Originally Posted by bragi

I think Seattle is just really hard on rims and brake pads in the winter. The roads are literally wet 3/4 of the time in winter, and when roads are wet, more grit moves from the ground to various parts of your bike. In addition, the entire city is built on fairly steep hills, so you have to brake hard quite frequently. I've heard many people here say that rims are pretty much consumables in the PNW.