Are these cracks around the spoke holes?

skeetam

Had these Hunt 4Season Disc wheels for a couple of years, they've not done that many miles as they are just a winter set (one and a half winters). While cleaning them today I noticed some corrosion on the nipples of the rear wheel and what I thought look like cracks. I'm no expert but I just wondered if they were still OK to use? The front wheel is absolutely fine.



Large image https://i.postimg.cc/yNPvm5SR/Hunt-4-Season-spoke-holes.jpg

webboo

They look like cracks to me, they need to go in the recycling.

thecycleclinic

Impossible to tell at this resolution. You could just have corrosion bubbles.

imposter2.0

The second pic definitely looks like cracks propagating from the spoke hole, so I'd guess it's quite likely that the others are too.

If they are in warranty - send back to Hunt. If they're not - into the recycling bin.

thecycleclinic

Given the pics dont enlarge I'm not sure how you can say they are cracks.

skeetam

thecycleclinic said:

Given the pics dont enlarge I'm not sure how you can say they are cracks.

Is this not large enough? https://i.postimg.cc/yNPvm5SR/Hunt-4-Season-spoke-holes.jpg

timothyw

skeetam said:

I'm no expert but I just wondered if they were still OK to use?

Basically, yes, but keep an eye on the development of the cracks.

Assuming you are the original owner you ought have a shout at warranty replacement of the wheel? They offer a full 3 years to the original owner.

Certainly I'd have thought it'd be safe to ride them to the end of winter then get them warrantied.

Failing that a local wheelbuilder should be able to replace the rim for not a huge amount of money.

imposter2.0

thecycleclinic said:

Given the pics dont enlarge I'm not sure how you can say they are cracks.

The pics do enlarge.

skeetam

Thanks for the advice. I'll send the pics over to Hunt, as they're still in warranty and see what they say. They're still on the original bearings, everything is running really smoothly and the front wheel is absolutely fine so it just seems a little strange.

ugo.santalucia

skeetam said:

so it just seems a little strange.

Not that strange, it happens a lot. Basically rims and wheels tend to be under built for the intended use.
28 spokes on 25-30 mm deep rims weighing < 500 g seems to be the norm these days.

Ollie_Hunt_Bike_Wheels

Hi Skeetam,

Ollie here from HUNT. Sorry to see this issue - from what I can see it looks like you do have some hairline cracks emerging from the spoke holes there. Absolutely no problem to get these replaced for you under warranty.

I see you mention you've sent in the images already, so I'll follow this up internally to ensure you're being looked after to our usual standards.

Happy Holidays

skeetam

Ollie_Hunt_Bike_Wheels said:

Hi Skeetam,

Ollie here from HUNT. Sorry to see this issue - from what I can see it looks like you do have some hairline cracks emerging from the spoke holes there. Absolutely no problem to get these replaced for you under warranty.

I see you mention you've sent in the images already, so I'll follow this up internally to ensure you're being looked after to our usual standards.

Happy Holidays

Hi Ollie, thanks for responding personally on here. This thread was obviously not intended to say anything negative about Hunt, the two sets of Hunt wheels I've bought have performed great. I just wanted to see what the wise heads on the forum thought before contacting you about it. Much appreciated

timothyw

ugo.santalucia said:

skeetam said:

so it just seems a little strange.

Not that strange, it happens a lot. Basically rims and wheels tend to be under built for the intended use.
28 spokes on 25-30 mm deep rims weighing < 500 g seems to be the norm these days.

Yeah, lots of factors nowadays meaning that spoke hole cracks are fairly common sooner or later.

For a start, disc brakes mean that rather than wearing the rims out through brake abrasion (which a winter and a half of usage might well do) the rims are still going - so something else will give sooner or later.

Then there is the fashion for rims not to be eyeletted, or particularly double eyeletted - any sort of eyelets will make cracks somewhat less likely (or at the very least, harder to spot) but double eyelets in particular should do a better job spreading the spoke load across more of the rim - unfortunately it's near impossible to use them tubeless, and nowadays people expect their wheels to be tubeless so they're out.

Then there's the trend for wider rims- they don't want to make the rims heavier, so instead they make them thinner....and the increased dish of the 11 speed freehub standards... etc.

thecycleclinic

imposter2.0 said:

thecycleclinic said:

Given the pics dont enlarge I'm not sure how you can say they are cracks.

The pics do enlarge.

Not for me they dont.

thecycleclinic

Washers should be used with most rims now. Washers also make building easier too. Do these hunt wheels have washers?

timothyw

I'm not saying that washers don't help, perhaps they do, but they don't solve this problem as I've had it on two kinlin rims despite using washers.

Conversely a set of Dt Swiss rr585 rims without washers did not have this problem.

Remains to be seen how I get on with the current dt rr511 rim which mandates the use of washers (and comes with them supplied).

central99

Bump. Looks like I've got a similar problem. I've already emailed Hunt with photo attatched but haven't had a reply yet.

ugo.santalucia

Good ole Archetype didn't crack...

First.Aspect

ugo.santalucia said:

Good ole Archetype didn't crack...

Open pros and the cxp's did.

ugo.santalucia

First.Aspect said:

ugo.santalucia said:

Good ole Archetype didn't crack...

Open pros and the cxp's did.

when built by machines...

bondurant

If you wanted proper cracks on nearly every spoke hole Planet-X Model Bs were the best bet.