[wtjs]

I only noticed this yesterday on my Vitus gravel bike- must be some rubbish alloy (pictures coming next). I’ve never had this happen before, and I have wheels over 40 years old . Unsurprisingly, there is nothing definitive to indicate the rim manufacturer

Topic

[LastBoyScout]

I’ve only had this once, when

I’ve only had this once, when I hit a pothole pretty hard – it was in an unlit tunnel (actually just a very wide bridge) and I had sunglasses on, so didn’t see it.

Low spoke count Bontrager “Race” and wheel deformed enough to start rubbing the chain stay and chewing through the carbon.

Always put a bit of frame tape inside the chainstays on all my bikes now, just in case of a repeat.

[Captain Badger]

hirsute wrote:

I have been looking at trailers and wondering how they attach. I have a through axle so it seems that I need to buy a new one specifically for towing. Does this sound right ?

Yes. I have a BOB Yak which came with a qr skewer, which works great for my road bike Have just updated my MTB, so had to buy a custom thru axle with the relevant lugs. Robertaxleproject was the manufacturer, and I got it thru (geddit?) SJS cycles. Both companies were great to deal with. I’d advise talking to RAP to ensure you identify the right one. The new axle was just shy of £60. They do all kinds, not just yaks

[Captain Badger]

hirsute wrote:

Thanks for that. I see there is a handy wizard to work out which robert axle to get.

I was looking at the homcom trailer which recently appears in ‘pictures of my bike thread’ but I’m not sure what the precise hitch is other than universal although the robert one says ‘These fit any trailer that has two wheels and a single point of attachment to the axle’.

Be careful of the wizard (the printed off sheet that helps you identify teh right axle) – it’s great until it’s not. My Thru axle’s cone washer snaps on over the bolt head – this thru (geddit?) the measurements off. Both RAP and SJS were really cool about getting it sorted out though (hence my recommendation). The Wizard was great for  identifying the correct thread ptich though

If you get onto the RAP website they have a chatbox thingy which they respond to directly – it’s a small company. I went through it all with Tory who pretty much knows them inside out, so with exchanged photos we worked out where it went wrong. Cut teh story short, if you give them a shout with some photos of the hitch I’ll bet they’ll be able to confirm any advice.

[Hirsute]

Thanks for that. I see there

Thanks for that. I see there is a handy wizard to work out which robert axle to get.

I was looking at the homcom trailer which recently appears in ‘pictures of my bike thread’ but I’m not sure what the precise hitch is other than universal although the robert one says ‘These fit any trailer that has two wheels and a single point of attachment to the axle’.

[Hirsute]

I have been looking at

I have been looking at trailers and wondering how they attach. I have a through axle so it seems that I need to buy a new one specifically for towing. Does this sound right ?

[wtjs]

Yes, my body weight sat on

Yes, my body weight sat on the saddle while steering the bike along Lancashire and Cumbria roads as opposed to the alternative use case of leaving the bike in my bedroom to protect it was what ’caused’ the collapse of the rim. However, in the absence of a published rider weight limit of ‘under 74 kg’ and ‘gravel bike only to be used on smooth roads’, I don’t think they would get away with it.

[Hirsute]

Oh, so you are saying your

Oh, so you are saying your fat arse really caused it – they will want their wheel back !

[wtjs]

The problem with this

The problem with this Aristotelian armchair theoretician stuff is that it is trumped by the invention of experimentation and hypothesis testing: place load on trailer, put finger under attachment arm where it clamps onto rear bike axle, determine that the upward force required of the finger is entirely negligible compared with the downward force exerted on the rear axle by my fat arse. Hypothesis that the loaded trailer exerts any extra significant force on the rear wheel is rejected at any level.

[wycombewheeler]

wtjs wrote:

wtjs wrote:

Nonsense!- and from another of these dodgy single-posters.There is no load on the bike wheel, because it’s all on the single trailer wheel. And I have a lot of experience on all kinds of bikes, including pannier loaded touring where all the load is on the bike wheel.

If there is a single trailer wheel, it sounds like that wheel will be behind the load, but under it. So some load will also be applied to the bike. A two wheel trailer may well have the axle at the centre of gravity, but a single wheel will normally be behind the load, whether it is a tagalong bike or a cargo trailer such as this https://www.sprocketscycles.com/products/topeak-journey-trailer-for-12mm-axle.

[wtjs]

Just to complete the story:

Just to complete the story: Chain Reaction have finally agreed to replace the wheel, 2 weeks after it arrived and was signed for at their ‘Returns Centre’ at Bilston, West Midlands. It didn’t get visibly worse after I rode around on it for another couple of weeks and amazingly didn’t go significantly out of true.

[wtjs]

I’ve just realised that no

I’ve just realised that no-one took the bait when I included a photo of the tyre where it states ‘e-bike ready’. I’m disappointed.

[Secret_squirrel]

wtjs wrote:

There is no load on the bike wheel, because it’s all on the single trailer wheel.

Also I presume you probably aren’t carrying 2 kids worth of kit around?

[wtjs]

I have now sent the wheel

I have now sent the wheel back to Chain Reaction Warranty returns via Parcelforce-£11 tracked. I think they have now given up the ‘contact the manufacturer’ dodge. All of the spoke hole cracks in the WTB i23 rim were on the drive side holes, with none on the disc side- so there must be some bad machine wheel building going on with drive side spokes tightened too hard. 

[wtjs]

Nonsense!- and from another

Nonsense!- and from another of these dodgy single-posters.There is no load on the bike wheel, because it’s all on the single trailer wheel. And I have a lot of experience on all kinds of bikes, including pannier loaded touring where all the load is on the bike wheel.

[Citizen Kane]

Don’t want to be rude, but I
Don’t want to be rude, but I have some experience lugging a trailer behind a bike and I can attest that the general OEM racing or gravel wheel is NOT designed to take the load of any trailer. I towed a kidstrailer with two kids in it for a couple of months and completely wrecked a rear wheel because of it. The loads increase dramatically. I had to ask specifically for a reinforced rim, high spoke count and a MTB specific hub. On a touring bike. :-S

[Author]

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