50% of wheels not up to standard?

[RUBICON]

Was just reading this article



" if you're thinking of turning up to your next criterium with your deep dish, carbon fibre wheels, think again. Cycling Australia in an email to their members have advised that checks will be made at races to ensure that all wheels used comply to UCI Regulations"

"(1.3.018) which states inter alia For Massed Start Road RAces, only wheel designs granted prior approval by UCI may be used"

"There are wheels in Australia...that have not been passed by the UCI and therefore ... not permiited for use"

2007 - 2008 failure rate of wheels sent to UCI is 50%.


Written in this months Bicycling Australia Magazine.

Please explain? Is this national events? Official events? How would you know?

[Pete Smits]

Heaps of stuff re this on the cycling forums Rubes. Latest update from CA is
Cycling Australia have announced an amendment to their stance on this matter:-

"The following ammendments were approved by the recent CA Board with immediate effect:

*
A 'Standard' wheel is defined as a wheel manufactured entirely of metal and having 16 or more spokes.
*
It shall be the sole responsibility of all competitors to ensure the wheels used in any mass start road competition comply with Annexure 6 of Cycling Australia's Technical Regulations - UCI Bike Regulation 1.3.018. Should a competitor use a wheel which is in breach of this regulation and that wheel is found to have caused injury to any person or damage to property, the competitor using these wheels may be liable for all costs arising from the incident."

The list on the UCI website is updated when new wheels are approved ? I did contact Jet Black in Aus re token carbon wheels and they had sent some over for testing , not sure of outcomes as yet !

[Jason]

Their is a list some where of all the gear that is UCI approved somewhere out there. Most of the top manufactures have wheels in there best to stick to the top brands not the cheap Chinese ebay stuff   
   Or if your like me stick to what ya got train harder think thats what I got to do     

[Murphs]

It's a can of worms really, the tests are not run independently, Mavic tests all the wheels, Which explains how the R-SYS passed... I would rather use a 'cheap Chinese eBay' wheel than a R-SYS.

Another issue is that a whole wheel is tested, not the spokes, rims or hubs independently. So a Zipp 404 passes, DT Swiss hubs pass, Sapim CX-Ray spokes pass, but if you built up that combo then it wouldn't actually be a UCI approved wheel.

[Jason]

Very true how many riders have wheels build up for them. Most of the guys in the newy use a combo cause the roads there are full of holes there is too many factory's around with acid rain. 

[Murphs]

Very true how many riders have wheels build up for them. Most of the guys in the newy use a combo cause the roads there are full of holes there is too many factory's around with acid rain. 

There's even some with normal rain, but you've gotta look reeeeaaaalllllyyyy hard!

[Jason]

I lived about 5kms out of Kooragang and my car got covered in this orange stuff every time it rain it was really bad stuff too ages to get it off (as my car was white ) I said was 

[Stu Eddy]

I lived in newie for 4 years while the steel works were still going.... has - hass - hasn - hasn't affected me one b - b - bbb - bbbb - bbbit.

[rosko]

 The hardest part for the Aus wheel builders is the prohibitive cost to have their wheels passed. We have excellent builders in TWE and Bauer (sp) yet for them to have their wheels passed they must spend close to $15000. In such a small market, that would be a massive portion of their overall profit. Obviously they will 'have' to spend it to have their wheels approved so they are able to stay in business, it's going to hurt though. The wheels they send over to the UCI are crushed, never to return, sure it would go down as a tax write off, still it's a lot of cash.

 Just to add a little to the futility of the exercise, it is only 'front' wheels which are tested! Reasoning is simple enough, the front collapsing has a slightly larger chance of causing injury, the rear only has most of the force generated through power sent to it.. 

[Yoni C]

There is the list as at 9/9/09

http://www.uci.ch/Modules/BUILTIN/getObject.asp?MenuId=MTkzNg&ObjTypeCode=FILE&type=FILE&id=NDkyNTc&LangId=1

[GT]

This reg has been around for a while, just not enforced.

Main things to consider;

1/ Mass start events:  
        1.1/Alloy wheels  with rim depth <2.5cm & 16+ spokes are classed as standard or "traditional" wheels and no     certification needed.
        1.2/ Wheels with > 2.5cm rim or non-alloy build need to be on approved list.

2/ Individual Events, your risk, so as long as it meets normal specs no certification needed.  Insurance liability is also your risk if not traditional wheel or on certification list.


Another change to reg you need to look at for Time trial or Track Pursuit/TT, forearms must be parallel and aerobars positioned to provide this, no praying mantis positions or down angles.

[Stu Eddy]

 Insurance liability is also your risk if not traditional wheel or on certification list.

YOUR RISK...The way all sport should be.