I recently purchased a CO2 inflator to pump my tyres up.

Had a blast on my mountain bike and they were superb, so i pumped the ones up on my roadie.

I have Mavic Kysrium SL wheelset, and it is my pride and joy!

So I pumped up my rear wheel to around 110 psi, the cartridges are only 16 gram anyway.

When i went to inflate the front, I was partially deafened for around 10 minutes and thought a bomb had gone off as my rear wheel exploded.

Not only had the inner tube burst, but the actual sidewall of the rim had completely and utterly obliterated, with metal shards about 10cm long broken off the rim!!!! Although the tyre managed to stay in one piece!

Do you think its worthwhile writing to Mavic about?

Pictures to follow…

Did you have air in your tyre already or was it totally empty?

Sounds crazy your lucky you didn’t get a piece in your eye.

Was empty!
The tyre say they accept upto 160 psi christ if i had of have put that in I wouldn’t have any wheel left!

It seems to have split into big pieces rather than little shards but!

Contact Mavic.

Were the sidewalls worn or damaged?

I guess, they were slightly worn from the brakes, but its not what i would expect from a high end rim from a high end company! There was no damage!

Lbs putting it down to wear and tear; want £250 to lace up a new rim! P I Staker or reasonable?

It’ll be rim + spokes .And it’s mavic’s price not theirs. Worn braking surface = weakened bead seat + high pressure = KABOOM. Try racing cx in the uk,Im lucky to get a season out of my rims :o(

Bear in mind that the outward pressure from the tyre beads on the rims is quite significant. Also if the sidewalls were worn they may give / fail.
Disc brakes are the way forwards without a doubt.
I used to have to replace rims perhaps every 2 years due to sidewall wear, now they last indefinitely.