Some time ago this happened to my friend on the front wheel whilst we were going pretty quick downhill. The tyre came off the rim and the tube popped out, wrapped round the forks and he went over the bars very very quickly indeed. Fortunately he got away with "only" a broken collar bone. The rim had failed along about 12" just like as in your picture. He bought some of the original Hope discs and had new rims every 12 months after that.
It could have been nasty...
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michael franks
Retrobike Rider
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was8v wrote:
I do now, mate :roll:
The rims don't really show an excessive amount of wear although there must have been enough for the wall to fail - thankfully without the tyre coming off. I was running semi- slicks at around 55 - 60psi. Panaracer Mach SS IIRC.
I do now, mate :roll:
The rims don't really show an excessive amount of wear although there must have been enough for the wall to fail - thankfully without the tyre coming off. I was running semi- slicks at around 55 - 60psi. Panaracer Mach SS IIRC.
michael franks":3v89b30r said:
It happened to me on a couple of bikes when I put some slicks on with higher tyre pressures. Worst was a catastrophic failure whilst stationary. I noticed the brakes rubbing all of a sudden and stopped to inspect the rear wheel. I could see some deformation of the rim but decided to carry on as I was almost home... Before setting off there was a sound like a gunshot and a ribbon of metal about 50cm long had completely sheared away from the wheel. 10 seconds earlier and it may have embedded itself in my face.
It certainly has made me think twice about using retro rims since.
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jitensha":200yx6eu said:
As long as you're the first one to use them, know that type of rims really well or have a groove on the sidewall to indicate the wear limit, you should be fine.
I feel far more confident doing 30MPH+ on my retro bikes' 20 year old rims than on my modern. In fact I don't dare to take the modern past 25MPH because I'm too scared of what happens when the front disc collapses.
common result once brake blocks wear through the side walls - if you are lucky, nothing happens, else the inner tube bursts as the tyres goes off the rim or in severe cases legs are sliced by the rim effectivelybecome a rotating knife. 
a good reason to convert to disc brakes.
a good reason to convert to disc brakes.
michael franks
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Yes I was lucky and yes I suppose it is a bit risky riding around on 15 - 20 year old rims as others have pointed out from their own experience. It also makes a case for converting to discs but looking at the pic that Raging_Bulls posted ^^^ of a collapsed disc it seems they can be risky too :shock:
