Originally Posted by
KC8QVO
Good point.
I am trying to wrap my mind around this one. Are you saying the braze-ons were inside the stays - as in the rack bolts sandwiched the stay between the rack part and the braze-on inside/underneath the stay? All my braze-ons are outside/external to the frame metal. That is something that I have been a bit concerned with - but being they are external they are easy to see, specifically the braze-ons on the seat stays for the rear rack. Then the bottoms are straight in to the dropouts - no braze-ons.
No braze-ons, it is an aluminum frame so they use inserts, the same style inserts are used to screw into hold the water bottle cage to the downtube/seat tube of the bike.
Even though I have used message boards for years I'm still ignorant on how you do multiple quotes so I will leave everything below as KC8QVO posted it and comment in between his questions. My idea for making it look like a quote may work and it may not work.
So the rim material is what failed, maybe due to being too soft? How many walls? Or were the nipple flanges what gave out and caused the nipple to pull through/wedge themselves through the rim hole?
I'll fess this is one I can't answer since I don't have any of the wheels around anymore to go back and examine more closely now. The first wheel pulled through in MN and by the time I had 2000 more miles in the trip I was already getting the sense I would be lucky to make it home before I had to replace the second rim, both different rims, I don't believe they were the same make or model. I managed to get home and immediately after getting home I had to replace it and it was replaced with what was though to be a more beefy rim but it only lasted 3400 miles, unloaded before it crapped out on me. Wheel number four only got around 10000 miles before the freehub blew out on me. I've ridden just under 125,000 miles since mid-May 2011 and I have never seen this kind of predictable problems with a bike before. It's not normal wear and tear by a long shot. The original 2015 trip was 8500 miles long. When you are on a long trip like this you can't be choosy as to keep the same brand of tire, yet alone wheel, all the time. You have to learn to be flexible as you may not find the same parts in other parts of the country/other countries.
What kind of rack? All of my miles (over 3000) on the touring bike I have until this year were with a cheap rack I got for about $15 on amazon. I can't believe it lasted even the first year. It has been way over loaded. However, I wasn't doing any multi-day tours and figured I could use zip ties and/or tape to bandaid something together to get home on if I had to - never did. This year I replaced it and added a front rack - with good quality Tubus racks. I trust them a lot more now, but that's still not saying something can't happen.
I can't answer that question either. I paid around $25 for it. The second one has held up nicely. I think it was the bad luck pick of racks.