A preventative trick for keeping valves from clogging is to put a few drops of oil in your presta cores and also coat the inside of the valve stem with some oil (I use a pipe cleaner to do this). Definitely helps prevent sealant from sticking and clogging things up. Silca did a video on this a while back.
I enjoyed my coffee and your newsletter! Thanks for the idea how to clean your valves with a small brush. This should work with most types of valves except the ones specific to an insert setup since they have the holes on the side of the rubber foot.
Don’t most of the insert valve stems still have a hole on the bottom, clear through? I just cleaned a generic valve side holes with the threaded end of a spoke. Does require removing the valve from the rim.
Reading your intro made me realise that I've been following your work for almost as long as you've been writing it. Not to mention getting to hang out at Sea Otter and even, for the briefest time, work on the same team at CT. Love your work mate, and look forward to many more years of it!
I love the new format! A little personal reflection, clear demarcations for your take on new products, and the genius tech tip on the pipe cleaner for cleaning valves (why did I never think of that??). Do you have a personal favorite valve that plays nice with inserts and minimizes clogging? Thanks as always James!
I wish I could remember where I got that particular brush from (in which case I would have shared), but it's been on my bench for ages and I couldn't begin to guess where (or even when) I got it.
I will say, at least, that the reason I like this particular one is because the bristles are quite stiff. It's *really* good at cleaning out dried-up sealant.
The brush looks like the one that originally came with Bivo bottles. Though I tried mine and can’t get it through a valve stem, and I checked several. My go-to is the threaded end of a spoke. Works particularly well for hard/tough clogs
One correction - the DT Swiss wheels on the Lightspeed are NOT carbon, but rather ceramic coated aluminum. I have these same wheels on my Rodriguez, and the braking performance is exquisite, along with Cane Creek eeWings calipers!
Whoops! I'm feeling particularly silly right now since I know full well that ceramic coatings and carbon rims don't go well together. Thanks for pointing that out!
James, I love the conversational tone to the posts. Keep it up. I never worked in a shop but I did spend a lot of time hanging out there and it reminds me of those days.
I have a 1993 Litespeed Ultimate that has modern kit on it. With eeBrakes it clears 28mm GP5000s. Seems like it would have been pretty easy to get the new Litespeed with far bigger clearance - shame they didn’t.
I had a 1991 Ultimate with the Time carbon fork. In those days I rode 23mm tires so I never pushed the size limit. However, the fork had a lot less clearance than the frame. With a different fork I am pretty sure I could have cleared 28mm. I would have had to change brakes as well since my Campy Record brakes wouldn’t work with anything much bigger than what I was already using.
Maybe that claim is a conservative one? That said, I'm not certain the person who would want something like this would be much inclined to run a tire much bigger than that, anyway.
Welcome back from your break. New format looks good to me. On the Lightspeed - wouldn’t it be cool if it came with the medium reach ee brakes that allow more tire clearance?? I don’t think there ever were that many of those, let alone 20 sets. But it would be cool to see a rim brake bike that takes wider tires, imho.
Ooh, that definitely would have been interesting! But alas, my guess is a traditional setup just made more sense here, particularly since the Enve fork uses a standard center mount, too.
A preventative trick for keeping valves from clogging is to put a few drops of oil in your presta cores and also coat the inside of the valve stem with some oil (I use a pipe cleaner to do this). Definitely helps prevent sealant from sticking and clogging things up. Silca did a video on this a while back.
This article is chock full of good stuff. The tiny bristle brush is a great idea
I certainly feel the pulling up a chair vibe. And I always did wonder how you got your start. Kudos to your gut good sir👍
I like the new claim/subtext format!
I like the new format, but would prefer your thoughts to not be in italics. That's a minor quibble though. Keep up the great work!
I'm not at all married to the italics. I'll keep this is mind as I continue to play with this. Thanks for the feedback!
I like the format. Keep it going
I enjoyed my coffee and your newsletter! Thanks for the idea how to clean your valves with a small brush. This should work with most types of valves except the ones specific to an insert setup since they have the holes on the side of the rubber foot.
Don’t most of the insert valve stems still have a hole on the bottom, clear through? I just cleaned a generic valve side holes with the threaded end of a spoke. Does require removing the valve from the rim.
Reading your intro made me realise that I've been following your work for almost as long as you've been writing it. Not to mention getting to hang out at Sea Otter and even, for the briefest time, work on the same team at CT. Love your work mate, and look forward to many more years of it!
Thanks so much, Chris! Hope all is well with you, and that our paths cross again sooner than later.
I'm still trying to figure out a way to get back to Sea Otter or Eurobike. I'll make it happen eventually…
Keep Sea Otter on your list, but maybe not Eurobike. Pretty sure I'm not even going to bother heading over there. It's not the show it used to be.
Any excuse to head back to California works for me :)
I love the new format! A little personal reflection, clear demarcations for your take on new products, and the genius tech tip on the pipe cleaner for cleaning valves (why did I never think of that??). Do you have a personal favorite valve that plays nice with inserts and minimizes clogging? Thanks as always James!
Glad you like it!
I wish I could remember where I got that particular brush from (in which case I would have shared), but it's been on my bench for ages and I couldn't begin to guess where (or even when) I got it.
I will say, at least, that the reason I like this particular one is because the bristles are quite stiff. It's *really* good at cleaning out dried-up sealant.
The brush looks like the one that originally came with Bivo bottles. Though I tried mine and can’t get it through a valve stem, and I checked several. My go-to is the threaded end of a spoke. Works particularly well for hard/tough clogs
One correction - the DT Swiss wheels on the Lightspeed are NOT carbon, but rather ceramic coated aluminum. I have these same wheels on my Rodriguez, and the braking performance is exquisite, along with Cane Creek eeWings calipers!
Whoops! I'm feeling particularly silly right now since I know full well that ceramic coatings and carbon rims don't go well together. Thanks for pointing that out!
No worries, James! I love the offerings from N-1, and I’m glad you are back in the game after “retiring” from E.C.!
James, I love the conversational tone to the posts. Keep it up. I never worked in a shop but I did spend a lot of time hanging out there and it reminds me of those days.
Man, great stuff here, but that seventh paragraph especially spoke to me from my LBS days! Love the writing here. Fantastic.
I have a 1993 Litespeed Ultimate that has modern kit on it. With eeBrakes it clears 28mm GP5000s. Seems like it would have been pretty easy to get the new Litespeed with far bigger clearance - shame they didn’t.
I had a 1991 Ultimate with the Time carbon fork. In those days I rode 23mm tires so I never pushed the size limit. However, the fork had a lot less clearance than the frame. With a different fork I am pretty sure I could have cleared 28mm. I would have had to change brakes as well since my Campy Record brakes wouldn’t work with anything much bigger than what I was already using.
Maybe that claim is a conservative one? That said, I'm not certain the person who would want something like this would be much inclined to run a tire much bigger than that, anyway.
As the person who wants (and therefore has something exceedingly similar to) this, a 30-32mm tyre would be magic
I stand corrected :)
Welcome back from your break. New format looks good to me. On the Lightspeed - wouldn’t it be cool if it came with the medium reach ee brakes that allow more tire clearance?? I don’t think there ever were that many of those, let alone 20 sets. But it would be cool to see a rim brake bike that takes wider tires, imho.
Ooh, that definitely would have been interesting! But alas, my guess is a traditional setup just made more sense here, particularly since the Enve fork uses a standard center mount, too.