Lightning Riders

After a substantial number of miles, the brake pads will abrade your wheel's rim surface so much that the rim will crack when you pump a tire up to a high pressure. I have had this happen to me three times that I can remember.

But it takes a lot of miles to wear down the rim surface this much. Or a lesser amount of miles in very wet weather, since this eats up the rim much more than dry weather braking.

So the key question is not years of service, but the number of miles, depending on how much braking you have done. Your rims - if lightly used in mostly dry weather - might still be in good shape. And if your hubs have been taken apart, cleaned, and greased on a regular basis, they could still be fine.

I think you can anticipate where this is going.

If the rims and hubs are still OK, why spend big bucks on Velocity wheels? If they are not OK, why not just have a wheel builder replace the rims and/or hubs at considerably less expense?

Want to spend money on your bike? Buy or build a fairing instead. That will yield a real improvement in speed, not just a placebo effect. Fancy wheels at fancy prices have a mostly cosmetic value for the lion's share of riders.

Then again, maybe I'm just too tight with a buck. Guess I was dropped on my head when I was a kid.

Safe riding,
Joel Dickman