Well for normal rims 0.9mm wall thickness is the norn before retiring them. Most rims would look quite concave at this wall thickness.
DT Swiss RR465 and 415's are 1.65 mm thick so they have a fair ammount of wear and the XR-200 I am sure is about 1.3mm thick so that has some wear before it become unusable.

So do wonder what Stan's say about the the minium wall thickness then. 0.9mm thick for a new rim is not alot. They would wear out pretty quickly in the weather we have here.

_________________
www.thecycleclinic.co.uk

I managed to pop my 2006 Campag Zonda that only day in the winther where i decided to use the hometrainer. I've also ridden Campag Shamal (Gold edition), with green swisstop. two seasons and almost wear at the brakingtrack. Hopefully I'm going Super Record next year, and I'm gonna stick with stock brakepads for training.

_________________
N/A CYCLES
Trek Madone SL 2007 Clearcoat

Tinea, standard Campag pads aren't that great for UK winters. I believe they've changed the compound but I've not tried them yet.
SwissStop Greens are the best winter pads I've used but as Lig found out they are quite abrasive and not really suitable for softer rims.

When I did eventually swap out my Swissstop Greens - for Halt Gooey Pads - I got a MASSIVE increase in braking power. This is with KCNC CB1s, so any improvement was welcome.

_________________
Under the Sun - a thriller for weightweenies with bike loving main character on Kindle here

Yeah, those green Swissstop pads are junk. They don't bring anything good. Their braking performance is lame and there are chances that they'll destroy your rim as well (sooner that you'll think).

Hi all,

Well i tried to take a photo but its really not worth posting as you just cant see the extent of the rim wear. And because they are the 2 way fit its hard to measure the rim thickness, but i will have a go at this when i get chance.

I think we all agree that the Swissstop greens were a bad choice on these wheels, probably on any top end alloy rims really??

The Shamals are a great wheel, although i have got a set of R-sys SLRs and i think they would just top them but there wouldn't be much in it....

I have replaced them with some handbuilt H-Plus-Son Archetype rims, with CX-ray spokes on Chris King hubs and i have to say I am pleasantly surprised. I was expecting them to be quite sluggish. They are about 150g heavier for the pair than the Shamals, but are very nice to ride - the hubs are superbly smooth and do run better than the shamals, and they absorb more road bumps which i think is down to the 23mm rim width - I would say the only negative is that they arent quite as snappy when you get out the saddle - But when climbing there is 0 flex in them! These are for my winter bike and i wanted something i could easily rebuild and thought I would invest in good hubs.. Any how the chap who built them did say he thought the best pads around are the standard Shimano DuraAce pads and at £9 a pair I am going to give these a try (I do hate to put Shimano parts on my bike though - I did have to scrape off the shimano text on the pad so no one would see ) The brakes are TRP and are shimano fit.

Cheers guys - and if your rims looking suspect then get 'em checked out or bin em!
Lig.

_________________
3kbikes.co.uk
For best - Parlee Z3
For training - Colnago EPS AKBL
For the pose - 1980'ish' Basso Steely

The dura-ace pads are excellent. You can also get the kool stop black dura 2 pads (dry). I really like those pads on aluminum wheels.

Wow, I have some Eurus wheels on my winter bike that have some significant brake track wear. I better have a closer look at them next time I wash the bike. They do not seem exceptionally worn to me, I have ran other rims like Mavic CXP-33 to the point of being extremely concave before retirement (sorry no numbers).

For brake pads in wet weather, I have found (over many years of rainy winter riding) the best pads in terms of rim life are the Kool Stop salmon. This compound is harder than others so grit and small stones are not as easily embedded in the pads and this helps greatly with rim life. Braking power is adequate but not exceptional. Another thing that really helps with rim life is keeping your bike clean, take the time to rinse off the pads and rims between rides. The worst rides for rim wear are when the roads are wet but it is not actually raining. Here, grit gets on the pads and the rims but it is not being washed off by the rain so every application of the brakes is like taking a grinding compound to the rim.