Today I want to talk about shaking the rim.
It's not really necessary to use this example, but
the rim in the photo above is an Araya Tita-Ace, a titanium rim.
True to its name, it's made of titanium.
This rim has eyelets that pass through from the inside to the outside of the rim
(what we call dual eyelets),
so there are no openings between the rim's interior and exterior except for the valve hole.
With rims like this, metal shavings and other debris
often get trapped inside during manufacturing.
If you hold the rim and shake it back and forth, you can often hear
the leftover debris rattling around inside the rim cavity,
so it's better for your peace of mind to somehow guide it toward the valve hole and remove it.
↑Inside of rim
↑Outside of rim
There are no holes in the rim except for the valve hole.
Here's the debris I extracted by guiding it past the eyelet and through the valve hole.
These are "chips" from drill machining.
Since this is titanium, I can't help but feel a bit sorry throwing it away (laugh).
I haven't come across any cases where a wheel with this kind of debris-filled rim
produced any strange noises during actual riding (at least not that I know of),
but it's best to remove it anyway.
High-end aluminum rim wheels from Campagnolo, Fulcrum, Mavic, and similar manufacturers
also have the specification where there are no holes except the valve hole when the wheel is assembled.
These wheels almost always come from the factory with debris inside.
Instead of long chips like in the photo above,
we get crescent-shaped aluminum shavings that look like fingernail clippings, and
quite a bit of debris from thread-locking compound that's been applied to the spoke threads and has flaked off.
If you remove the tire and shake the rim back and forth with the valve hole facing down,
the debris comes out easily, so if you're concerned about it, give it a try.
Completely off-topic, but
I once had a Campagnolo Shamal wheel (the deep-rim model) where
I heard a sound like a lottery drum from the rim while riding,
so I took the tire off to look, and found an extra nipple loose inside the rim.
All the spokes had their nipples properly attached, so
it must have been dropped into the rim during wheel building and never recovered—
then they just added an extra nipple and assembled it anyway.
With something that size, you definitely hear the noise while riding.
It's not really necessary to use this example, but
the rim in the photo above is an Araya Tita-Ace, a titanium rim.
True to its name, it's made of titanium.
This rim has eyelets that pass through from the inside to the outside of the rim
(what we call dual eyelets),
so there are no openings between the rim's interior and exterior except for the valve hole.
With rims like this, metal shavings and other debris
often get trapped inside during manufacturing.
If you hold the rim and shake it back and forth, you can often hear
the leftover debris rattling around inside the rim cavity,
so it's better for your peace of mind to somehow guide it toward the valve hole and remove it.
↑Inside of rim
↑Outside of rim
There are no holes in the rim except for the valve hole.
Here's the debris I extracted by guiding it past the eyelet and through the valve hole.
These are "chips" from drill machining.
Since this is titanium, I can't help but feel a bit sorry throwing it away (laugh).
I haven't come across any cases where a wheel with this kind of debris-filled rim
produced any strange noises during actual riding (at least not that I know of),
but it's best to remove it anyway.
High-end aluminum rim wheels from Campagnolo, Fulcrum, Mavic, and similar manufacturers
also have the specification where there are no holes except the valve hole when the wheel is assembled.
These wheels almost always come from the factory with debris inside.
Instead of long chips like in the photo above,
we get crescent-shaped aluminum shavings that look like fingernail clippings, and
quite a bit of debris from thread-locking compound that's been applied to the spoke threads and has flaked off.
If you remove the tire and shake the rim back and forth with the valve hole facing down,
the debris comes out easily, so if you're concerned about it, give it a try.
Completely off-topic, but
I once had a Campagnolo Shamal wheel (the deep-rim model) where
I heard a sound like a lottery drum from the rim while riding,
so I took the tire off to look, and found an extra nipple loose inside the rim.
All the spokes had their nipples properly attached, so
it must have been dropped into the rim during wheel building and never recovered—
then they just added an extra nipple and assembled it anyway.
With something that size, you definitely hear the noise while riding.