Originally Posted by ChroMo2
yeah... right! A rim is just the rim. ok? a wheel is the rim, spokes, and a hub, assembled. are you gonna ask if a wheel has the tire on it or not to be called, technically a wheel? Like I said if you ride like an old person, you aint gonna hurt your rim. If you bomb the nasty trails, all it takes is one branch stuck in your spokes to rip your rim apart, and there aint no way i'm staying away from the Mississippi river bluffs. I use fat tires and they never let me down. But I ride harder than the average biker because I want more out of biking. So when you push the limits your gonna pay in either trashing your body or your bike. You have to know how to maintain both.
If you get a stick caught in your spokes, you're liable to bust some spokes, but it doesn't usually damage the rim.
Very unusual for a rim to get "ripped apart" because the spoke tension holds it together.
Sheldon "Tires Protect Rims" Brown
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