front wheel without a breaking surface?

[vivforvendetta]

Just got a pair of B43s for my fixie and I'm wondering if it makes a big difference that the front wheel doesn't have a breaking surface.  I'm not cool enough to ride without a front brake, so I want to make sure the rim won't mess with the brake before I set them up.  Otherwise I might just sell them.

Thanks!

[Steve Mattson]

Read this:

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-219493.html

[enzomatic]

if it really doesn't have a breaking surface i would be afraid that it wasn't designed to take the force of the brakes squeezing on them and may fail, I don't have experience with this though. At the very least i would think the breaking would be weaker especially when wet.

[Steve Mattson]

Try this thread:


http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-219493.html

[ShaneQuentin]

      Searched for b34 couldn't find.  Any wheel that is designed for use with rim brakes (which is most) will have that elevated platform all around the edge of the wheel that is designed to be the contact surface for your brake pads.  This elevated platform will wear away slowly with use and eventually, with lots and lots of riding, and breaking, get worn away.  When this happens the rim is done and it's time to buy a new one.  Some rims even have a grove in this surface that is designed to be a wear gauge; when the surrounding metal is worn down to the bottom level of the grove then it is time for rim replacement.  This elevated strip of metal prevents the brake pads from wearing away at the structural walls of the rim that hold the whole rim together. 
       Using rim brakes on a rim that has no braking surface is bad because it is like starting out with a rim that has all of the special braking surface worn away already.  It's like starting out with what would be considered a worn out rim on any other bike.  With breaking you would immediately begin to wear away at the structural walls of the rim until you wore away enough material to cause the whole thing to fail.  By the way it is far worse for your front wheel to collapse than the rear as you leave yourself open to such joys as endos, faceplants, supermans, curbings and the dreaded Louie Anderson.  So, in summary, if there is no braking surface, sell em and get some rims that are designed for brakes or you may get a taco, and not the kind from a truck parked on Venice Bl.

[Steve Mattson]

Try B43 instead of B34.
They are extremely deep v rims.  Very 

[ShaneQuentin]

Oops, um yeah, don't use brakes on that rim.

By the way Zipp makes a deeper rim that that, please see our tubular tire discussion for more details:
http://forum.bikerowave.org/index.php/topic,3242.0.html

[E-Rock]

zipp 1080 tubulars on all the fixed gears plz.. thx

[ShaneQuentin]

Here here.

Also I learned the name for that elevated strip of metal on the rim: brake race.  You want a rim with a brake race.

[Dan/R]

There was a dude in today with B43's and they definitely had a braking surface.

[Steve Mattson]

I suspect we lost this guy a long time ago.

I don't know why I didn't correct the word "Breaking" (as in destroying, damaging, rendering something as unusable.) vs the more bicycle centric stopping an object from continued movement: "Braking."

[ShaneQuentin]

Yes because riding without a braking surface would result in breaking the rim!!!!!  From now on all rims that can't withstand braking are breaking rims, and all rims with a brake race are braking rims.  How did we manage to lose this guy again? 

[Dylan Boroczi]

Jobst Brandt disagrees:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/machined-rims.html

[ShaneQuentin]

Yes, but nowhere in the article does he suggest using brakes on a rim without a brake race, the article is just about different brake race finishes.  It is still, probably not a good idea to use brakes on a rim without a race.

[vivforvendetta]

So if I get rid of these B43s, can anyone recommend a good set of replacement rims?  Similar price, doesn't have to be deep v's.  They don't have to be as ostentatious as the B43s either.