On Thursday, April 12, 2018 at 1:16:55 PM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-04-12 12:51, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, April 12, 2018 at 10:38:13 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-04-12 09:57, jbeattie wrote:

[...]


I had problems getting a Gatorskin onto a CR18 rim -- which is
like your old rims and has a shallow rim well, but never a
problem on any other rim. I would think your old rims would be
toast now with all the miles and hard braking in Gnarlyville. You
should spring for some new rims with deeper rim wells that will
accommodate modern tires.


The rims are still hanging on. I mostly let'er rip on downhill
stretches as long as the speed won't go above 45mph. Down in the
valley I am on bike paths most of the time where there is little
need for braking. On Monday I rode this bike path down to the
Cosumnes River:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-3gnLIUum0

When the rims are up I'll be looking for a whole new wheel set and
that would also mean bending up the rear from 126mm to 130mm which
seems to be the standard these days.

Get these:
https://www.bikenashbar.com/cycling/...-vl-chd11-base
Wait until Nashbar runs a 40% off deal. Hit the stickers with a hair
dryer or heat gun, and they peel right off.


Thanks, bookmarked and entered into wiki & shopping list. I don't care
about stickers, they could stay. Pretty soon they'd be mud-caked anyhow.
The photos aren't sufficiently hi-res, do you know if the rims are
hooked (some tires require that) and the spoke holes have eyelets?


I bought some cheap Vuelta disc wheels from my commuter bike
expecting them to die in a month or two -- but no, they're really
tough. The QR is ****, so throw that away, and for some reason, the
axle ends don't bite into my rear dropout, so the wheel can shift,
which is a little odd but probably peculiar to my bike. So far, the
wheel has been a great value. Standard J-bend spokes and replaceable
cartridge bearings, so it is reparable.


14 gauge spokes don't instill much confidence, I have 12 gauge right now
and even those sometimes pop. However, since you said it's all sturdy I
assume it would be ok for me. Bearings last a while for me. What doesn't
last is the freehub where I need to swap in a new one every 10k miles or
so. Assuming it's the usual 10mm Allen deal where it can be replaced. I
had a Formula hub where the freehub wasn't replaceable, which was a real
bummer but luckily still under warranty.

What would be nice is a hub dynamo so I can ride with a smaller vehicle
battery and get that automagically recharged on fast routes, plus maybe
hook up a bigger MP3 player. But not popular in the US and some dreams
just have to remain dreams.

Like Frank says, I forgot you were you. I had 36H tandem wheels built with 14/15 spokes and never broke a spoke -- with a total rider weight of 300lbs.

If you're having problems with 14g and even 12g spokes breaking with any regularity, then you need a new wheel builder or a different set of rims -- or different spokes, or all of the above.

And you're also telling us that you paid someone to rebuild your existing wheels. Old EX hubs had 2.4mm spoke holes, IIRC, and you need 2.6mm for 12 gauge. How did you pull that off? If you didn't drill the spoke holes, that must have been a massive PITA pulling 12 gauge spokes. They're probably breaking because the J bends are all scraped up.

-- Jay Beattie.