Eyelets, or special washers, are a necessity on a light tubular rim. Double eyelets become almost necessary as weight goes down. Clinchers can get away without eyelets because the extrusion die can be shaped to put sufficient thickness about the spoke holes, but light sewup rims are made from tubing of a constant thickness (thin-ness), except for extruded examples that are definitely not light.
David Snyder
Auburn, CA, USA
> Ahoy !
>
> I was too deeply buried in school and two jobs to have any attention
> left-over for bike components. Ah, but now, 'twould have been useful if I
> had.
>
> Nearly all the used tubulare rims (road) I am finding are without eyelets.
> I am speculating that is because the non-eyelet rim design was the
> mass-produced "economy" component. My assumption is that rim design theory
> has been consistent - at opposite ends of the application spectrum - no
> eyelets for racing and no eyelets for the cheaper bikes; somewhere in
> between are eyelets. So, in general, I should not be highly motivated to
> purchase non-eyeletted rims.
>
> That about correct ? Comments, anyone ?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Richard Cielec
> Chicago, Illinois
>
>
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