What not to do to your carbon wheels...

[Carbon_Dude]

So the other day I had loaded my bike on the rack on our Honda CR-V, something I've done a hundred times.  However, this time I learned something.  Do not put your carbon wheel near your exhaust pipe and get stuck in traffic on a hot day.  Never had an issue before, but this time I caused myself a problem.  A combination of a carbon wheel, a hot day, and sitting in traffic was just right to cause damage to my front wheel, even though it was at least 12 inches away from the exhaust pipe.

I ended up going home instead of riding that day because of a pop up thunderstorm, and as it turns out I'm glad I didn't ride, the wheel is a bit warped and I would not trust the damage I caused would not cause a catastrophic failure of the wheel.

Lesson learned, even though the wheels was more than a foot away from the exhaust pipe, carbon wheels do not like any heat.  I have since changed how the bike sits when loaded on my bike rack.  Contacted Peter at XMIplay the same day I damaged the wheel and ordered a replacement rim.

Of course I have pictures, what would my story be without pictures?

Not good...


Replacement rim arrives:


Now for a front wheel rebuild, I will probably do it myself but I may also check and see what the LBS charges:

[carbonazza]

That is a sad lesson. I'll check my car the next time I put the bike on.
Thank you for sharing this.

[Digi]

Yeah thanks.  I would have never thought carbon could be damaged in that environment.

[bdub]

Had a friend who had this happen. He since has attached a piece of sheet metal to the front of his rack to deflect the heat. Just hooking up a trailer to my SUV I have noticed how hot the exhaust is, I can imagine that with no airflow it would heat the bike up really fast.

[Carbon_Dude]

I've since purchased a new platform rack, when mounted the bike wheels are now well above and away from the exhaust pipe.  I still think about it when I load my Chiner with carbon wheels on the rack though.

[SamSkjord]

Nasty, good thing you noticed it before riding.

Enve released a statement about exhaust heat some time ago https://enve.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201458669-Exhaust-Heat-Warning
Would be rather painful discovering this on a £600 rim!

[cmh]

Wow, damn, I really would not have expected that level of damage. Road rims have to survive the heat of braking, but that's also when it's going faster and has some wind to help cool things down - and is distributed over the whole rim, vs. one solitary hot spot.

Thanks for sharing the info!!

[bdub]

I've since purchased a new platform rack, when mounted the bike wheels are now well above and away from the exhaust pipe.  I still think about it when I load my Chiner with carbon wheels on the rack though.

What rack did you get as a replacement?

[Carbon_Dude]

I've since purchased a new platform rack, when mounted the bike wheels are now well above and away from the exhaust pipe.  I still think about it when I load my Chiner with carbon wheels on the rack though.

What rack did you get as a replacement?

See this thread:
http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,264.msg5451.html#msg5451

[bdub]

I've since purchased a new platform rack, when mounted the bike wheels are now well above and away from the exhaust pipe.  I still think about it when I load my Chiner with carbon wheels on the rack though.

What rack did you get as a replacement?

See this thread:
http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,264.msg5451.html#msg5451

Oh I see, thought this was after you purchased that rack.