacause: 1) The XT hub has completely shattered in two places where the spokes connect (two spokes are hanging loose and a large part of the hub 'rim' is missing); 2) The wear indicator on the Sun Rhyon rim is completely worn down; 3) Some teeth on the cassette have snapped off (I say snapped off - I don't know what happened to them, they're not there anymore).

The thing I'm most surprised about is the hub - I would have though XT gear like that would last longer. I wouldn't buy Sun Rhyno rims again.

Or am I being a bit harsh - four and a half months of continuous touring isn't a picnic. The terrain's not been too bad and I've managed to avoid most of the really big potholes and bumps, but I have hit a few which made me think 'ouch'.

I dunno - thought I'd put it out there anyway.

Percy

Hairy Jock

Hi Percy,

In you absence the C+ forum has died, RIP, and been replaced by this bikeradar forum, a lot of the regulars were (and still are) very upset by this and so now are to be found at CycleChat.

jay_clock

Good luck Percy - I remember you from C+. Agreed, that the new site is poor. The main problem is far too many forums (20+ for MTB) most of which hold no interest, and no way of seeing the latest posts

Bon voyage!

john ponting

Hi Percy

Good to read another update on your travels. Sorry you've been having mechanicals.

Whilst there has been a bit of a split, with C+ Cake Stoppers decamping, the new forum is settling down and serving the more general population.

Do keep updating us over here, we are all cyclists even if we're not all Cake Stoppers.

Brains

My Sun Rhymos have done well over 12,000 miles, of which about 3-4,000 has been fully loaded touring and a lot of the rest London commuting, with excessive use of the brakes (pads last about 500 miles), and bouncing up and down kerbs and potholes. So personally I'd say the Sun Rhymos are the best touring wheels I have seen

Percycp

I'm just reporting my own experiences, Brains. What size wheels do you use?

psmiffy

I use 26 inch sun rhinos with XT hubs – very heavily loaded and a lot of up and heavy braking going down in wet - my first set lasted 20000 km before the rear rim started to part – rear bearings and freehub were becoming a little wobbly the front rim was OK front hub not bad at all – Ive changed the rear cassette about every 8000 km before it became too worn – chains about every 4000km – new set have done 5500km and are showing very little sign of wear

Seems pretty good to me

alittlecrazy

Percycp wrote:

Hi all

Working my way down the Italian coast now - West Coast - regular updates as always here:

http://www.avoidingeurope.blogspot.com

As there's always a lot of talk on here about rims/strength of components etc., I'll mention this:

Before I left (In March - about 3500 miles ago) I had new Sun Rhyno rims fitted front and back, using the Shimano XT hubs that had been on the bike for two years, and about 2500 'light' miles (no heavy touring), and a new cassette/chain (Shimano XT).

Today I am having the rear wheel and cassette completely replaced beacause: 1) The XT hub has completely shattered in two places where the spokes connect (two spokes are hanging loose and a large part of the hub 'rim' is missing); 2) The wear indicator on the Sun Rhyon rim is completely worn down; 3) Some teeth on the cassette have snapped off (I say snapped off - I don't know what happened to them, they're not there anymore).

The thing I'm most surprised about is the hub - I would have though XT gear like that would last longer. I wouldn't buy Sun Rhyno rims again.

Or am I being a bit harsh - four and a half months of continuous touring isn't a picnic. The terrain's not been too bad and I've managed to avoid most of the really big potholes and bumps, but I have hit a few which made me think 'ouch'.

I dunno - thought I'd put it out there anyway.

Percy

We have Mavic rims and XT hubs. 14,000km so far and not a problem at all, and I can´t say we´ve made any great effort to avoid potholes. We´ve run over a few. Do you have some incredibly heavy load on your bike?

Percycp

I wouldn't consider it so, no. Nothing particularly frivilous and everthing I do have was bought because it was light. I don't know exactly how much I'm carrying - never weighed it. I'm not exactly big either - 11 stone ish, probably more like 10 now.

Anyway - new wheel seems to be holding up so far (tough wood)

graemetherunner

What spokes was your old wheel using & who built it?

TorugartTim

Ah, the famous Sun Ryhno disappearing wear indicators. Mine went after just 2,000 km. However the wheels went on to do another 5,000km, about half of which which was on very rough tracks where they took a real hammering. They are still going strong. I think the indicators are very conservative - probably US liability thing. So, I wouln't write off Sun Rhynos off.
Sorry to hear about the XT hub - very suprising.

Percycp

graemetherunner wrote:

What spokes was your old wheel using & who built it?

I don't know what spokes, Paul Hewitt built it. I just asked him for 'the strongest' wheels he could give me. I had thought that maybe it was built too strong and the hub gave way rather than the rim/wheel construction taking a beating, but I know very little about the mechanics of it all, so that was jut a passing thought.