Donald Gillies wrote:
>
> I have seen 3 instances where a bent rim could not be straightened.
Hmm, I have seen countless such instances. Makes me think you haven't
hung around bike shops as much as I have. (Believe me, that's no
insult. Hanging around bikeshops too much sorta brands you as a loser.
;)
> Two were heat-treated TREK MATRIX TITAN rims
I'm curious, what makes you say they were heat-treated? I ask because in the 80s there were lots of rims that were called "heat-treated" that turned out to be "not really". Seems the bike industry decided to refer to anything hard-grey anodized as "heat-treated". Often the same rim was sold both ways, with the anodized one called heat-treated when the anodizing was the only difference.
It is my understanding that all aluminum rims are heat-treated in a sense, namely the aluminum is made soft enough to extrude to the rim shape and bend into a hoop. Though it's possible that some rim was really heat-treated for strength after it was formed, I have never heard of a confirmed case of that, and the millions of rims falsely called heat-treated makes me doubt any such claim.
I am not at all dogmatic about this though and would be glad to hear any evidence to the contrary.
Mark Bulgier
Seattle WA USA