Recently I bought a new set of Shimano Dura-Ace wheels WH-7850-C24-CL. Upon inspecting them I saw a circumferential 10 mm by 3 mm thick rough weld on the inner corners on both sides of the rim where the rim joint is. These were mostly covered by the rim tape. I took a look at my older Shimano Ultegra rims and there is no such weld. Both front and rear rims have this weld, but it is smaller and less pronounced on the rear rim.
Has anyone run into this before. These wheels are expensive I expected much better quality, and I am surprised they were missed by quality control. Are new wheels sold with or without rim tape.
I never purchased a set of dura-ace wheels so I cant say for sure. However I have purchased Mavic wheels they did come supplied with rim tape. The rim tape was packaged with the literature that came with the wheels. I inspected the wheels very closely when they came in seeing as I purchased them online. What I found was the joint welds were not finished off to my liking so I used some emery cloth to smooth them down before installing the tape. Very happy with my wheels.
Devereo, Thanks for yr quick response. I understand what yr saying, but on the other hand expensive wheels should be properly finished by the manufacturer.
