Shimano RS10 wheelset

[daggavis]

Hi

 

These wheels are to be found on the Merida Road Race 904-com, Cannondale CAAD9 5, Silverback Monterey bikes..

 

Are these decent wheels? Since i'm not a roadie i need advice..Someone told to me to invest in better wheelset as my 95kg chassis will see me snapping spokes..wasn't a joke..

[AndreZA]

I don't know about the new Shimano wheels but in general NO Shimano road wheel could handle anything over 75kg.

 

 

[Eugene]

My bike has Shimano RS10, bought it last year and I've done just on 1200kms with them. I weigh 93kg and I havn't had any problems at all. The wheels are still perfectly true.

 

RS10 seems to be their new entry level wheel and are a bit heavy. I don't recall any weight limits that have been mentioned on the Shimano website.

 

If your bike comes with these wheels, I would recommend that you stick with them for now. If you get more serious about road cycling and really feel an upgrade is neccessary, then get something new.

 

 

Eugene2008-03-25 08:10:34

[splat]

The 540's seemed to have a bit of a bad reputation. They couldnt cope with my delicate 100kg body and had to be swapped out for some nice hand builts.

 

It seemed that Shimano didnt mention anything about weight limits on thier website then either, so dont take it for granted. Get your bike shop to do some research and back up the wheels or get them to swap or upgrade them.

[Eugene]

My bike has Shimano RS10' date=' bought it last year and I've done just on 1200kms with them. I weigh 93kg and I havn't had any problems at all. The wheels are still perfectly true.

 

RS10 seems to be their new entry level wheel and are a bit heavy. I don't recall any weight limits that have been mentioned on the Shimano website.

 

If your bike comes with these wheels, I would recommend that you stick with them for now. If you get more serious about road cycling and really feel an upgrade is neccessary, then get something new.

 

 

[/quote']

I take back what I said above. Yesterday, whilst washing my bike, I noticed no less than 7 little cracks on the rear wheel. All were at the point where the spoke enters the rim.

 

I'm going to take them back to the bike shop today. The real acid test will be with Shimano's after sales service. If and how quickly they replace them.

[Johan Bornman]

[quote name=Eugene

I take back what I said above. Yesterday' date=' whilst washing my bike, I noticed no less than 7 little cracks on the rear wheel. All were at the point where the spoke enters the rim.

 

I'm going to take them back to the bike shop today. The real acid test will be with Shimano's after sales service. If and how quickly they replace them.

[/quote]

 

If you have a camera with a decent-ish macro, could you please take some phones of these cracks and post them? I suspect they're cracks caused by cracking anodising. But lets have a look.

 

 

[Johan Bornman]

[quote name=Eugene

I take back what I said above. Yesterday' date=' whilst washing my bike, I noticed no less than 7 little cracks on the rear wheel. All were at the point where the spoke enters the rim.

 

I'm going to take them back to the bike shop today. The real acid test will be with Shimano's after sales service. If and how quickly they replace them.

[/quote]

 

If you have a camera with a decent-ish macro, could you please take some photos of these cracks and post them? I suspect they're cracks caused by cracking anodising. But lets have a look.

 

 

[Zaskar]

I had a similar problem once on my Ksyrium SL's. After i had done a few rides on the IDT, the rims cracked where the spokes / nipples screw into the rim. Virtually every single drive side spoke was affected, some had cracks of around 1cm long and 1mm wide on each side of the nipple hole. Unfortunatly i didnt take any pics, got insurance to sort it out before i could.

 

But if you want some pics of metal cracking, check out my Alien seatpost that broke during the 2006 Argus...

 

 

 

[Eugene]

I do not think that it is the annodising that is cracked as when I scrape it with my nail, it is extremely hard (annodising would probably peel easily). Unfortunately, I cannot take any photo's as my camera is at home and the wheel is on its way to the bike shop. If I get the wheel back, I will try to post a picture.

 

All the cracks are on the drive side, same as with Zaskar. Will keep the forum posted as to the outcome.

[Johan Bornman]

I do not think that it is the annodising that is cracked as when I scrape it with my nail' date=' it is extremely hard (annodising would probably peel easily). Unfortunately, I cannot take any photo's as my camera is at home and the wheel is on its way to the bike shop. If I get the wheel back, I will try to post a picture.

 

All the cracks are on the drive side, same as with Zaskar. Will keep the forum posted as to the outcome.

[/quote']

 

What you just described to us confirms to me that it IS anodising. Something that just peels away is paint.

 

Anodising is an acid-etch process that implants a layer of ceramic (glass) into the aluminium surface - one half on top, one half of the layer penetrating a few microns into the aluminium. Anodising, just like glass, doesn't like flexing and when you force it to flex by making your wheel turn with you on the bike, it cracks. These cracks, like a scab on your knee, penetrates into the aluminium, causing a stress riser and traveling stress crack.

 

Anodising is the worse treatment a rim can get. Rims should remain flexible, not fragile like glass.

 

Unfortunately fashion dictates deep colours on rims, hence the manufacturer's urge to anodise.  The best rim is made of polished aluminium coated in a layer of clear lacquer. Those are extinct, dumped in favour of bling rims that crack.

 

The reason the cracks are on the right side of the rim is because those spokes are under higher tension, pulling larger teats out of the rim, hence more cracking.

 

 

[Johan Bornman]

I had a similar problem once on my Ksyrium SL's. After i had done a few rides on the IDT' date=' the rims cracked where the spokes / nipples screw into the rim. Virtually every single drive side spoke was affected, some had cracks of around 1cm long and 1mm wide on each side of the nipple hole. Unfortunatly i didnt take any pics, got insurance to sort it out before i could.

 

But if you want some pics of metal cracking, check out my Alien seatpost that broke during the 2006 Argus...

 

 [/quote']

 

That crack is the engineer's fault. It is a poorly engineered and poorly finished piece of casting that should never have found its way into a structural assembly like a seatpost.

 

If you look inside the hole, you'll see a little ridge left there from the mold. That ridge is rough. A crack started either inside the round hole our inside that cutout section, almost certainly in the middle on a rough edge of the ridge and propagated futher until it went right through.

 

Had the finisher filed off that ridge and polished it nicely, it probably would not have cracked. But the polisher's poor finish doesn't negate the engineer who was under pressure from the marketing guys who wanted the lightest, coolest-looking post possible.

 

But hey, it is fashionable, contains carbon and costs a bomb. Therefore it is cool in spite of a fatal flaw.