How long are alloy rims supposed to last for?

Re:

The hubs won't be worth saving. Boardman OEM wheels almost always use cup and cone bearings with poor seals and the surfaces get pitted very quickly, and freehub bodies go. As others have said, new wheels are quite attainable and you'll be able to save some weight when you upgrade.
As for the spec, boardman used to use entry level Mavic CXP rims on their road bikes, but two years ago they wanted to deliver tubeless ready bikes, and the Mavic option would have been prohibitively expensive, so they brought the wheels in house. The market demanded a feature, they made it happen, at the cost of a name brand wheelset.

It's a big shame. I like the bike, but I feel they tried to hard to place it into the "cheap bike" category, and they ended up having to cut too many corners.
The wheels are the prime example, but also the finishing touches (bar tape, seat, and bolts) are quite low in quality, and I personally would have preferred paying a little more for something a little better.
The market clearly demands otherwise.

The hubs, so far, are good, so I'll keep them. I will just replace the rim.
The issue I am having is to determine what is "worth" replacing. Give it enough time/miles, and pretty much everything is subject to wear and tear, but it comes the point when I will have effectively replaced everything but the frame, and I don't feel it's a good enough frame to justify that.

Upgrading parts/finishing kit etc can be one of the joys of owning a bike and making it your own. Personally, I would consider buying yourself a nice set of secondhand wheels and keeping what you have as spares. The hubs may be fine now - but once you've got a rim, paid for a build etc.

Yes, eventually it gets to the point that the stuff is hanging off a distinctly average frame - but so what? Or you can then buy a better frame and transfer everything over.

Alternatively, you can accept the bike for what it is and only replace stuff as it needs it or sell it on just before it wears out.

Ugo51":2gfq6zzj said:

It's a big shame. I like the bike, but I feel they tried to hard to place it into the "cheap bike" category, and they ended up having to cut too many corners.
The wheels are the prime example, but also the finishing touches (bar tape, seat, and bolts) are quite low in quality, and I personally would have preferred paying a little more for something a little better.
The market clearly demands otherwise.

The hubs, so far, are good, so I'll keep them. I will just replace the rim.
The issue I am having is to determine what is "worth" replacing. Give it enough time/miles, and pretty much everything is subject to wear and tear, but it comes the point when I will have effectively replaced everything but the frame, and I don't feel it's a good enough frame to justify that.

Click to expand...

Yes, but if you've hung a lot of nice bits on it, then you can move those nice bits to a nicer frame when the time comes, completing the trigger's broom cycle.
The finishing kit you've referred to is not something novice cyclists look for when shopping. They look for carbon fork blades, alu frame, Shimano gears etc. Those that are more knowledgeable obviously appreciate nicer bars, tape, seatpost etc, but it's over most peoples' heads in that market.

I forget the brand name (it may be Matrix or something like that) but Quando make OEM stuff for many of the lower end bikes from the likes of Cannondale and these wheels are very light but also very soft. From the bearings all the way to the spoke nipples - everything is 'soft' - cheap materials, painted all over and squishy.

So very squishy.

But then I have a 'cheap' set from Formula's boutique brand and they're long lasting, polished, annodised and have done miles without any signs of wear.

My 117 CDs are 27 this year :shock: and the finish is only just coming off the front rim

My 231's lasted 2 years

There are some Rigida 'Ulitmate Power' deep section rims that are still as good as ever yet 20+ years old and in weekly use, often in chalky pasty mud.

All have been used with whatever pads were to hand, sometimes XT, Ritchey or Wilkinsons 99p. They have been ridden oop norf, in the forests daaan sarf, the forests in the polydactyl east, West cun'ry and the flat lands of home.

But to this day, The Day in the Peaks September 2011 ride will always be the one that I remember - the whiff of burning rubber as multiple v-brake and cantilever pads burnt into oblivion on that final downhill thrash into Hope Valley

'screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrruuuuuunnnnnccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!'

Madmax1993":17w2qnix said:

Ugo51":17w2qnix said:

It's a big shame. I like the bike, but I feel they tried to hard to place it into the "cheap bike" category, and they ended up having to cut too many corners.
The wheels are the prime example, but also the finishing touches (bar tape, seat, and bolts) are quite low in quality, and I personally would have preferred paying a little more for something a little better.
The market clearly demands otherwise.

The hubs, so far, are good, so I'll keep them. I will just replace the rim.
The issue I am having is to determine what is "worth" replacing. Give it enough time/miles, and pretty much everything is subject to wear and tear, but it comes the point when I will have effectively replaced everything but the frame, and I don't feel it's a good enough frame to justify that.

Click to expand...

Yes, but if you've hung a lot of nice bits on it, then you can move those nice bits to a nicer frame when the time comes, completing the trigger's broom cycle.
The finishing kit you've referred to is not something novice cyclists look for when shopping. They look for carbon fork blades, alu frame, Shimano gears etc. Those that are more knowledgeable obviously appreciate nicer bars, tape, seatpost etc, but it's over most peoples' heads in that market.

Click to expand...

Carbon everything, most wouldnt know what an aluminium frame was, they just see carbon and want carbon.

I was in Evans once (no not that Evans, not for comfy lady trousers) and questioned why a cheap nasty steel threaded headset was on a £1800 touring bike. It wasnt even a chrome one and looked out of place . The staff just passed it off as me being annoying and said it wasnt the bike for me.

For some reason I never think about the possibility of carrying the nice parts to another bike.
It makes a lot of sense though. With the only drawback I need to somehow find the space to store the old bits, to fit back onto the frame, when the time comes to sell the bike.

Ironically, carbon is what worries me the most about this bike. Seeing how many of the components are low quality, how am I to know that the fork blades are not shite too? I clearly remember the Halford guy stressing how the 1 year (wow!) warranty only covers the frame, and I would be lying if I said I am never afraid of the fork shattering when I happen to hit a nasty pothole.

Ugo51":3qahj92c said:

For some reason I never think about the possibility of carrying the nice parts to another bike.
It makes a lot of sense though. With the only drawback I need to somehow find the space to store the old bits, to fit back onto the frame, when the time comes to sell the bike.

Ironically, carbon is what worries me the most about this bike. Seeing how many of the components are low quality, how am I to know that the fork blades are not shite too? I clearly remember the Halford guy stressing how the 1 year (wow!) warranty only covers the frame, and I would be lying if I said I am never afraid of the fork shattering when I happen to hit a nasty pothole.

Click to expand...

You were slightly misinformed. I have attached the relevant page in a boardman owner's manual re: warranty

That's really helpful.
But it bears the question...why was I not given one?? Did you buy your bike from Halfords?

Ugo51":13uwnlco said:

That's really helpful.
But it bears the question...why was I not given one?? Did you buy your bike from Halfords?

Click to expand...

I bought a boardman MHT8.9 in 2018. To date, it's the only whole new bike I have ever bought. Every other bike I have owned or currently own has been a custom build. This is the thread for that bike, which I still have.
viewtopic.php?f=41&t=392767

In answer to your question about an owners manual, I can only say that in a chain as big as halfords, there are always inconsistencies, some stores are good, some stores are bad, some staff are good, some staff are not. Here is an online copy, they're just generic for all Boardman's, not unique to each model.
https://www.boardmanbikes.com/gb_en/ser ... ual-1.html

As for the carbon issue and quality of components, I would say I've seen one carbon steerer snapped in about 10 years in the trade, which was a complete fluke. With the other components that you refer to, like seatpost, stem, bars etc, I've found that the OEM spec ones are nothing fancy on most brands these days, right up to the £1500 price point, but they generally do the job just fine. As for the rest of the bike, it'll have an entry level Shimano groupset with tektro brake calipers and an FSA chainset, all of which is of a reasonable quality at least, and the whole package is competitively priced compared to the other big brands. There certainly wasn't a better equipped hardtail at the £1000 price point when I bought mine.