Is this rideable? Rim perforated by ham-fisted idiot with metal tyre lever (me)

[Frank9755]

I've put this in a separate thread from the one where I was asking for tyre lever advice



I did this trying to get a really tight (tubeless) tyre on.  I suspected something had gone wrong as the tyre wouldn't inflate.  I thought I had probably perforated the tape over a spoke hole.  I didn't realise that I had gouged out some of the metal, enlargening the spoke hole to a key hole shape. 

Is this rideable?  My hunch is no as there will be forces from the tyre pushing the edges of the rim apart making it possible that the rim could just tear apart down the centre., but is that right? 

[mrcharly-YHT]

I think it is rideable.

If it were my rim, I'd cut some metal from a coke can and epoxy a repair over that hole.

[rafletcher]

If I were to try riding it, I'd first drill a stress relieving hole at the end of the tear, to remove the stress raiser and prevent propagation. I wouldn't fix anything permanently over the hole, assuming this is access to a spoke nipple, 'though you could try using a small Fiberfix patch above the damaged area, which you can probably lever back approximately flat. My main issue would be, if the rim is that hard to get a tyre on, any addition to the height of the rim bed will make it harder.

You'd also need to take a fine file/emery paper to the damage on the lip of the rim.

[Brucey]

there are high tension loads in the rim well as suspected.  I have seen quite a few rims that have been damaged and have subsequently  split lengthwise in the rim well.  Gluing something over the damaged area may help with leaks etc but it is unlikely to help much with these most damaging stresses.  Near any hole the stresses are about x3 as much but if there is anything crack-like they could be x10 or more higher than normal.


If you decide to continue using that rim, I'd suggest that you keep an eye on that area, in order that you can spot a crack developing. If the rim uses rim brakes, you may feel a pulsing in the brake if a crack changes suddenly, and this may give you advance warning of a catastrophic failure.  I also note that the rim lip is marked up; IME this kind of damage (even if slight) can, over time, nibble its way through the tyre sidewall; it needs to be smoothed off so this cannot happen.

cheers

[pumpkin]

Is it an expensive wheel? given the possibility of injury/death from failure then a new eg Kinlin is £150 from The Cycle Clinic. That's a wide rimmed tubeless wheel on a Miche hub.

[Frank9755]

I'm not going to ride it.  Thanks for confirmation in above comments.  I just needed a little while to come to terms with my own stupidity.  My plan was to ride it tubeless on the Transcontinental - not the conditions under which I could regularly inspect it!  TBH it doesn't make sense to use any rim which you have to regularly inspect tubeless as the idea is that you only fit the tyre once and ride it until you need to replace.   

It's a Kinlin XR-31, which was actually built up for me by Malcolm at the Cycle Clinic.  I expect I'll ask him to put another one on for me. 

[mark]

If it'll make you feel any better, I did the same thing the first time I tried to get a tight fitting tire on with my brand new Park steel levers. Ever since then I've used a tire jack (Kool-Stop or VAR) to get tires on, and only used levers to get the tire off.