Repeately getting cracked rims

[uad782]

Hi everyone,

I have a Salsa Fargo 2017 Apex which seems to have over its fair share of cracked rims. I have had it for 7 years and 3 rims have cracked. Cracking is all on the drive side spokes.

I have had 2 Stans Arch rims fail and the stock WTB i23 rim as well. These rims have had a hard life but probably mosly done under 5,000 km. Wheels are all QR.

A few years back there were rumours this Salsa had rear triangle shape issues (due to manufacture) and wonder if this could be a contributing factor. It is strange the cracking is only on the driveside spokes?

I am wondering what to do next.

Any advice appreciated.

[foo on patrol]

Know nothing about the rim brand but if spokes aren't tensioned correctly, there's a problem, you also say they have had a hard, how so? If you're being careless about hitting things hard at speed, then there's another problem. If they are only doing 5000Klm in a year, where's the warranty?

Foo

[Duck!]

Cracking only on the driveside is not unusual, as that side is more highly tensioned, therefore under more stress, and more prone to fatigue.

I don't know about the WTB, but among MTB circles the Stan's do have a bit of a reputation for poor durability. If as you say they've had a hard life, it may simply be that you are pushing them to their fatigue limit sooner.

[baabaa]

What brand/ type of rear hub? 32 spoke? How much do you weight and then what so of loads do you lug?- could be a wheel dish issue more than a rim problem?

Guessing it has the salsa alternator rear-end system? Call dirtworks https://www.dirtworks.com.au/contact-us who ( pretty sure) would have been the importer of Salsa at that time - they would be very aware of any fargo frame issues.

FWIW have three salsa bikes with QR wheelsets, the LBS who built them up from frame and forks thought they all run very true on a frame building jig - FWIW I do find that clamping down both the rear and front wheel works better with DT, Phil Wood, Shutter Precision and Hope hubs than they do with Shimano hubs (and when all have been clamped down with Shimano QR) - on sight they appear to have a larger surface area on the hub to dropout face.

[uad782]

They are all 32 spoke and built by different builders. Two were factory built and the third by Craftworx. They all use different hubs. Hubs include Stan’s, Salsa and Hope pro4

One rim has done off road touring with loads such as the the Great Divide in US. The other two have done no touring but gravel riding on fire trails which is what I mean by a hard life.

These days I weigh around 100 kg.

So if it is not the frame I am open to any other suggestions. I have other bikes with h plus sons and Stan’s rims which haven’t cracked.

Finally, any suggestions for a bulletproof wheel. I’m thinking of reusing the Hope Pro 4 hub.

Thanks

[baabaa]

Hmmm, Craftworx would build proper wheels.
If it helps have had a good run with a few sets of wheels with 32 hole dt tk740, one with dt hubs and spokes, other with a Hope Pro 4 hub rear, SP dyno front and dt spokes- both are qr running 10 speed - seems to work well enough together for my use but weigh 82 kg and mostly light touring with panniers and off tar bike packing with frame and seat post bags- not sure if you can still get them but could be a good starting point to look for something old school strong

[open roader]

If you are going to have it re-built by someone else then try Greg Ryan, master wheel builder of TWE in Sydney. He is the sort of bloke to put a full stop on your issue.

I've purchased several wheelsets from him over the past 20 years, all have been well fit for purpose and he offers a lifetime crash/repair warranty which I can also attest to is as good as it promises.

[foo on patrol]

I don't abide by body weight for different spoked wheels and never had. I have raced on 16sp fronts on the Track, trained for for years on 16sp front and 20sp rear for 5yrs on 15yr old wheels before seeing a crack at a nipple and I was 110kg. In saying this, I do consider myself a smooth and observant rider on the roads.

Foo

[uad782]

Thanks for everyones help.

I going to get a Dt Swiss EX511 rim and give that a go