Re: [CR]Stainless Steel Rims?

(Example: Racing:Wayne Stetina)

Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:47:13 -0800 (PST)
From: "Fred Rednor" <fred_rednor@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Stainless Steel Rims?
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <49193810.1040808@nonlintec.com>


> My limited experience with steel rims in general is that > you can't use the high spoke tensions that are OK with > modern rims. > > I suppose it's possible that some hopeful soul > responsible for designing these things decided that > stainless steel is harder, so it could be drawn thinner, > thus reducing weight by a few grams, and then overdid it. > Certainly, since it's more expensive, there would be an > incentive to minimize the use of materials as well. > > Anyone have any hard info on that?

Steve,

My experience with those rims was in the remote past - i.e. the 1960s! Although I did not have good luck with them, many (thousands?) of people did in the UK did. So I suspect that there is a "right" way to tension those rims, and if one adheres to that method, the result will be a solid reliable wheel.

But back then, all my friends and aquaintances only had real experience with the following sorts of rims: - Weinmann style aluminum clinchers, and the Italian equivalents such as Fiamme - Steel rims such as Rigida - Tubulars

I think that the lightweight, stainless steel Dunlops required a bit of knowledge/experience that we did didn't have, since we didn't see them often enough. Maybe if you went to the right bicycle shop, things were a bit different...
      Cheers,
      Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia (USA)