How long do wheels last???

louman999

On my bike I have a pair aksiums. I find them a great solid wheel that I can depend on. I don't know how old they are as they came with my bike used. How long does the average wheel last??? One of my friends claims that he has been using a pair of wheels for nearly 10 years with no problems.

cougie

Impossible to say.

How many miles. What kind of weather.

I've some wheels that must be pushing 20 and still good. They don't get a lot of miles these days but they have in the past.

If the hubs are fine how are the rims? You can wear those out with braking.

simon_masterson

Obviously, as with most consumer goods, the manufacturers would rather sell you something at a premium price that they can mass produce at low cost, that won't last long and is inconvenient or impossible to repair. As long as you look after them, good hubs can relace over and over, and therefore last years. Needless to say, wet conditions and rim brake use also significantly shorten lifespan.

Tiesetrotter

If you get a good pair made up you just repair parts. My builds from DCR are four years old. The odd spoke goes, bearings need replacing and rims wear.

Not sure how I could get 10 years out of a wheel though! Had a pair of Fulcrum 7's that came with a bike. They suffered for 2.5years commuting before the rims went. I was amazed at that.

trailflow

If you clean the pads and rims properly and regularly with soap and a scourer they can last years. If you are careless and let the black dust/paste build up it will accelerate wear and slowly grind down the rims and reduce their life. i wrecked an RS80 rim in 1.5 years from lack of maintenance. But they are superlight rims that use a softer alloy. Not all rims are the same. Each model of rim has a different design profile and brake wall thickness.

Put a flat edge ruler across the rim to check how concave it is.

This is an extreme example but when the rim is noticeably concaved or close to this then its time to replace.
http://biketestreviews.com/wp/wp-conten ... -wear1.jpg

If you keep riding it like that. The wall of the brake track will get increasingly weaker and weaker until the pressure from the tube/tyre is too much to hold and walls will fail and separate from the rim.
http://vic.gedris.org/files/images/RimF ... review.jpg

Pross

I've got a 25 year old set of Open 4CDs that are still fine but then haven't had much use in the last 15 years. Age is irrelevant, it's the wear that counts. I've always found the hubs go or I bend the rims before they wear out so I've never had a worn out set.

ugo.santalucia

Mileage is a better indicator... I'd say from a minimum of 5000 miles to a maximum of 25,000 miles, depending on maintenance.

shimanobottombracket

Tiesetrotter wrote:

If you get a good pair made up you just repair parts. My builds from DCR are four years old. The odd spoke goes, bearings need replacing and rims wear.

Not sure how I could get 10 years out of a wheel though! Had a pair of Fulcrum 7's that came with a bike. They suffered for 2.5years commuting before the rims went. I was amazed at that.

Triggers sweeping brush comes to mind.

Also the wheel bearings in American Classics, namely the Victory 30s I had lasted about as long as a snowman in hell. The original spokes were replaced after about 9 or 10 months under warranty due to disintegrated nipples. /these were £360 wheels used only in nice whether as they were attached to my nice bike.

My Mavic Aksiums were used on my commuter. A £200 set of wheels that seen 2 winters, damp salty roads and quite a few miles. I no longer use the bike they are on but I never had any issues with them whatsoever. The ACs were nice looking tho, form over function I suppose.