Mag Rim vs Double Walled w/12ga spokes

I vote spokes. I was happy with the mag rims until recently. Then my rear wheel had its bead lock completely explode. After some thought I've come to the conclusion it was due to wear from the rim brakes. Bikeberry and other vendors have claimed they where rim brake compatible when I bought them. However after doing.so.e research today I've noticed that at least one vendor , while.claiming rim brake compatibility still, gives a a caveat that they are not front rim brake compatible and recommends the front use a disk brake and only.the rear wheel be set up with a rim brake. I promise you that was not stated 7 months ago when I put then on since I was very thorough on making sure they would fit my needs when I bought them.

The recent change in recommendations only confirms my suspicion these are not at all meant for rim brakes. They now claim that only the rear is okay for rim brakes but that doesn't make any sense since the walls on both the front and rear rims are exactly the same. If one is going to fail from rim brake use, they both will be prone to it. Keep in mind it was my rear rim that failed. The rim they are claiming is still okay to use with rim brakes.


My hunch is the vendor is betting on the fact the front wheel provides most of the braking and having a disk brake front will take up enough of the forces as to not wear down the rear rim with rim brakes. Shady AF and shows just how much they care about the safety of their customers.


That said,I am still using them since I have a back up set I received for free when I complained about the sprocket mounting hardware that only screwed in about to or three threads instead of the entire mount as should be. However I have ordered a front and rear disk brake conversion to eliminate this issue. Not sure how to mount the drive sprocket and the brake disk together but I have a few Ideas and I've tackled much more complicated mechanical conundrums in the past with success.


If you're running disk brakes front and back I say the rims are pretty nice, but I would not recommend them if your intending to use any king of rim brake.



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Mag rims:
Pros
-allows you to put disk brake on both front and rear. (Not just front.)
-Never need to true it
- lighter
- tubeless
Cons
- not great for offroading. Since its rigid it doesn't give unlike spokes. So it could crack.
- can be a pain to install from what I heard.
- you need to buy an adapter to be able to attach sprocket.

I like spoked wheels. As long as you don't get a coaster brake wheel. I think I can speak for everyone there. Don't know what happened to your wheel. I'd think with 14g spokes, it would go out of true but not so bad that you can't fix it. To make sure that doesn't happen again, true your new wheel first thing or at least make sure the spokes are tight if it seems close to true. Don't ride with low tire pressure. And don't do crazy stunts with it lol.
 
Mag rims:
Pros
-allows you to put disk brake on both front and rear. (Not just front.)
-Never need to true it
- lighter
- tubeless
Cons
- not great for offroading. Since its rigid it doesn't give unlike spokes. So it could crack.
- can be a pain to install from what I heard.
- you need to buy an adapter to be able to attach sprocket.

I like spoked wheels. As long as you don't get a coaster brake wheel. I think I can speak for everyone there. Don't know what happened to your wheel. I'd think with 14g spokes, it would go out of true but not so bad that you can't fix it. To make sure that doesn't happen again, true your new wheel first thing or at least make sure the spokes are tight if it seems close to true. Don't ride with low tire pressure. And don't do crazy stunts with it lol.
One thing. No you don't need an adapter to attach the drive sprocket. It mounts directly to the disk brake mount.on the hub and the chain alignment is perfect.
 
A little update on my rants.

A friend pointed out how dirty my rear rim is. It is quite possible my rim wear is due to the amount of stone dust and dirt that gets collected from the little but of oil from my chains and exhaust holding on. Creating what is essentially grinding compound around the rim and being ground in by the pads..
 
One thing. No you don't need an adapter to attach the drive sprocket. It mounts directly to the disk brake mount.on the hub and the chain alignment is perfect.
There’s two different mag style out there. There’s the kind like yours sprocket mounts to rim with the six holes.Now there’s a kind like mine that takes a adaptor for sprocket to work. I also had to modify the adaptor for proper chain alignment.
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One thing. No you don't need an adapter to attach the drive sprocket. It mounts directly to the disk brake mount.on the hub and the chain alignment is perfect.
I don’t think there’s any way of having disc brakes on my rear mag with the adaptor at the moment. Now someone might have it in the making I’ve looked for a way.
 
I don’t think there’s any way of having disc brakes on my rear mag with the adaptor at the moment. Now someone might have it in the making I’ve looked for a way.
The way I've seen it set up is - get a brake rotor that has a larger diameter than your drive sprocket. Mount the sprocket first, then mount the disc rotor TO the sprocket. Not sure if that'll work on your particular set-up though.
 
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