I have a 1908 BSA Road/path bike with 26 x 1 1/4 Kundtz wood rims, but haven't actually ridden them very far. They are the original rims in excellent condition - no warping or splits - but the spokes are a bit corroded and slack. Should be an excellent ride when that wheels are rebuilt. The bike has lost its original rear calliper brake, but I would guess that the bike has seen a lot of road miles judging from the chainring wear -- much more than could be accounted for by track use. There is very little sign of brake wear on the rim, however. I have heard that the appropriate brake blocks were cork. I doubt if many wood rims get much use these days -- the more recent ones were mostly found on track bikes because they were strong and light and maintenance was not such an issue. The major disadvantage is that a failure can be quite catastrophic -- not a benign bending like you get with a metal rim. I would venture to suggest that no-one is riding wooden rims regularly over long distances, but that plenty of people are riding them occasionally at vintage bike events.
Hugh Thornton
In a message dated 25/01/01 15:00:08 GMT Standard Time, sachs@erols.com writes:
> At 08:32 1/25/2001 -0500, Steve Freides wrote:
> >Is anyone out there actually regularly riding wooden rims, or would
> >anyone care to offer a reason *why* no one is doing so?
> >
> >-S-
>
> To me, this should be resolved into finer-scale questions for which I'd
> also love answers:
>
> 1) do wood rims withstand caliper brakes? What friction material was used
> - leather or rubber?
>
> 2) "wood" rims can be taken as meaning "All-Wood," which look like
> old-fashioned tennis rackets, usually with laminated construction. Just
> beautiful. For the era I like best (60s) there are also wood-filled sew-up
> rims with Aluminum exteriors. I have a pair of Weinmann track rims built
> this way.
>
> Harvey Sachs