My Friend, the Rim Bender.

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Hey.

My friend is a really good uni-trials rider, but he has a serious problem.
each and every rim that he had, he had bent it. So, the first one was a KH rim with big holes, second the new KH with sapim spokes, and the third one was Qu-ax Muni Double-wall. He rides with Try-all and creepy crawler tyre.

I wan`t to ask you, if there is any problem with his parts, or he just loves to bend them with being so hardcore when he rides :slight_smile: ?

If he use the 2.6 monty tyre, would it be better or won`t be at all?

2

It’s the spokes that really give a wheel its strength. Perhaps his wheels have not been built and tensioned properly?

3

There could be a couple of different factors.

His weight, you didn’t mention it, but if he’s 300 lbs that could be a problem.

Like MuniOrBust said, wheel build could definitely be a problem.

The only other thing I can think of is his technique may be hard on wheels, if he’s putting a lot of sideways pressure he may just have to live with it, either change his technique to be easier on rims or live with bent rims.

Is he braking spokes/nipples?

Is he a big heavy dude?

Is there some specific moves he’s doing which usually result in a bent rim?

These would be good questions to answer.

4

He has about 65 kilos, so hes not overweight. But its true that he is doing pretty big drops. It might be his technique ;). And no, he ain`t braking any nipples or spokes. He also had those thick sapim spokes but bent it anyway…

5

I heard on the forum somewhere that nimbus rims are stronger than the kh ones. I’m not sure if that’s still accurate though, but I think it is.

6

I have dont large drops on my nimbus rim and i am 230 pounds and no issues yet

7

Have do not large drops…:wink:

What about a try all rim? Has he bent those yet?

8

Usually, the easiest way to bend a rim is by landing with sideways force (lateral to the direction the wheel is facing). This can bend a new, strong wheel in a single drop.

But it doesn’t have to be any one thing; it could be a combination:

  • He needs his wheels to be well laced and tensioned, by someone with some wheelbuilding experience
  • He needs to keep his tire pressure enough so the rim isn't banging the ground
  • He needs to have a good landing technique, so he isn't hitting harder than necessary
  • He needs to land with the wheel pointing in the direction of travel (or backwards); not sideways
I think those are the biggies. There may be some other factors that could contribute, but those were all very good rims you mentioned, so you can't really blame the equipment... :)
9

Thanks a lot for the answer! I`ll tell him that he has to work on his technique :wink:

10

yeah, if he’s not like 250+ lbs…there’s definitely an issue with his technique… he’s prob landing completely sideways on drops and stuff, he probably needs to learn to roll out

11

Never seen him to land a big drop sideways…maybe just a little bit. But its true that he doesnt always roll out smoothly.

12

It’s his technique and likely his choice for landings.

I weigh 75 kg and have broken one spoke in three years of riding. Granted I don’t do big drops, but I do ride a lot and have done my fair share of rim shots and such.

Any wheel can be bent, the key is to do things well by landing smoothly. Consider how big some of the DH montain bikers and bmxers go, huge gap jumps and such, and they don’t have hardly the trouble your friend is having.

Maybe he thinks it’s cool to break wheels? I for one get annoyed when I have to fix my gear. I went through a series of wheel rebuilds due to hub failures, three in two months, so I say never again!

13

Hello, and pardon me for interrupting this thread, but I had a question relating to it.

How much of a drop is necessary to bend a wheel? I mean, if I jump down a couple stairs sideways, would that possibly be enough to bend it if I’m also landing sideways? Just curious as I don’t want to break something… Double wall rim of course…

Sorry for my noob question, and again, please pardon the interruption.

Thanks!

14

It’s all about how you land. Size of drop doesn’t matter much. You can probably bend most wheels just by purposely landing with a lot of side force. Once.