The other day a customer brought a buckled rear wheel to me for a rebuild with new spokes and nipples. He’d broken multiple spokes over time and the shops that had done the previous repairs had used various lengths of spoke and different nipples. He asked my advice on whether or not to replace the rim. The wheel came as stock on a Ghost 29er mountainbike.
I told him that if the rim was disassembled and laid on a flat surface and was wobbly, that it would be a good idea to replace it. That recommendation alone didn’t seem to convince him, and I noticed it. I knew that a new rims would be the best thing for him and his bike, so I thought of other good reasons to advise him to replace it. This is what happened:
I showed him how the narrow rim caused the tyre to be shaped like a light bulb and explained how going with a wider rim would make the tyre more stable under cornering loads and how a more squared off tyre can be run at lower pressures – making the ride more comfortable and increasing traction at the same time. I could see: still not 100% convinced.
I asked him if he was running the wheel tubeless – of course he was. Was the rim “tubeless ready”? No. The budget rim that the bike came with wasn’t designed for use without tubes. In front of the customer I went ahead and deflated the tyre and, as expected, it “unseated” itself from the rim. If the rim was designed for tubeless, the tyre would stay seated to the rim. If the tyre stays seated, re-inflating it will be a cinch, even with a small hand pump.
This was finally the nail in the coffin of the old stock rim and he agreed that if the rim was wobbly that we could replace it. He’ll be glad the rim is wobbly and I’m convinced that his new wider, tubeless-ready rim will make his life better.
For not much money, you too can transform your mountain biking experience by upgrading your rims.
- Replace your wobbly rims
- Go wider and improve the ride quality, traction and comfort
- Go tubeless – not just a conversion, but proper tubeless which will 100% make your life easier when out on the trails
After all, you spend a lot of your hard-earned money on your bike, races, kit and not to mention time away from your family. Don’t let your rims dampen your experience.
Click the button above and ask me how much it’ll cost to upgrade your rims.
