My wife and I are presently riding cross country. Today while riding behind my wife I thought I heard a spoke getting loose so we stopped for a break and I pulled out my tool kit. I looked at the rear rim and notice that it is flaring out on both sides at the valve!
Both bikes had new wheels built last Fall. The rims are Velocity AeroHeat 26" and I am using Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tires 2" x26".
My rear rim failed @ 1500 miles in PA hers is failing @ 3400 miles.
Fortunately we are only about 100 miles from Bismarck, North Dakota so I can get a replacement.
So anyone had this kind of problem?
Thanks!

Sounds like a failure of the "web" joining both sides. It fails at the valve because that's where the hole to h ole distance is very short.

You didn't say, but I'll venture that you're inflating to fairly high pressures. That's important because the "hoop stress" in the tire, or the force pulling the rim flanges is equal to the tire pressure X the tire cross section.

Add to that the greater amount of load deflections as each spot passes the bottom, and you have a possible explanation for early failure. Another consideration might be excess spoke tension, but that usually manifests in cracks at the inside (toward the hub) surface rather than the web.

BTW if you have rim brakes that's also a contributing factor

Velocity's website specifically suggests using the 26" Aeroheat rim for loaded touring and tandem use, but if I were building a wheel to put on the back of a tandem/touring bike I think I'd use something more than a 480g Aeroheat. Especially when riding across the country where reliability is paramount. I wouldn't expect it to give you an issue on the front though.

Re FB's comment about tire pressure - now I'm curious what pressure you're running because with a 2" wide tire you shouldn't need that much. At least I wouldn't expect you'd need enough to break a rim.

The wheels are on our single touring bikes, Surly LHT's. The pressure I am running is between 65-70lbs. The recommended range is 55-70lbs.

I broke *two* nearly-new Mavic mtn rims before I figured out they could not take 70psi, even thought the 2" tires were rated for it.

Tire ratings are based on what tires can take. Rim aren't rated for tire pressure stress, though with all the mixing and matching happening these days maybe they should be. Rim makers are in a bind. They have weight constraints in order to be marketable, and can only guess at what combination of tire width and pressure users will subject them to. They make a calculated guess based on the tire/rim width guidelines, but as tire ratings have gone up the potential for too much tire or pressure for the rim becomes a real issue.

I understand there have been significant quality control issues with the extrusions since Velocity moved its wheel manufacturing from Australia to North America. With two failures like that, I would be on to Velocity directly to complain loudly and for warranty replacements (if you are prepared to risk yet another failure).

I have had issues with Velocity rims in the past, with a factory-built wheel, that had pull-through problems with nipples, including one that took a chunk of the rim with it. One wheel was replaced under warranty, and after the second one showed cracking around the nipples, I gave up (I also was in a remote location away from the LBS where it was bought, so a warranty claim might have been more expensive for me than it was worth).

Multiple discussions of Aeroheat problems in the last few years on the Bentrideronline forums. I think this predates the move to the US. (??)
AeroHeat Rims - BentRider Online Forums

Problems generally related to wider tires at relatively high pressures.
I have Aeroheat rims on two bikes but with 32-35mm tires. (No problems - knock on wood)

I would call Velocity and ask about a warranty and switching to a different model rim, their customer service is some of the best in the business. Of all of their rims I really like the Atlas or NoBS as a loaded touring rim. I have a set on my cargo bike which has seen a lot of abuse including running wide tires over inflated to see how well they hold up since some of the older models of Velocity rims had issues splitting when running wider tires on the higher side of the pressure spectrum.

No matter which route you go I would experiment with lower pressures. Most people assume lower pressure equals more rolling resistance but it is certainly not always the case. Wider tires under high pressures put a lot of stress on rims.

I've never built any Velocity rim wheels , myself.

Rather than being fooled twice, replace with something else ?


my 26" wheel touring bike has Mavic EX 721Rims ..

So, have you ever built any with help?

rebuilt the front one to use a Dyno hub , and the rear one to ship the Rohloff Hub to Berkeley

to have the old style Nylon oil seals replaced , by them to the current Neoprene type oil seal .

a $3600 bike for $2K, with a $1200 hub seemed like a good deal . even if the lube oil leaked out ..

replacing the oil seals was done at cost of shipping .

as I said Mavic rim, not The other one.


30 year old rebuild with a 40 hole wolber/super champion 58 still works fine .

maybe I just don't let them get out of true for long.

And, how does this relate to Velocity rim problems?

bring it by and Ill have a look.. I can tell more by looking at things than blind guessing
over the text thing ..


so maybe the build sucked or he inflated a fat tire to a pressure usually only used in skinnier ones ..

was that confessed to?

The adventure continues , pictures and news at 11 ..

Velocity Failed , dont replace it with another of theirs.
Lots of competing products with competing claims ..



Boxed up bikes from 2 different people who rode here from Virginia , to send back to

Roanoke And Norfolk. they managed.

I put a lot of tour miles on Mavic Mod. 4 rims , for 10 years ..

I remember seeing reports on the touring forum maybe four or five years ago (maybe longer, time flies) regarding Aeroheat rim failures. I think I remember a statement somewhere by Velocity that there was indeed a bad batch of rims, and the problem has been corrected, but I'm not sure. I've got a wheelset with Aeroheats from 2008 I think, no problems, but not a ton of miles on them, and they only get ridden with a pretty good load on them, they're one of my wheelsets for my LHT. I've also got a wheelset with Velocity Cliffhanger rims, a similar rim, but heavier and more robust than the Aeroheats. I think the Aeroheat uses the same rim profile as the Dyad (the dyad is 700c), with the Aeroheat being the 26" rim, FWIW.

Sorry to hear about the trouble with the Aeroheats... let me know if we can help you out at all: seely@velocityusa.com

Thanks Chris! I would second the NoBS recommendation. They've been a bulletproof rim for us since day one.

I have another Aeroheat failure story. Back wheel of my recumbent, 20" (406) 32 hole. The rim flared out at the valve hole area. I put it down to running too high pressure in a large (20 X 1.90) Hookworm tire. The tire is rated to 110 psi, but that much pressure in such a large section tire puts a lot of strain on the rim sidewall. I never ran the pressure that high, but obviously too high none the less.
I made it sort of rideable by compressing the rim, but the resulting brake pulsing is unacceptable, so I'll have to replace it.
Thinking it will get a CR18.

Update!
Velocity customer service guys have been great! They have provided 4 new rims and they are waiting for us at home. After checking with a few other wheel builders I selected the Atlas rims. So later this Fall I will be building these up.