When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Wood rims and tires?

#eBayPartner    Most Recent BUY IT NOW Items Listed on eBay
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
That thing looks very dangerous, you'd better send it to me for proper disposal... 😉 Can't have you getting hurt ya know?

What is the difference between maple and oak rims: I'll probably paint them as the ones I've been looking at match the frame?

Jaybird
 
I have quite a few wood rimed bikes. I build the wheels myself, or repair them if it’s possible. I use 700c rims that accept clinchers to replace the 28s. Some of my track bikes came originally with 700c wood wheels and tubular tires. I build wood clinchers for these so I ride them everywhere. Like previously pointed out, find a complete bike, pedals can be extremely expensive and some block chains have to be custom crafted. I have a set of fixed gear wood wheels I built that fit on several bikes. Wood wheels need pretty constant tuning. Hanging them by the rims, clamping them in a J hook on a bike carrier will require you to true them before use. Just storage in various temperatures and humidity will require spoke tensioning. Eventually you will have to remove the spokes and put in a second nipple washer and start again. This is even true with the wood rims that have carbon fiber inserts. Last summer I did a 108 mile time trial on a track using a 1931 wood wheeled track bike with new
wood wheels I built. The front wheel had a wobble from the hauler after a five hour drive. I had to true that out and again after the race. Last spring I took A 1900 fixed gear wood wheeled bike to Asheville to ride on the Mellowdrome. I’ve fixed original potato chip wood rims by zip tying the rims to true spoked wheels and burying them in the snow for a few days. Then laced and trued them, letting the tension off and truing them 2 more times. I let them sit and every day for 3 days I retrued them. After a year they got tocoed again, but not as bad, still rideable as a fixed gear without rim brakes. The joints commonly lift on old originals. I use clear marine epoxy and clamp them as well as possible. It’s never perfect and requires joint sanding. I then drill a pilot hole through the joint and plug it with an epoxy dipped tightly fitting finishing nail with the head ground off.
1597018

1597019

Two hanging getting bent rims, ha.Maroon and grey.
1597021

1597022

1597023

1597024

1597025

1597020

I have one more woody, but no pictures of it.
 
Last edited:
BB, thank you for that heads up--you've given me a lot to consider! Hmmmm? I'm thinking maybe dismounting the rims between uses might help, eh?

Jaybird
 
If you want some inspiration for wooden rims then check out Ghisallo.
I have had these on a few bikes and they ride like pure magic. I bought them from Ric Hjertberg, the founder of Wheelsmith spokes when he was importing them to the US.
Good lugged frame/fork, Ghisallo rims, Campagnolo and supple tubular tires - nothing better.
 
I don't actually have a bike yet, but if and when I get one, I will be sure to post images!

Hmmmm? I refuse to pay for tires that I need to baby, as I want to ride/use the bike as originally intended. What about mounting steel rims to the OEM hubs? Those TOC bikes look totally boss, but I don't mind faking the rims and tires so that I can ride it without having a heart attack in the dirt. Suggestions welcome and appreciated. I'm liking the idea of using a TOC-bike to go to use my TOC-fishing gear. I'm assuming TOC is turn of the century, correct?

Thanks you for the replies so far 🙂
Jaybird
I'm in Pleasanton if I can help let me know I have a few bikes and can guide you.
 
CX tyres are good, I use a couple of sets also.
Just about to try a set of Schwalbe G-One tubulars too.
I have a set of single tube wood wheels that originally used 1 1/2 inch tires. I put CX tires on them. They don’t fit well as the widest CX tubular tires are too narrow. It’s hard to center them and I don’t feel comfortable riding on them on anything that has fast corners. I do use them on bike paths and they work. They won’t let you on a track with them. They said their not attached enough. I don’t like this solution at all and build new wood clincher or tubular rims. Here is a set of rebuilt single tube 1 1/2 inch rims with CX tires. They fill the rim better when inflated but the glue only grabs on the center and on one side.
1597249

1597250
 
I have a set of single tube wood wheels that originally used 1 1/2 inch tires. I put CX tires on them. They don’t fit well as the widest CX tubular tires are too narrow. It’s hard to center them and I don’t feel comfortable riding on them on anything that has fast corners. I do use them on bike paths and they work. They won’t let you on a track with them. They said their not attached enough. I don’t like this solution at all and build new wood clincher or tubular rims. Here is a set of rebuilt single tube 1 1/2 inch rims with CX tires. They fill the rim better when inflated but the glue only grabs on the center and on one side.View attachment 1597249
View attachment 1597250
That's a fair comment although the ones I'm using are only 700c x 31; although you can go much wider as you know. They are nowhere as knobbly as yours in the photo above.
I only use them on the road, as I do with all of my wood rims.
I wasn't advising track use with them and most tracks over here won't even let you on the track with wood rims, except for vintage display events.
 
Last edited:
That's a fair comment although the ones I'm using are only 700c x 31; although you can go much wider as you know. They are nowhere as knowledge as yours in the photo above.
I only use them on the road, as I do with all of my wood rims.
I wasn't advising track use with them and most tracks over here won't even let you on the track with wood rims, except for vintage display events.
That’s the nice thing about the Mellowdrome, they let you on with wood. Thats a two day trip for me. I’m using 700c x 33 CX tires in the photo. There is a sports dome 65 miles away and it has a circular access road, one mile in length, around it. It’s also lit at night. No banked or tight corners so I ride on this. There is also a vocational center with a half mile circular drive that is lit at night and I use that to have a different experience. Both are right on the bike path so after speeding around I go for a leisurely bike path ride. The CX tires work on the circle drives. My main objection is that I just don’t like the knobby look or the gooey messing around putting on tape or glue on CX tires. Dirt gets into the large gape from the poor fitting tires and mixes with the tubular glue and you get an ugly black line. But they do work and is the only practical option for using single tube rims. I once filled a set of rotted out 1 1/2 inch single tube tires with expanding flex foam. I drilled a hole opposite the valve stem on the mounting surface to let out air as it expanded. Foam leaked here and made a mess. What a mess, it leaked out through the rotted cracks and got everywhere. It deformed the tires where it leaked, lifted some of the tread a little. I tried to ride them but it was like having solid wobbly tires. They might clean up for display. Another good idea flawed in the execution.
 
Aside from the excellent rims available from Noah Stutzman as mentioned by Brant above, new wood rims are also available from 'Cerchio Ghisallo' and 'CB italia' in Italy. The clincher style ones (for conventional type tyres) from 'CG' also come with a carbon fibre liner that allows modern high pressure tyres to be fitted.
The 'CB Italia' rims are only available in the sprint style, for 'tubular' (singletube) tyres.
If you were to go down the English style steel wheels route and wanted to build (or have built) a new set I would source rims from The Netherlands, here's a link to an excellent source.....
The Westwood style rims from "Cordo" are fantastic quality.
They are available in 700c (modern 28" or 622mm) and 700B (traditional English 28", slightly larger at 635mm). They are also available in aluminium ( powder coated black) and are therefore much lighter and roll/accelerate very well.
These rims are available in 32 hole front and 40 hole rear drillings, or crucially for you guys across the pond in 36 hole drillings.
I use these rims myself and they have not required re-truing in the 5 years since I built them up; unlike all of my antique wood rims (tubular type) which are very sensitive to changes in air temperature and atmospheric humidity and require regular fettling in the frequently damp British climate!
I guess that's not a problem for you @New Mexico Brant, lol.
I’ve been thinking of getting some Stutzman wood rims, the kind with the alloy rim imbedded in them. This might make them more stable and you could use higher pressure. I have an early fixed gear 40 spoke hub and I could buy an early 32 hub. I would also have to buy the alloy rims for him to wrap.
 
Back
Top