I was changing a rear wheel flat last week and I noticed a small stress crack coming out from one of the spoke holes. After getting home, I had a very close look at the wheel. I have stress cracks on all of the drive side holes and a couple non drive side. Most are so small that they are hard to see and run along the rim towards the next spoke hole. One is a little bigger, and that is the only reason I caught it.

I regularly hit 42-43mph on descents on my weekend rides, so it would not be fun to have a wheel collapse at that, or any, speed.

The wheel is a three year old Mavic Cosmos. Generally considered a bombproof wheel. I am close to 200lbs, a little too close after the holidays, and there are some rough roads here in SoCal.

So, after telling my wife, she demanded I get new wheels immediatly (I LOVE that woman). And as luck would have, Lickbike.com has '06 Ksrium Elites on sale for $299 ($324 today, but they gave me yesterday's price). So I get a nice upgrade for half price.

So please, everybody, next time you are cleaning have a very very close look.