Here's a pair of wheels I just finished for a friend of ours at Saris Cycling group, makers of the impressive PowerTap hub. He requested Marwi's "Ti-Dye" Titanium spokes, which sure do have some bling when laced to Velocity Fusion rims in gold!

Wheelchair Project

I officially suck at blogging, but here's a custom project we just completed to keep the blog alive. It's 8, count 'em, 8 wheelchair wheels. They're built to take the abuse of playing basketball and other sports where the chairs can take a beating.
The rims are Velocity Deep-V MTB's, laced to Cronometro's very own hourglass wheelchair hub using direct pull Wheelsmith spokes. Also included are Velocity Veloplugs instead of rim tape to cover the spoke holes. The Veloplugs are lighter, can withstand up to 400psi and make tire mounting easier because they take up less space on the rim than traditional rim tape.

Dreaming of custom wheels? We would be happy to work with you on the project. We can create anything from the lightest carbon race wheelset to extremely durable wheels for touring, mountain, cyclocross or BMX bikes.

Rim Wear

The friction forces involved in slowing your bike down are enormous. The effect this can have on your rim’s braking surface is quite impressive, as the wear can be accelerated by grit picked up on the road and small aluminum shards that are shed from the rim and embedded into your brake pads. This can make your pads quite abrasive, resulting in serious weakening of your rims. The example above is of a front rim that has been worn down by braking, which has caused a concave shape in the braking surface. The rim wall is much thinner at the center and can eventually be worn completely through and make dangerous rim failure possible. In addition, this rim has some dents from various impacts over its lifespan, making it an ideal candidate for a wheel rebuild.

The wheel’s hub can typically be reused, although it may need an overhaul (like this one does). Parts replaced are the rim, spokes and nipples. A typical wheel rebuild will cost about $170 total, and hub overhauls will vary in cost with different models. Unless otherwise specified, we use stainless steel double butted spokes from Wheelsmith, DT Swiss brass nipples and a quality rim from a manufacturer like Velocity.

If you have any concerns about the condition of your rims, please give us a call or stop by the shop for an inspection.