Orient Express - Cheap Chinese Rims / Wheels / Forks / Frames / Cranks / Etc

I think it's imperfections in the braking surface, which if braked on will result in heat that could be a risk if used on a road bike, but poses no risk when not using brakes.

~~But that's from memory.

I think the debate is from around page 10.~~

From bottom of page 7 onwards.

According to the manufacturor the surface mark is caused by a bubble- air was not purged from the epoxy before it set, so when it came out of the mold there was a small surface void- visible in the picture by Jim's thumb.

This was then filled in when/by the clearcoat layer.

Clearcoat is obviously not structural, however.

He (unsurprisingly) maintains that this is purely a cosmetic defect.

Would anyone who works with composites have an opinion?

Jim's concern is that the bubble areas would focus stress when, for example, braking heavily.

Whereas a rim without the imperfections would distribute that stress evenly the rim with imperfections might fail.

Long story short- flaws in the epoxy finish (Smallfurry pegged these as air bubbles that had not been purged from the mold) led to concerns about the rims performance under repeated heavy braking.

Alpine descent braking, essentially.

Jim's view was that he would not put his name to them being safe under those conditions, so I ordered a new set from another supplier, with whose products Jim pronounced himself to be satisfied.

SpagHoops bought a pair of the 50mm as Jim's view was that for track use they'd be dandy- not much heavy braking on the track.

So, I have a single 20H 50mm UD finish rim sitting in a box at BC doing nothing.

If anyone wants it then they are free to make me an offer- as long as they have read and understood the above.

Hah! Hugo7's post and mine went up at the same time.

pm'd

If spotter isn't interested then I may well be...

no, i definitely am, i need carbon rims in my life

Rim is Spot-ward bound, I just need to work out how to get it too him without it arriving in "jigsaw" form

magnets

I liked your idea of giving it to Xander, who can then get one of his serfs to take the rim to you.

the pack mule route can be very hard on carbon rims.

I thought you said it was in the orignal box? if that was good enough to get it to the uk from china surely it'll be ok for london to swansea?

That's a fair point, I could just pack out the space where the other three rims were with old inner tubes, frayed cables, empty tins of GT85 and other bike shop detritus.

make sure that you put some old handlebars in too, good and pointy ones at that.

or you could just cut the boxes width down a bit fill the remain space with scrunched up newspaper etc

It's Brixton Cycles- they probably have about 500 old copies of the Daily Mail that I could use

Just ordered the hub

Just need to work out whether i can afford to go for bladed spokes or not now.

also will need a allen key QR skewer if anyone has a spare?

must be bladed spokes

i'll have to learn how to calculate the correct spoke length now so i can hunt for bladed spokes. i know i need the ERD of the rim, the hub apparently has dimensions a PCD= 29mm and the Center to Flange= 33.5mm

here's the blueprints for the rim and the hub if it helps.

If i can't do it from them i believe i can use the two spoke method to work it out when i get the rim and hub.

Are these rims internal nipple?

i defer to my honorable colleague mr. dammit m'lord

i can get these from dammit/brixton cycles and send they to you if needed

cheers pal, well see how things work out

this looks the shit. i really want one, not that I need another bike.

Are these rims internal nipple?

Nope, external.

haha yes dimi! ISP ftw!

Just ordered the hub

Just need to work out whether i can afford to go for bladed spokes or not now.

also will need a allen key QR skewer if anyone has a spare?

I remember looking at those hubs. They sound nice. I buy my spokes from Bdopcycling. They sell pillar spokes (of Ti spoke fame). The weight is a smidge higher than CX-ray, but they have a tighter bend at the hub (like DT-swiss), so they sit better in the hub. The anodising looks a bit naff compared to Sapim. But you cant really see when the wheels built. I used a few different Pillar spokes and liked them. Nice price.

http://www.bdopcycling.com/Pillar-Spokes.asp#BLADEDSPOKES

Great, thanks for the tip. I see they have pretty cheap 20h/24h track hubs too, maybe when i'm a bit better off i'll get some carbon clinchers from china and with those hub for ultimate hhsb wheels