[CR]Wooden Rims

(Example: Framebuilders:Richard Moon)

From: "Larry Strung" <strungl@pathcom.com>
To: "Classic Rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 21:12:47 -0800
Subject: [CR]Wooden Rims

For a long time my favourite era was the 30's 6-day bikes and riders. I still have a couple of bikes from that time period, a '37 CCM Road Racer (the model name), and a '29 CCM Flyer (the track model), both on wooden rims.

Previous to finding the Flyer, the Road Racer served as my track bike that I rode at the first couple of Old Time Bicycle Races, an event that I organized at a bumpy old asphalt velodrome here in Ontario. The Road Racer was built up with a pair of Nashbar (Italian) wooden rims laced into the original hubs (Phillips, with the rear being double-sided for "fixed-and-free" use on the road). The bike and rims have survived 4 Old Time Races, with either myself or a newby guest racer (once I had the my own Flyer to race) on board. No one held back while racing the bike.

One autumn, I even attempted and completed a hilly 200km Randonneur Brevet with the bike. The rims held up well, but as testimony to the size of the hills and the limitations of a fixed gear, I managed to break off the left hand crank at the spindle. I completed the last 80km (50 miles) pedalling with only my right leg. My wife claimed that my right leg was visibly larger than my left for over a week...

I have even managed to hit a dog while riding this bike on the road, and still the wooden rims have held up! The rear wheel now has a slight wobble to it that I will have get around to truing out one of these days. This will be the only attention that these wheels have seen in 6 years.

Having said all that, we have had rims explode at the races for no apparent reason. Typically, they are original 60 year old rims that have just failed. No collision or fall involved. Thankfully know one was hurt in these instances, but the last couple of years I have lived in fear of a spectacular crash at the races due to a rim failing at speed.

Over the years, while a group of us have ridden to the annual Wheelmen meet on our Ordinaries, we have been accompanied by a friend on his 1890's wood rimed "safety" bike. We average around 70 miles per day, and some years have riden as far as 800 miles (Toronto to Philadelphia - via the scenic route). When the rear wheel rim (steel) on my Oridinary failed, I borrowed this bike for the Wheelmen century at Doylestown, Ohio, and was the first rider home. This bike is on original clincher rims that are more than 100 years old!

Ride 'em if you got 'em! Just be careful out there!

Cheers,

Larry