You Guys and wheel reinvention.... And you call yourselves experienced cyclists. etc. ect. etc..... SMH! hahaha!

Those side wall rim scratches are most likely caused by dropping down into or up against gaps in asphalt pavement that run parallel to the direction of travel,

They are most commonly seen in ageing asphalt which is a mixture of coal or petroleum tar, sand and gravel. In areas like the US Left Coast or Southwest where it doesn't freeze much and there are lots of HOT days a year, the volitiles in the asphalt slowly evaporate causing shrinkage and leaving gaps where the pavement layers butt up against each other or near the curb.

Road crews if and when they patch those cracks use sand and tar or a hot or cold patch of asphalt to fill the gaps. In the mean time, many of the lesser used roads and street, especially bike lanes and trails have those gaps or separations. They're the perfect size for a ~ 1" wide tire and wheel to drop down into and get those kind of rim scratches. Anyone who has ridden the Iron Horse Trail in the S.F. East Bay knows what I'm talking about. At night and or when it's raining I only ride my beater bikes on the Iron Horse because the gaps are harder to see. gaucho777

I have lots of those rim scratches on my beaters. Unless they cause pulsation or squealing, they're usually not a problem except in wet weather when they pick up grit that gets embedded into the brake pads and wear out rims fast.

The real problem for me is tire sidewall damage from running into those asphalt gaps. About 15 years ago I started riding these Continental Grand Prix 700 x 23c tires. They originally cost ~$43 on sale. In 2012 I bought 24 of them online for $12 each! The remaining ones I have still ride and handle great. The only problem I've had with them has been the limited amount of tread rap which doesn't provide much sidewall protection! It has resulted in a lot of sidewall gashes.



On the other hand, during the same time period I've run these Panaracer Pasela TourGuard 700 x 25c tires on a lot of my bikes with very few side wall problems. There is a lot more tread wrap on these that protect the sidewalls.


I'm not advocating one tire over the other, just suggesting that if someone is getting frequent tire sidewall damage, maybe they should look for some less trendy tires with more tread wrap.

Unless you move into something like 35mm+ wide tires very few will protect your rims from scratches when you run into a pavement gully.

verktyg Grumpy Old Man