rim wear indicators

[geocycle]

Carbide it is then!
One thing I've noticed though is that in the rain, rims get dirty. Not to mention dirt roads in the country side, seems really abrasive.
 

Yes, I am a strong advocate.  I should point that the current Thorn recommendation in the mega brochure is to have a none carbide on the front as some folk have experienced serious braking issues when the rims are worn in excessive wet conditions. I've been lucky in that respect and never had a problem.

[mickeg]

Some people say you have to replace spokes when you put on a new rim.  But if you have not had any spoke breakage and no other obvious reason to replace spokes, I prefer to reuse the old spokes if you get a new identical rim.  You can tape the new rim to the old rim getting the valve stem in the same place.  Then shift one spoke at a time from the old rim to the new one. 

The time savings to avoid lacing up new spokes and cost savings of spokes may make buying the same brand and model of rim worth it if you are unsure what you really want.

If you try this with an old freewheel wheel, it is best to loosen up the freewheel first just in case something goes wrong and you find you need to replace any spokes on the drive side.

[ají]

cheers!

[Mike Ayling]

Here is a link to an article from CTC by chris Juden :

http://www.ctc.org.uk/resources/Magazine/20011163.pdf

Also if you go to this next link and scroll down there is another
answer from Chris Juden and a photo of a dentists tool that can do
the job.

http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3827

I have the actual CTC magazine with the article in it and the critical rim thickness quoted by Chris is 0.5 to 0.7mm.

Mike