Look what I did to my front rim
 

Well I've done 45,000km in 2 1/2 years.
Pretty much 50/50 road/dirt, possibly a bit more on the dirt side.
Now my off road ability was fairly non-existent as this was my first off road bike ever so l may have hit a few VERY big holes, rocks, stumps, logs, fury animals and had several high speed excursions off roads, through rock gardens, over earth mound barricades, up embankments basically you name it I've done it out of control and some how always ridden home unscathed.
So if I wasn't absorbing the damage with my body and riding gear, what was?

This was my front wheel the other month (and still is).

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/...219_114557.jpg

Been off the road all summer waiting for OTR to send me an excel rim.
It's not a fault of the soft cheesy oem wheel, I did thrash it all the way to the end.
It had more buckles in it than a belt factory.
No l haven't ridden it since and yes l let the air out just in case.
Just thought l'd share.

ps. Capt l will re-subscribe soon. Scraping the bottom of the barrel atm.

How are you going with the new rim, didn't you order it before Xmas??
Are you going to respoke it yourself?
Matt

Correct l did order before christmas but it was the last day OTR were open so it never got shipped (nor did l expect it to) until Jan 6th when they re-opened.
Being on the far side of Oz it takes a long time for the mail to reach us and even longer for parcels/boxes. It should be here any time from now until the end of next week.
I have moved house and have to unpack the garage and clear some bench space, set up my wheel truing stand, buy a spoke torque wrench from Torpedo 7 and wait for the weather to cool down.
It's flaming 38 deg over here, not working let alone riding in that heat.
Yes l plan to re-spoke myself and will take lots of pics of what to and not to do. Hopefully more of the former.

Geez l was lucky l was only on a slow commute home not being silly in the local bushland when the rim gave out. Didn't feel it go just felt a bit strange turning. Found it when l got home. Phew.

Jeeezzzz one lucky bunny i was out yesterday ****ing fcuk out of the wheels on rock steps !!! Best go and have a look at em, be interested in seeing the respoking
Phil

Did it crack on spot where it is welded together?
Mine did crack on that spot.
You can check that from the inner side, you will see weld is been grinded there.

Thats where mine was broken also.

By the look of the crack yes. But l have not taken the tyre off yet. I just parked it and went surfing. That was 2 months ago.
Rim should be here soon so l will sort out the garage and get everything ready.

Oof, must have been some big hits.

I managed to bottom out my forks at speed several times before doing the WP conversion, but the wheel was still round - as you say, there's nothing wrong with the strength of the OE rim (just feel the weight!)

Wheel finished and thoroughly tested.
 

So the other week l finally worked up the courage to put a tube and tyre on my handy work and go for a ride.:eusa_think:
Of course being my first wheel build I was a tad anctious when heading out.
I planned on a 200km road ride to meet some guys who had left via the dirt 2hrs earlier.
I made it about 10km when the joy of riding took over and l found myself riding beside the local freight rail line. Then dirt. Then sand. Then a whole lot more dirt, say about 200km worth and at balls out break neck speed. :icon_mrgreen:
Only got air twice and nearly ended up on my ass wheelying over a crest at 150kph.
The others beat me by 40 mins to their lunch spot and nearly choked after looking at my gps data.
Yep... the front rim stood up to everything and then some.
Would highly recommend anyone giving wheel building a go. Will help heaps if you're out on the track and have a serious rim ding that you can relieve in order to get home.
I trued the wheel twice from scratch for good practise.

Uber.. the oem rim is not heavy. All the weight is in the hub.
http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/...211_204204.jpg

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/...ygubybas-1.jpg