ZTR Crest / Hope Hoops

dommccabe17

Bought a pair of Hope hoops in August. ZTR Crest on black pro 2.
Used for commuting in North East London and towpaths of the river Lea and some light offroad stuff in epping forest and hainault.
Went to swap my tyres over this weekend. Put a tyre back on the rear wheel and then watched it suddenly deform in my hand. Wheel looked like it had been run over by a bloody tank.
Took the tyre off and the rim had split along every eyelet except one. Really pissed off, never even broken a spoke before. First Stans rim I've ever had and its not endeared them to me much. I'm now worried my front will do the same only when I am actually riding it and I am quite partial to my teeth thank you very much.
Have contacted Merlin about returning the wheel as surely it is a warranty issue and only five months old but they seem very cagey.
I am not a freerider, there are no mountains in essex (bugger all hills almost) and although no whippet I'm not unduly porky either

Just wanted to know if anyone experienced this happening with these rims? Feel like I've been done over.

Northwind

That's pretty crazy... Got any pics?

an_original_name

pics or it didn't happen!

dommccabe17

Pic is here

Northwind

"This photo is private"

dommccabe17

not now.

dommccabe17

not now.

dommccabe17

fixed that

D-Cyph3r

Jesus christ, that really does look like it's been run over. :?

Northwind

Well... That's ****ed. Can't see any splits in the rim in that photo though but still, that should be a tough wheel. I use Flows rather than Crests and that's a tougher wheelset but they've never so much as blinked at hard use. Interested to see how it turns out, Stans rims have a superb rep...

dommccabe17

Pic is a bit shite but look down the middle between the eyes. There is a jagged crack all the way round the centre of the wheel. The wheel just curled up my hand as the crack split all the way around. It took a while to register exactly what was happening - couldn't believe it.

RevellRider

What tyres and pressures do you run?

thel33ter

That is really weird, never seen any wheel crack like that. Deffo is a warranty job. Looks as though it was a manufacturing defect, then when one bit cracked, it just pulled the rest of the rim apart, due to the spoke tension.

Northwind

Just went on a google and found this which sounds like the same failure only on a 355

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum ... 2&start=15

But that's the only one. Crazy. Well, hopefully you'll get your warranty with it being such a freakish failure

dommccabe17

michelin xc dry 2 - about 40 psi.
added some more pics that show the crack more clearly

Northwind

Private!

dommccabe17

Done - not quite got the hang of this flkr business yet!
Merlins response so far was not sure if its a warranty job as they haven't seen it happen before.
I would say that if it is so unusual its definitely a warranty job!

stigofthedump

This might not be relevant, but Roger Musson in his Wheelpro book states that he had to buy a spoke tension guage to build Stans rims as they must be built with less tension than most other rims.
Perhaps your rims were built too tight and this has caused them to split. Alternatively you have been very unlucky with the rim or very lucky that it didnt happen in use

Northwind

Mad that... I'd say good luck with the warranty but I don't think you should need it, especially since the rim looks otherwise in good nick, not covered in dents or flatspots or owt. Ah but good luck anyway.

thel33ter

I'm bored tonight

monster-mash

I really shouldn't be reading this as I have just built exactly the same wheel set. I have had to use a tension gauge as there is less tension due to no spoke eyelets.

They have seen two outings first being gentle run around with a little rough terrain the second being a trail centre (monkey) where they got the usual stick of rocks jumps etc. I was assured that they would be fine given also my weight of 11.5 stone ish.

Maybe that the anodising did cause this it does seem funny that the crack is on the upper ali section that supports the tyre and not the inner section where the spoke nipples are faced against.

Maybe it is just bad luck and I hope Merlin honour it I would however plaster it all over Stans message board http://messageboard.notubes.com/ if they don't honour it

I was going to start and organise a set for the wife but I think I will hang on a while.
Good luck

thel33ter

I don't get it, two or threee reports of this happening, everyone is scared.

Hope Hubs, loads break, and are treated as Gods gift to MTBer's

:roll:

bike-a-swan

Balls, that's a knackered wheel! Way to scare a man who just bought the same wheels!

Still, given that that's two cases 6 years apart, not that likely to happen to me.

RevellRider

Oddly, I did the same thing to a Mavic 517 a few years ago. That was on my commuter bike where I was running 1.25" slicks and running them at 85psi. Mine didn't bend all out of shape though

cooldad

Don't listen to monster mash and start another peter vs superstar thread. Sort it out with Merlin. If they are faulty you'll be fine.

monster-mash

Had a gift from the gods once and spent a night in A & E lost two front teeth gained 20 stitches around my mush and for the next few weeks nursed a broken ribs and collar bone.
Believe me I want no more gifts, with today’s technology and quality check we shouldn't have to chance parts. Not at their prices anyway

Hey wo I am not pointing the finger of blame here

dommccabe17

bike-a-swan wrote:

Balls, that's a knackered wheel! Way to scare a man who just bought the same wheels!

Still, given that that's two cases 6 years apart, not that likely to happen to me.

tempting fate that!

dommccabe17

RevellRider wrote:

Oddly, I did the same thing to a Mavic 517 a few years ago. That was on my commuter bike where I was running 1.25" slicks and running them at 85psi. Mine didn't bend all out of shape though

It literally curled up in my hand as I lifted it to put back onto the bike. Thank god it didn't happen out on the road.

bike-a-swan

dommccabe17 wrote:

bike-a-swan wrote:

Balls, that's a knackered wheel! Way to scare a man who just bought the same wheels!

Still, given that that's two cases 6 years apart, not that likely to happen to me.

tempting fate that!

Shhhhhh....

Anyway, I'm currently being tormented by the puncture fairies- I reckon the turf wars in the trouble-causing-sprite community should keep the mechanical gremlins away...

dommccabe17

cooldad wrote:

Don't listen to monster mash and start another peter vs superstar thread. Sort it out with Merlin. If they are faulty you'll be fine.

Didn't want to start a flame merlin/stans thread or throw any blame around. Bought plenty of stuff from them with no problems.
Maybe its a friday afternoon build or something that went wrong in the anodizing process as suggested. Just wanted to hear if anyone else had suffered the same problem, had an opinion on how it happened or even how likely it was to happen again with the front wheel, which is the same rim.
Not to say I won't be annoyed if the warranty isn't honoured, no way that should happen with a £200 wheel!

dommccabe17

Just to give a big thums up to merlincycles and to hope/stans!
Got word that they have replaced my rim under warranty and sending it out today.
Happy ending!