Rim Mileage & Dura Ace C24 wheels?

targa_man
targa_man Posts: 27
edited June 2013 in Road general
I bought a new pair of Dura Ace C24 wheels just under 2 years ago (July 2011). Great wheels - BUT - my rims appear to be reaching the end of their life having done just over 6,000 miles. One of the rim wear indicators has completely disappeared and the other three are getting very low. Is this normal/typical? I expected them to last much, much longer?

They're on my main road bike (Scott CR1 Pro) and they've been used in mainly dry conditions - although not exclusively. They've also been used on quite a few hilly rides (& therefore quite a few downhills requiring hard braking etc).

Of course what this means is that I'll need to change the rims. Replacement DA rims are just too expensive (if you can find them!) and finding other suitable rims with 16 hole and 20 hole variants is not easy. The Dura Ace hubs are the jewel in the crown of these wheels so it would be a real shame if I couldn't reuse the hubs and it would certainly put me off paying good money for factory wheels again (they're just too proprietary).

Comments

  • shadow4532
    shadow4532 Posts: 133
    had the same problem with my ultegra 6700 wheels. would have cost just as much to get them repaired as to get new so i replaced them with a set of racing 5s. FWIW i managed 7000 miles before the front one cracked along the brake track.
    GIANT PROPEL SL1 for racing and posing
    TREK 2.5 training and commuting
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  • smidsy
    smidsy Posts: 5,273
    Impossible to say as miles are irrelevant.

    It is dependant on how much braking, in what conditions and with what pads (some are more abrasive than others).

    If they are worn they are worn irrespective of time or miles covered.
    Yellow is the new Black.
  • mamba80
    mamba80 Posts: 5,032
    The problem is that Shimano charge soooo much for the rim, they are great wheels but i use mine only for races and dry rides, a few wet rides will soon pick up grit and alloy and eat away at a rim, any rim, in no time at all....roll on disk brakes :)

    I did read some where that RS80 rims are identical aside from stickers but far cheaper?
  • smidsy
    smidsy Posts: 5,273
    Until you need to replace a rim that is :-)
    Yellow is the new Black.
  • overlord2
    overlord2 Posts: 339
    This is why I refuse to spend silly money on factory wheels
  • jezzpalmer
    jezzpalmer Posts: 389
    smidsy wrote:
    Impossible to say as miles are irrelevant.

    It is dependant on how much braking, in what conditions and with what pads (some are more abrasive than others).
    If they are worn they are worn irrespective of time or miles covered.

    I lent my DA-C24s to the wife, and she's pretty much destroyed them in about 1000 miles so I reclaimed them. She likes braking down hills; being Wales there's lots of hills and lots of rain.
    That's with softer pads.
  • Stedman
    Stedman Posts: 377
    I have now switched back to treating wheels as their four main components and getting these hand-built again. In doing so the quality of the wheels are better, overall these are cheaper and rims, spokes and bearings can be replaced at a reasonable cost. My wheel builder has even guaranteed to provide replacement spokes on a pro-bona basis!
  • fossyant
    fossyant Posts: 2,549
    Overlord2 wrote:
    This is why I refuse to spend silly money on factory wheels

    Handbuilts for me. Especially the commuter. Rebuild my commuting wheels every 18 months !
  • targa_man
    targa_man Posts: 27
    Yep, I think hand built wheels are the way to go. I have another pair which are hand built (by Strada). Beautiful wheels and when the rims go they can easily be rebuilt with the same or different rims. Factory wheels are pretty much a disposable item - which makes the price paid for high end wheels look very unattractive!
  • racingcondor
    racingcondor Posts: 1,434
    Drawbacks of such a light rim.

    I've heard similar before and suspect that it's because the thickness of the brake track has been reduced a little to make the rim lighter (same is true of quite a few other very light rims, Stans A340 for instance).
  • Lifeboy123
    Lifeboy123 Posts: 213
    Was thinking of buying a set of these wheels:(

    Can you not reuse the hubs on a handbuilt set ?

    ...where / what is the rim indicator on a wheel..is it just found on high end wheelsets..i have a ritchey ds pros which have covered about 4000miles, other than checking for no visible signs of dishing i've no idea how many miles are left in them
  • targa_man
    targa_man Posts: 27
    Re-using the hubs is a possibility - but given that the front is a 16 hole/spoke hub, it's not easy finding suitable rims!

    On these wheels the wear indicator is a small hole opposite the valve (i.e. on the rim surface half way around the rim from the valve). There's one on each side and supposedly the rim is worn when the hole is no longer visible. (Some rims have wear indicators, some don't).

    By the way - dishing is something else entirely (related to the rear wheel and how you build it). What you're looking for in a worn rim is a concave surface (rather than a flat surface). With no wear indicator I guess the question is how do you know when it's worn to the point of needing to be replaced.
  • Bobbinogs
    Bobbinogs Posts: 4,841
    targa_man wrote:
    ... With no wear indicator I guess the question is how do you know when it's worn to the point of needing to be replaced.

    I think the general guidance is 1mm of depth is getting close to the wire, with 0.7mm being about time to get shot of. Rim depth can be measured using the right type of calipers, or by Heath Robinson using a bent spoke/calipers where needed. I bought some decent calipers for that reason as I have a few handbuilt wheels which don't have any wear indicators.

    Not too suprised about 6,000m being close to the end for DAs but as per Smidsy says, a lot depends on usage and if one runs any wheels in salty wet conditions on hilly routes then wear will be drastically accelerated.

    Not sure if these are worth a look. Might be worth asking Ugo to come up with something cost effective as the DA hubs really are nice, as are the Ultegra ones
  • targa_man
    targa_man Posts: 27
    Bobbinogs wrote:
    targa_man wrote:
    ... With no wear indicator I guess the question is how do you know when it's worn to the point of needing to be replaced.

    I think the general guidance is 1mm of depth is getting close to the wire, with 0.7mm being about time to get shot of. Rim depth can be measured using the right type of calipers, or by Heath Robinson using a bent spoke/calipers where needed. I bought some decent calipers for that reason as I have a few handbuilt wheels which don't have any wear indicators.

    Not too suprised about 6,000m being close to the end for DAs but as per Smidsy says, a lot depends on usage and if one runs any wheels in salty wet conditions on hilly routes then wear will be drastically accelerated.

    Not sure if these are worth a look. Might be worth asking Ugo to come up with something cost effective as the DA hubs really are nice, as are the Ultegra ones

    Thanks for that - yes, I think the only two rims I could find in both 16H & 20H which looked suitable were the Cole rims and the Kinlin XR-300.