- By Lennard Zinn
- Published 11 mins ago
Editor’s Note: Lennard Zinn’s regular column is devoted to addressing readers’ technical questions about bikes, their care and how we as riders can use them as comfortably and efficiently as possible. Readers can send brief technical questions directly to Zinn.
Dear Lennard,
I had to put my road bike in storage for two months for an arduous move. In a week of riding after the move, my front Shamal 2-way Fit wheel would lose 20-30 pounds of air overnight. I added 40cc of Caffélatex to no benefit. Taking the Fusion 3 tire off, the valve stem hole is cracking almost to the tire bead with a jagged edge. There was random corrosion, most catastrophically at the valve stem. I’ve used acetone to clean the rims once or twice a year, and the valve area always seems to require the most attention. Using only Caffélatex and Acetone leads me to wonder about rim imperfections.
I take tires off in the Spring/Fall, remove residual latex (usually a dozen or so pin holes filled; I can’t imagine what, if anything, would have happened with tubes), clean the tires, and clean the rims. I have a couple of dull dentist tools that I use to scrape latex attached to the rim. It really reminds me of dental hygienist cleaning, scraping the crud while not hurting the enamel (rim). I can’t imagine how this could happen. Do you have any thoughts on it?
I sent the wheel to Campy USA via LBS. Campy USA says it’s not a warranty issue. (I bought the wheels from a European website.)
— Lindsey
Dear Lindsey,
I’ve often heard about rim corrosion from sealants and have been sent many photos of rims corroded due to them. Shimano specifically recommends against using sealants with its rims due to this problem, and I imagine Shimano would also say it’s not a warranty issue, were you to send in one of its rims with this issue. That is against the backdrop of every sealant maker I’ve talked to about this
To read the whole story, visit here: http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/08/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-corroded-rims-and-hot-heads_233628
