I have always found that the best time to clean is when there's something else you should be doing, but don't want to. Like income tax returns. Compared to doing those, cleaning out the stash of bike parts is a joy.
I needed to dispose of two aluminum rims and a carbon fork. This task was made less desirable by the fact that I didn't simply want to leave these items on the curb--they were structurally unsound--so modifications were required.
The first to fall victim to the hacksaw blade was a 2006 Cannondale Premium+ full carbon fork. This fork was top-of-the-line back in its day, even featuring carbon dropouts. It was and still is ridiculously light. The problem is it was mounted to a bike that hit the back end of a Buick at 20 mph. Carbon is tough, but carbon also cracks. I didn't want some hipster douche salvaging this fork so I sawed it at the crown.
Wow. New respect for Cannondale carbon forks!
By comparison, here's the top of the steerer tube.
Next to fall victim to the hacksaw: a DT Swiss RR 1.1 rim. This rim is the Swiss interpretation of the venerable Mavic Open Pro rim. I believe the Swiss version is lighter and cheaper. Anyway, the rim in question was part of the rear wheel on my track bike. I just rebuilt the wheel when it took a 2" roofing nail in the tire. The nail punctured the rim bridge and then exited the rim's sidewall. The damage was impressive. I also rode it for another 12 months before replacing it with an H Plus Son Archetype.
Here's the DT Swiss next to a HED Ardennes rim.
The final victim was the most painful for me: a 24 hole HED Ardennes Scandium rim. HED rims are sold to the public under the name Belgian. These are regular 6000 series aluminum. HED saves the good and expensive stuff for their pre-built wheels. This rim was a Scandium version, which like the Higgs-Boson particle and unicorns, was just too good to be true. And it was, because I ended up destroying the rim during wheel building. Lesson: Scandium is lighter than 6000 series aluminum, but not necessarily as strong.
The HED (left) is significantly wider. The DT Swiss rim (right) is significantly overbuilt.
Coming up: Pancetti SL23 rims laced to Dura Ace 9000 24/28 hole hubs. Hotness!
