Aeorhead OC Failure

"Jay Beattie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I flatted on a ride yesterday and noticed my rear wheel had a little
wobble, so when I put it in the stand to true it up, I noticed

cracking

Quoted message said:

-- not radiating from the spoke holes but rather adjacent to five or
six holes, each crack running circumferentially, one as long as 4cm,

in

Quoted message said:

the area at the trasition between the side wall and the arched center
of the rim, just above the brake track. This is an OC rim, and all of
the cracks were on the "wide side". This was a 36 hole rim with 14/15
spokes and 115kgf on the right side -- which was the miniumum tension
to keep these things true. Satin anodized, I believe (not black). I

am

Quoted message said:

215lbs, and the wheels had less than 5K miles. Very disturbing since

I

Quoted message said:

really liked these rims. They built-up well, and with the OC design,
they had better balanced tension than the usual design. I am hoping
this was a problem with this particular rim since I have a couple more
rear wheels like this one on different bikes. -- Jay Beattie.

Aluminum bike rims are made from extruded metal that is joined to form a
circle.

Your crack could be the result of a Lap Failure. This is caused by a
surface defect created when a billet is rolled from an ingot. It can
also happen during the extrusion process.

Most metals are melted and then cast into ingots which are then
processed into other forms. Ingots are run through heavy duty rollers to
create billets which can be square, rectangular, round or other shapes.
The billets are used to make extrusions, forging and other semi-finished
products.

Seams can develop in the billet caused by folding over hot metal, fins,
or sharp corners and then rolling or forging them into the surface of
the billet. These can be microscopic and usually occur at the ends of
billets. The material in the lap zone is not homogeneous and can have a
layer of impurities in the seam.

Lap failure isn't limited to the ends of parts, I've seen it in the
middle of 20' steel bars.

This site has some good info on the aluminum extrusion process.

http://www.bonlalum.com/Login/SlsMfg/extrusion_process.jsp

In article <[email hidden]>,

Jay Beattie said:

I flatted on a ride yesterday and noticed my rear wheel had a little
wobble, so when I put it in the stand to true it up, I noticed
cracking -- not radiating from the spoke holes but rather adjacent to
five or six holes, each crack running circumferentially, one as long
as 4cm, in the area at the trasition between the side wall and the
arched center of the rim, just above the brake track. This is an OC
rim, and all of the cracks were on the "wide side". This was a 36
hole rim with 14/15 spokes and 115kgf on the right side -- which was
the miniumum tension to keep these things true. Satin anodized, I
believe (not black). I am 215lbs, and the wheels had less than 5K
miles. Very disturbing since I really liked these rims. They
built-up well, and with the OC design, they had better balanced
tension than the usual design. I am hoping this was a problem with
this particular rim since I have a couple more rear wheels like this
one on different bikes. -- Jay Beattie.

Bummer. Thus far, though, I don't recall any other reports of these
rims failing in r.b.t. I don't read any of the Web fora, so if it's
been reported there I'd have missed it. A quick Google did not turn up
reports of widely reported failures. Maybe just something specific to
your rim, like a stray machining groove or something with the extrusion.

Jay Beattie said:

I flatted on a ride yesterday and noticed my rear wheel had a little
wobble, so when I put it in the stand to true it up, I noticed cracking
-- not radiating from the spoke holes but rather adjacent to five or
six holes, each crack running circumferentially, one as long as 4cm, in
the area at the trasition between the side wall and the arched center
of the rim, just above the brake track. This is an OC rim, and all of
the cracks were on the "wide side". This was a 36 hole rim with 14/15
spokes and 115kgf on the right side -- which was the miniumum tension
to keep these things true. Satin anodized, I believe (not black). I am
215lbs, and the wheels had less than 5K miles. Very disturbing since I
really liked these rims. They built-up well, and with the OC design,
they had better balanced tension than the usual design. I am hoping
this was a problem with this particular rim since I have a couple more
rear wheels like this one on different bikes. -- Jay Beattie.

I don't have any suggestions on the cause, but I'd recommend contacting
Velocity directly. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all
their products. I've seen John respond directly to complaints from
some real idiots and offer to replace their product even when it had
obviously failed from abuse. For example, some guy that ran into a
tree and was complaining that the rim snapped. I'm not trying to say
yours was abuse, just that the Velocity guys are unusually accomodating.

Jay Beattie said:

I flatted on a ride yesterday and noticed my rear wheel had a little
wobble, so when I put it in the stand to true it up, I noticed cracking
-- not radiating from the spoke holes but rather adjacent to five or
six holes, each crack running circumferentially, one as long as 4cm, in
the area at the trasition between the side wall and the arched center
of the rim, just above the brake track. This is an OC rim, and all of
the cracks were on the "wide side". This was a 36 hole rim with 14/15
spokes and 115kgf on the right side -- which was the miniumum tension
to keep these things true. Satin anodized, I believe (not black). I am
215lbs, and the wheels had less than 5K miles. Very disturbing since I
really liked these rims. They built-up well, and with the OC design,
they had better balanced tension than the usual design. I am hoping
this was a problem with this particular rim since I have a couple more
rear wheels like this one on different bikes. -- Jay Beattie.

WElllll, I have seen one Aerohead fail like this, of the many(dozens,
maybe over 150) I have built. 'May' be a faulty rim..but if you came to
me to design a set of wheels, I would not have recommended a Aerohead
OC for you, even with 36h..BUT I am very conservative in my designs
admittedly.

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Jay Beattie said:

I flatted on a ride yesterday and noticed my rear wheel had a little
wobble, so when I put it in the stand to true it up, I noticed cracking
-- not radiating from the spoke holes but rather adjacent to five or
six holes, each crack running circumferentially, one as long as 4cm, in
the area at the trasition between the side wall and the arched center
of the rim, just above the brake track. This is an OC rim, and all of
the cracks were on the "wide side". This was a 36 hole rim with 14/15
spokes and 115kgf on the right side -- which was the miniumum tension
to keep these things true. Satin anodized, I believe (not black). I am
215lbs, and the wheels had less than 5K miles. Very disturbing since I
really liked these rims. They built-up well, and with the OC design,
they had better balanced tension than the usual design. I am hoping
this was a problem with this particular rim since I have a couple more
rear wheels like this one on different bikes. -- Jay Beattie.

WElllll, I have seen one Aerohead fail like this, of the many(dozens,
maybe over 150) I have built. 'May' be a faulty rim..but if you came to
me to design a set of wheels, I would not have recommended a Aerohead
OC for you, even with 36h..BUT I am very conservative in my designs
admittedly.

But I am a very dainty 215lbs! So what are you recommending in my
weight range -- anything with the same ERD so I can do a quick swap? --
Jay Beattie.

Quoted message said:

But I am a very dainty 215lbs! So what are you recommending in my
weight range -- anything with the same ERD so I can do a quick swap? --
Jay Beattie.

Jay: Rider weight is not the sole determinant of how strong a wheel is
needed. I have 220lb riders who are *very* strong and yet very easy on
equipment. I also have 175lb riders who destroy everything they get their
hands on. So... how does your equipment hold up?

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

"Jay Beattie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Jay Beattie said:

I flatted on a ride yesterday and noticed my rear wheel had a little
wobble, so when I put it in the stand to true it up, I noticed cracking
-- not radiating from the spoke holes but rather adjacent to five or
six holes, each crack running circumferentially, one as long as 4cm, in
the area at the trasition between the side wall and the arched center
of the rim, just above the brake track. This is an OC rim, and all of
the cracks were on the "wide side". This was a 36 hole rim with 14/15
spokes and 115kgf on the right side -- which was the miniumum tension
to keep these things true. Satin anodized, I believe (not black). I am
215lbs, and the wheels had less than 5K miles. Very disturbing since I
really liked these rims. They built-up well, and with the OC design,
they had better balanced tension than the usual design. I am hoping
this was a problem with this particular rim since I have a couple more
rear wheels like this one on different bikes. -- Jay Beattie.

WElllll, I have seen one Aerohead fail like this, of the many(dozens,
maybe over 150) I have built. 'May' be a faulty rim..but if you came to
me to design a set of wheels, I would not have recommended a Aerohead
OC for you, even with 36h..BUT I am very conservative in my designs
admittedly.

But I am a very dainty 215lbs! So what are you recommending in my
weight range -- anything with the same ERD so I can do a quick swap? --
Jay Beattie.

Jay Beattie said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Jay Beattie said:

I flatted on a ride yesterday and noticed my rear wheel had a little
wobble, so when I put it in the stand to true it up, I noticed cracking
-- not radiating from the spoke holes but rather adjacent to five or
six holes, each crack running circumferentially, one as long as 4cm, in
the area at the trasition between the side wall and the arched center
of the rim, just above the brake track. This is an OC rim, and all of
the cracks were on the "wide side". This was a 36 hole rim with 14/15
spokes and 115kgf on the right side -- which was the miniumum tension
to keep these things true. Satin anodized, I believe (not black). I am
215lbs, and the wheels had less than 5K miles. Very disturbing since I
really liked these rims. They built-up well, and with the OC design,
they had better balanced tension than the usual design. I am hoping
this was a problem with this particular rim since I have a couple more
rear wheels like this one on different bikes. -- Jay Beattie.

WElllll, I have seen one Aerohead fail like this, of the many(dozens,
maybe over 150) I have built. 'May' be a faulty rim..but if you came to
me to design a set of wheels, I would not have recommended a Aerohead
OC for you, even with 36h..BUT I am very conservative in my designs
admittedly.

But I am a very dainty 215lbs! So what are you recommending in my
weight range -- anything with the same ERD so I can do a quick swap? --
Jay Beattie.

598 I think I'm at home..Fusions are what I would recommend for you.
Not the same ERD, I don't think.