- Joined
- Jun 25, 2009
- Messages
- 168
A while back someone asked about the cheap SS rims that have been showing up on eBay. I responded that they were "OK" as I recently purchased a pair. I just finished lacing up the first one. Here's my updated opinion.
1. If you've never laced wheels before, don't start with these. You'll be frustrated.
2. This is the first wheel I've ever broken spokes trying to get it true...at the weld point.
3. The weld where the hoop is joined looked "poor" before even starting...and is even worse when truing.
I got the rim to an acceptable tolerance on the lateral runout, but the dial indicator shows an incurable defect at the weld. I actually get different readings depending which side of the rim I have the indicator on...and I can see the difference with the naked eye. When spinning the rim, it looks pretty bad, until realizing what is really going on. One side has noticeable lateral runout in it which make the entire rim look bad, but when taking a sheet of cardboard to hide the bad flange, the other side doesn't look too bad. The dial indicator shows .030 on the bad side and about .010 on the "good side" at the exact same point on the rim. If there was a way to have the dial indicator show the "line" down the center of the spoke nipples, I'm guessing that I'm somewhere in the neighborhood of .010 for the entire rim.
The weld also causes trouble with the radial runout...this is where I broke spokes, trying to suck the rim in toward the center. It's like there is a "peak" where the ends were welded together. The indicator shows the rim out .030. It's not a gradual ramp up to this reading, but rather an immediate "bump".
I'm going to proceed with the other rim and see what happens. I'm using the rims on an inexpensive Triumph hardtail, where I'll be running some fatter tires at a lower pressure, hopefully I won't even notice while rolling.
While I'm not an expert at building wheels, I've done a few, and this one was difficult for me. An expert might be able to do more, but then again, they probably don't meet the quality standard for an expert.
To make a long story short, these rims are probably OK for my purpose, but I wouldn't use them on a Commando or any other bike that I planned on running at "spirited" speeds.
1. If you've never laced wheels before, don't start with these. You'll be frustrated.
2. This is the first wheel I've ever broken spokes trying to get it true...at the weld point.
3. The weld where the hoop is joined looked "poor" before even starting...and is even worse when truing.
I got the rim to an acceptable tolerance on the lateral runout, but the dial indicator shows an incurable defect at the weld. I actually get different readings depending which side of the rim I have the indicator on...and I can see the difference with the naked eye. When spinning the rim, it looks pretty bad, until realizing what is really going on. One side has noticeable lateral runout in it which make the entire rim look bad, but when taking a sheet of cardboard to hide the bad flange, the other side doesn't look too bad. The dial indicator shows .030 on the bad side and about .010 on the "good side" at the exact same point on the rim. If there was a way to have the dial indicator show the "line" down the center of the spoke nipples, I'm guessing that I'm somewhere in the neighborhood of .010 for the entire rim.
The weld also causes trouble with the radial runout...this is where I broke spokes, trying to suck the rim in toward the center. It's like there is a "peak" where the ends were welded together. The indicator shows the rim out .030. It's not a gradual ramp up to this reading, but rather an immediate "bump".
I'm going to proceed with the other rim and see what happens. I'm using the rims on an inexpensive Triumph hardtail, where I'll be running some fatter tires at a lower pressure, hopefully I won't even notice while rolling.
While I'm not an expert at building wheels, I've done a few, and this one was difficult for me. An expert might be able to do more, but then again, they probably don't meet the quality standard for an expert.
To make a long story short, these rims are probably OK for my purpose, but I wouldn't use them on a Commando or any other bike that I planned on running at "spirited" speeds.