Broke carbon rim with plastic tire lever

The first one delaminated after about a year and a half, the second one at around 2 years. I do put a lot of miles on the bike (over 12k per year). They were a 2016 wheelset. I now run the Reynolds AR41, also a tubeless ready wheelset but much easier to get tires on and off.

I did the exact same thing with my SLR1 30mm rear wheel. I didn’t even bother trying a warranty because I blamed myself for being to aggressive. I epoxied the area, sanded it smooth and went from tubeless to clincher. I rode it like that for many miles until this year I upgraded to the SLR0 55 wheel set. I still want nothing to do with tubeless. I had nothing but issues. My damage may not have been as bad as yours so I’m not recommending epoxy as a safe solution. It worked for me though.

Who did you reach out to? I didn’t have the time to call Rutland Cycling today and they didn’t get back to me today with my warranty claim. Within five business days I will hear back from my insurance company and if they think I have right to something it will be cash, not a new wheel. I don’t think it’s available on the market to be honest.

Update: Rutland and Giant UK asked for pictures so I send them some. Now they want me to send the wheel and the brakepads over to them for them to run tests. I can’t say I believe them. I would be easier and cheaper for them to just give me a new wheel instead of these “tests”. In the way they are communicating with me I feel they are blaming me. That the brake surface was worn. If so, should it crack? The brakepads are still in good condition so I’m not sure how they are gonna use them for their benefit in this case. Maybe they are sincere and want to investigate the wheel for some research, but I doubt that and think they want to have the wheel to look for something to put the blame on me. They have to prove me wrong on this.

Have to say I am very bummed out by this and the timin because I have loads of expenses coming up and was not budgeting for a new wheel, so I cant afford a new one in a long time.

Isn’t sending the broken item back standard procedure? :thinking:. The only case that I can think of where you wouldn’t have to send it back is where the cost of shipping exceeds the cost of the item.

Yes, I think it is. I was mostly rambling on my bad feeling. My bad.

I hope They are paying for/replacing your brake pads if they want them! Otherwise you are down a set if pads.

Update: I got the final verdict today. Neither Rutland nor Giant wants to replace them. Rutland offered me to buy a new one for 450 £ instead of 530 £. I’m not spending that money on something I wont dare to change tire on. Anyone selling a 55 mm+ rear wheel?

That’s a bummer. I see wheelsets on Ebay all the time. SLR 0s a little harder to come by than the SLR 1s.

I am careful about this too but still need to use them. This sounds like a nightmare though, now I am scared to use them.

That’s a shame. I presume Giant gave you an adequate and reasonable explanation as to why they were rejecting / denying your request for the claim to be processed via warrantee? Did they cite your tyre lever use as the cause or just say it was wear and tear?

I guess your home insurance will pay out for accidental damage (assuming you have that type of cover) albeit the claim may affect your next year’s premium.

If the claim was rejected by Giant you should ask them to return the wheel etc? If they can’t or won’t then they owe you a replacement as I doubt they explicitly asked you to relinquish ownership by sending it to them for inspection?

I had a similar(ish) experience with Hope wheels I bought a couple of years ago. I broke spokes (three is fairly quick succession) on the rear wheel despite various measures by my LBS to remedy (re-truing and spike tension etc). Then the spoke retention lugs in the rim cracked so they replaced the wheel (took 3 months). Then the replacement wheel exhibited similar small cracks in almost all the rim mounting lugs after a few weeks, despite the LBS being super careful in checking the wheel over before mounting on my bike. Wheel went back and Hope didn’t respond for months so the LBS just gave me a straight refund. Good service from the LBS but left me wondering about how the wheel manufacturer deals with quality issues - I guess you’re right that in many cases these companies will initially seek to refute responsibly because they obviously have a vested interest in reducing their liabilities and / or preventing setting a precedent.

Good luck :+1:t2:

Yes. They said that the dame couldn’t have happened while riding which I never claimed. They never said it’s YOUR fault but that’s the message they send. Also that a plastic lever is stronger than the rim. I can’t see how it could have been my fault, shouldn’t the tire lever snap before?
I have an add on, on my home insurance which could be translated to dumbass. Not even that helped and the woman who took on my case used my words against me. I said exactly what happened and added that a crack could have accursed during riding. Then she said since I didn’t have a moment I knew it broke they refused me money. I will overrule that decision and refer to Giant.

I am communicating with Rutland and the person there is trying to be helpful, I am sure it’s not his or hers decision to say no to a new wheel for me. I will ask for them to send the wheel back, maybe I can use the hub and spokes for something.

I’m not in a financial position at the moment to buy a new wheel in that price range and having an old aluminum wheel as replacement makes the whole bike a bit handicapped. I’m soon going to the other side of the world where I have my other bike, I will race with that one instead even if it’s not race geometry (Bianchi Intrepida) and skip the hassle of bringing a bike with me on the flight.

Good therapy session!

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This bead jack tool was referenced earlier in this thread. Check out specs here: Kool-Stop Tire Bead Jack with Handle | Jenson USA I suspect the original motivation for this tool was related to difficult tires, but I have found many other applications. I’m in my late 70’s and in some cases, I no longer have the thumb or wrist strength to pop that last few inches of bead over the rim when mounting a tire and at times not even the strength to apply sufficient pressure to the typical plastic lever. (a flat out on the road with temps at 35F, for example. cold hands, cold tires) . Riding buddies, after seeing the tool, often equip the toolkits of their wives and daughters with the tool. I no longer use levers when mounting tires. This is just easier. Like most tools, I suppose there are scenarios where one could wreck something with this tool as well, but that would require the requisite strength, the absence of which is why I use the tool in the first place! I hope you all make it to that point in life where this becomes an essential part of your tool kit as well! Ride on!

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I recently got one of the Jacks, but have not had the need to use it (yet).

I also got the Tacx tire lever and setter, that are travel sized.

I plan to try that for fun on the next change at home. It’s kind of a mini version of the Jack above, and I’m curios if it will help on those tough tires during a repair on the road.

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I did have to revise how I carry things as the bead jack is 22cm long. But, when it is the difference between successfully changing a flat or not I’ll find somewhere to fit it in.

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I’m planning keep the Jack as a “shop” tool and have the Tacx setter for rides. Will have to see how both work and if I even like them.

Based on your description of how / where the tire lever went through the rim, the rim is not necessarily stronger in that area. The further from the bead you get, the less “structural” the rim becomes (even a few mm can make a difference).

Many tire levers are reinforced with steel, significantly increasing their strength / durability. And even the straight plastic ones can have very hard lips / tips. And honestly, from someone who used to do product development in the bike biz and still works in consumer goods, there is no way for them to know if you did actually use a plastic lever. For all they know, you used a steel lever, poked through the carbon and are now saying you only used a plastic one.

I know it sucks, and I feel your pain, but the hard reality is that this simply isn’t a warranty issue.

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You are right, they don’t. But what would be a warranty issue? And how should I have done it differently? I still have a front wheel I don’t want to have the same destiny. Why do they make levers that are that strong?

The European law still says a product should last at least two years. If I had the money to replace it, I would. My only change now is to try to get it the warranty way.

A warranty issue could be any number of things…carbon delaminating, cracked spoke hole, etc.

This is going to sound harsh, and I honestly don’t mean it that way, but the problem was nit the rim nor was it that the lever was too strong. The rim broke simply because you used improper technique. It sounds like you were struggling to get the last section of tire on and you used the lever to force the issue.

It sucks,…I get it. practically everyone here has done something like it at some point (if not on a bike then something else). But that doesn’t mean someone else has to cover it.

Ask your dealer if Giant will sell you a discounted rim under a Crash Replacement Policy, or something similar. Maybe you can at least get a lower price that way.

If not, I would suggest looking on eBay or Craigslist to see if you could score a slightly used wheel cheap.

Good luck!

I think you are right. I have been struggling with geting the tires on the Giant wheel and maybe I am not doing it right. Giant said the same thing but not as straight forward. I will actually take this so my insurance company who will replace the wheel if it’s my fault (I have a “dumbass insurance”). They rejected me first because it slipped out of me that the rim could have been damaged while riding witout me noticing.
The store offered me a discount for a new wheel, both the SLR 1 model and the SL 1 model (same but with aluminium brake surface).

Thanks for your reply.

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