CaptainSpalding

Hello all,

I'm contemplating the build of a vintage-ish city bike. It will have hub brakes. I have found some alloy Westwood-style rims that I think would look good on the bike. My question is this: what level of function am I giving up by going with the Westwood-style rims? I imagine they're not as strong as box section rims, but are they totally inadequate? Are there any caveats that I should be aware of?

Here are the rims: Rigida V38 Alloy. I'd be opting for the 650B size.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

mkeller234

Whoa! I wouldn't mind getting a pair of those myself. The rims on my DL-1 are so chewed up.

cudak888 

I'm Chandler, and you're Spaulding.

Question is, have you found a distributor in the States that will sell them? If so, I could use a pair of those myself, if inexpensive enough.

-Kurt

AL NZ

they are very nice - is that where Pashley get their Guvnor rims? same spec, 36 holes, the same it seems

I would love some, but the hubs I want to build up are from memory 32 and 40 holes.

CaptSpalding they will be more than strong enough unless you plan a bit of downhill or jumping.

I ride on old (?80-100 yr old) steel 28" Westwoods and I weigh 108kg / 235 lbs, and these are old wheels, not respoked. They cope just fine coming up and down kerbs, riding on grass, etc.

So get a wheel set spoked up then re-post us the pictures.

And if you find someon who will sell them and post internationally, please let the rest of us know

CaptainSpalding

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. The wheels I linked to are alloy, and that's why I thought there might be an issue with durability. The 100-year-old Westwoods that you ride on, Al, are plain steel or stainless, right? They are also available: stainless steel, plain steel.

I don't think there's a US distributor. Maybe Canada though. Or I'll try online vendors in Europe. If worse comes to worst, I have a brother-in-law in Belgium who might buy them for me in Europe and then ship them to me.

I'm no making some sort of faux pax by not using rod brakes with these rims, am I?

David Newton

I've just started restoring a rough DL-1, and am planning a drum brake front hub, it would be nice to lace up alloy rims.
If that is a faux pax, then let it be.

AL NZ

I wouldn't use rod brakes - they'll probably take off the gold pinstripe and the black paint

CaptainSpalding

In my situation, with drum brakes, it would be a matter of choosing polished stainless steel rims over polished alloy if there were some consensus that the alloy rims wouldn't be strong enough. I'm obviously not a weight weenie by any stretch, however if the alloys are okay then I'd go with them on the basis of lower weight.

mkeller234

No, it's not a faux pas at all. The Pashley Guvner uses these rims and does not have rod brakes. In fact, I think rod brakes would mar the nice paint on them in which case unpainted aluminum would be better.

ur big lug

Did you (OP) ever get those rims?

I remember seeing them way back then as well, obviously they are the same rims used on the pashley guvnor. I never got around to getting them myself and now that site seems to have disappeared? fatal error, or some weird thing.
Obviously the rims must still be available as Pashley still offer them on the guvnor..If anyone knows how and where to get hold of some alloy Westwood rims i would be most grateful

jrecoi

In Colombia I've seen alloy Westwood rims being sold individually and fitted to Eastman Roadsters for sale by the bike shop. They are stamped with the "28 x 1 1/2" and "6060-T6 Aluminium" and have a sticker banding them as "GW" brand rims. They are a bit wider than steel westwoods, no idea if they are a drop in replacement to the steel rims like CR-18s are with 26 x 1 3/8 rims.

djkashuba 

Has anyone here built wheels using Eastman rims for their Raleigh DL-1? How do you like 'em?

-D

alr

I have purchased rigida alloy westwood rims (not the black ones, but polished) from Freemans cycles in the UK. I paid 41 GBP for shipping to USA. Not inexpensive, but possible. Next week, I will finally lace them to my new S-A hubs with drum brakes. If you want the black ones, I am pretty sure I saw them on at least one german online shopping site.

ur big lug

very good news alr, was that 41GBP just for the shipping or did it include rim, could you break down the price for rim/s

alr

the price per rim is 25.95 GBP minus 17.5% VAT, so that was 42.82 GBP for two rims plus 41 GBP for the shipping.

the website describing the rims is here.

i am very much looking forward to getting them laced to my new hubs and on the road.

here is a german website selling the black ones (there are more if you google hard enough). i have no idea if they would ship internationally.

ur big lug

fair dinkum! thanks a HEAP for that alr, i never would have found them, i googled forever (for days anyway) and came up empty for alloy rims, obviously not doing something right.. I have found many places selling tyres, cream, black, even red and grey but none in white wall (yet i have seen them on bikes), if your google skills happen to turn up any of those it would be great as well

thanks again, it made my day!!

djkashuba 

I have emailed them twice to see if they have 40 holes in stock ....still waiting for a reply. Hope this pans out. And yes, thanks for the information.

-D

Just got this from Freeman's :

Hello David
Sorry No Only Carry 36H
From
Richard@freemanscycles

Buy a new hub and go 36 hole in front and back of a DL-1?

-D