It's been my experience that some of the older factory wheels were much
more durable than many of the newer wheels. While the use of stainless
steel spokes is far more common today and a nice improvement, I'd have
to say that a lot of what I judge the older wheels by is the sum of
their components. When it comes to mid range bikes, since that is what
was most common around here back then, earlier rims were much better
built as far as being true and round. It seems that some of these newer
rims are just plain rough, with poor welds, if any, at the seams, along
with variations in the braking surface. I've assembled many current
model rims, and there's not many that have a smooth weld transition,
while the older rims, even the low end steel rims, were very well
finished and could be made absolutely perfect. With some of the newer
rims, it seems like you have to compromise side to side to get the rim
the best it can be. While this may not be the case on all newer rims, it
seems to hold true with many of todays rims that I have seen.
As far as my own bikes, I have a '77 Super Course that has roughly
12,000 miles on it's original wheelset and they are just fine, but it's
been ridden by only me, and it's never had any impacts or crashes. I do
on occasion check and adjust the rims, but I've never even had a spoke
break. I've repacked and replaced several axles and bearings, and I try
to go over the wheels at least once a year, but I do that on all of my
bikes, if not once a year, at least any time I have the wheels off. The
rims on my SC are Weinmann concaves with Normandy high flange hubs, and
butted spokes. I have a spare all new old stock set of rims that I built
for this bike a few years ago, and probably will swap them out the next
time I change tires, but for now, the originals are fine.
I have seen quite a few badly built wheels, but most were custom built.
If I come across a bike that I feel the wheels are suspect in any way, I
rebuild them myself. I've been building wheels for over 25 years, and
have wheels that I built back then that are still in use.
Back in the day, while helping out at a local bike shop, we took every
bike and went through it 100% right out of the box, the wheels got
checked and trued if needed, spokes got tensioned, and all bearings got
checked and adjusted. I can even remember repacking bearings on bikes
that we thought needed it. I do remember a few coming right out of the
box with loose, and unlubed crank bearings or an occasional wheel with
all of it's spokes quite loose. While those cases were few and far
between, they did happen, I would think that it's less likely these days
with more of the assembly being automated.
Regards,
Joe McKishen
Vineland, NJ
USA