Originally Posted by
JimCanuck
As a machinist, and a mechanical designer, all I've got to say is ...
Seriously, if your tires are wearing down the aluminum (generally) rivets, then perhaps your using studded tires or your from some other plane of existence.
Rivets tend to get lose for many reasons, from bad installation generally being the start of the problem, to vibrational loading on it, to dynamic stresses, and a few other factors, all of which are in play on a bike on anything but a smooth indoor track.
Rivets fail, but they will not fail due to the tire wearing them out. The tire will wear out first if they are making contact.
Jim
Hey I'm one of those too...
and tires will definitely wear down rivets. I've seen steel frames destroyed by prolonged tire contact.