Hairline cracks on rim (pictures)
 

I have an old 28H Araya ADX-1 World Champion front rim from the late 80's that has developed very small cracks at the nipples. I will eventually replace the rim, but in the meantime....is this safe for track races? No sprinting, just going around fast. I weigh 155lb and the track is 33 deg with some bumps. There are about 4-5 cracks, I took pictures of the biggest ones

If it is bad enough that you will eventually replace the rim, why would you even consider racing it on the track? It's the front wheel too, so it would lead to a nasty accident when it collapses on you.

I don't know... is it safe for you to get major surgery? I would skip the track with those cracks... not saying it would fail but that might fail is bigger than it should be. And you don't need to gamble with others lives either.

Your a brave soul...

They will let you onto a track with that? WOW! I'm sticking with car racing....

Not good replace ASAP

Well it's unanimous, recycle the rims and buy new ones BEFORE you ride again. In other words don't ride on those rims. Or to put it another way, stop riding on those rims.

I'm surprised you would even have to ask! If you saw cracks like that on the rims of your car would continue to drive the car those wheels? Wait, don't answer that.

I'd run it, but I wouldn't sprint on it and as another poster noted, I don't think it'd be cool to sprint near other racers on that rim.

The one in pic 4 looks like it's ready to pull through at any moment, but unless you're really going nuts, the failure would likely be just like breaking a spoke. The possibility that the failure could be worse than that is what makes it not cool to ride that rim in a race or spirited practice session near other folks, though.

Are there washers under the nipples? (This particular rim requires 'em...)

=8-)

If you have a good low deductible insurance plan including dental then what the heck go for it...otherwise buy a new rim now. Aluminum will form stress risers and can fail by just pulling out the spoke or fail catastrophically. Your rim is shot. Don't take a chance replace it now. FYI: Rims from the 1980s were never designed for a radial spoke lacing...too much spoke tension for the wheel.

Did u put washers inside of the rim when the wheel was put together? That darn rim is pretty curvy inside and to get good tension w/o messing up the rim the best is to put spoke washers in them. And as somebody mentioned also, i would not radial laced those rims under any circumstances, the rim do not even have metal eyelets so washers is the 1st thing to do, and no no radial lacing is the second one.

Doubt you will have an accident tomorrow for example but at some point u have to trash the rim and put a new one in. U cant fix that unless u want to experiment with carbon fiber that it could be the only way to to fix it in a fancy way :D

Good luck

agree 500%, i remember back in the day these ones and another argentinian aero rims, turbo i believe is the brand. Those used to be sold with a tiny lead piece that was between the rim and the spoke, the lead thingy had the shape of the rim and was flat over the top, so the idea was to avoid cracks in the rim.

That rim is living on borrowed time. When that started happening on my rear rim, I replaced it before I rode again.

Pretty unlikely those cracks are going to get better on their own anytime soon.

And if he rides on it, so is the OP. Replace it NOW.

Do you know who built that wheel? Correct me if this is some sort of special case...but having that much thread showing causes me to think that if the rim doesn't fail first...the nipples may. I'd rebuild with a new rim and proper length spokes. Oh, an there's NO WAY I'd ride that wheel as is. Track riding may not have the same rough road conditions, but it does mean that the wheels are loaded with far more than your 155 lbs.

-Jeremy

Gee...you're boring HillRider...

I say go to Austrailia...race on national TV at a velodrome...blow a tire...do a butt skid across the top of the outside barrier...and finish second because everyone except the usual lucky ONE piled up in the corner.

=8-)

"Saavedra," I'll bet.

Yes, you need washers with that type of rim. And yes, the OP needs top replace his rim.

Those are not "hairline crack" They're pretty big @ss cracks if you ask me.
Those rims are trashed. dispose, or better yet, destroy those rims so they don't end up on another bike ever.
JMO.

Chombi

Yeah the saavedra turbo ones, darn company did a pretty good campagnolo copies cranksets, BBs and hubs and and awesome sets of bike tools back in the day, never knew what happen to the company but time to time rims still show up at ebay.

I remember we used to sell more of the crazy-light Saavedra tubular rims to wheelchair racers than to bicyclists.

BTW, Saavedra's components were marketed under the "Paris-Sport" name and imported by Vic Fraysse, whose son Mike was a coach for the US Olympic cycling team.

I bought the wheel on the ebay for $36 and the seller never mentioned any cracks. Even though the rim is a lemon, it came with a Suntour Superbe hub and DT oval spokes...IS NICE!
Anyway, I never raced the rim. The only riding I did on it was a few yards on my street just before I noticed the cracks.
So I plan to rebuild this wheel and get something else for racing; i've given up on the vintage equipment

I have wheels built with mavic gp4 and nisi rims that are still going strong, the hubs the same. The wheel u got is not a lemon, the guy built it wrong, thats not your fault. Do you need wheels for a vintage bike?

Very interesting, i believe i still have the tool to put the nipples in those saavedra turbo rims.

Yes, it was built wrong. Someone said it needed washers. I took it apart today and the spokes and hub are in good shape. I originally wanted to get a light front wheel and a used disc for the track bike, but I found a used wheelset that works.

If I were to reuse the spokes, how close would I have to get to the Araya's ERD?
For example, the IRD Cadence rim is 604mm, and the Araya's is 609mm...would this work?
IRD: http://www.interlocracing.com/rims.html
Araya: http://velobase.com/velobase.com/Vie...838c6&Enum=107

this may be moot since you already took the wheel apart, but until the nipple actually started on coming out of the rim id say its okay to run, especially up front. both my front and rear have cracks. actually the front came all the way out of the rim. the back is just cracked. reduce spoke tension and keep an eye on it wouldve been my advice.
if you want to rebuild the wheel just bend a washer and shove it in there. thats what im running on in the front. 170lbs w/front rack+20/30lbs junk in panniers, bunny hopping, endos and riding down stairs, no problems. held up for almost a year now. ill get you pics if interested, let me know. if you decide not to go the budget route nobody will fault you for it. good luck.

ps-reuse spokes okay, just use new nipples... 5mm may be too big gap though