This week’s newsletter includes the usual mix of interesting new product announcements, but also a review of a brilliantly simple (and incredibly useful) little tire tool and a question of how much bi
I think I have +30g of dried sealant in my Enve 3.4 front rim. Noticed a bad tape job when switching out a tire with sealant leaking under the tape.
I weighted the wheel with no tape or valve and compared to the spec weight 😳 either it’s sealant or just variation in the spec weight. Even if so, I guess it’s in there for the rest of time.
missing you over there. i’m really digging the recipes at the ends. it’s a neat surprise after carefully considering all the tech and introspection you curate, here.
My go-to in slow tubeless leaks is the tried-and-true approach of submerging sections of the wheel (with tire mounted and inflated) in water and looking for bubbles. Even the smallest rim tap leak will show up as bubbles through the spoke holes.
I’ve had a very persistent tubeless leak in the front wheel of my trail bike since I flubbed hopping a curb last year. I’m reasonably sure the rim is fatally compromised in some way. I’ve decided to use it as an excuse to buy a really nice alloy wheel set. It’s my first truly custom wheel set and I think it’s going to be very cool.
Raceface Arc rims, i35/28h front and i30/32 hole rear with Hope Pro 5 hubs in red. Less than $700.
I wanted to try out the Hunt Enduro Wide rims, which are i33/28h and i32/32. They are sold for a blazing price for a full set, but I really wanted pretty anodized hubs and Hope Tech is my spirit animal. To buy just the Hunt rims, they’re extremely pricey for alloy at $160 each.
Congratulations on the new wheelset! Once you're done with the swap, might be good to really dig into your old front wheel to figure out the source of that leak. At the very least, it could make for a nice spare.
Interesting bit about corroding spoke nipples. The same thing happened to me on a Cannondale carbon wheel. However, for me what corroded and broke was the spoke. The wheel had been sitting for a while. When I rode it again I heard a rattling inside the rim. The wheel was perfectly true. Turned out that the rattling was the nipple and end of the spoke. It had corroded through right at the end of the threads. I’d never seen that before.
Same exact thing with me. The corrosion has to be compromising the thin threaded spoke end. The first hint of my potentially eminent death was the rattling of broken parts in the rim, not an out of true rim.
Uh, whoa. That's obviously not really supposed to happen!
My wheel I wrote about also never went out of true when a nipple snapped. Carbon rims are so stiff these days that the adjacent spokes no longer have to shoulder as big a load when there's a single point failure like that.
While I really like the concept of the Eaglebear Black, it baffles me that they put a full carbon fork on there. A utility bike like that should not have a carbon steerer tube. It simply doesn't have tolerance for mishandling. Ridden with a slightly loose headset for a couple months, it'll develop the "ring of death". If someone just wants to make sure everything is "good n tight", they can crack the steerer, especially with a big block of a stem like that. You get my drift.
That's all assuming that by "full carbon" it includes the steerer.
Small note, for some reason the pics in the Garbaruk column can't be clicked on and zoomed in. That includes the table, making it impossible to read.
Fair points on the Eaglebear, and I'll keep them in mind as I get into the review. I saw one the other day and was pretty sure the steerer was carbon, but I'll double-check when my sample arrives.
I think I have +30g of dried sealant in my Enve 3.4 front rim. Noticed a bad tape job when switching out a tire with sealant leaking under the tape.
I weighted the wheel with no tape or valve and compared to the spec weight 😳 either it’s sealant or just variation in the spec weight. Even if so, I guess it’s in there for the rest of time.
Yikes, that’s a lot! Hopefully it’s at least distributed evenly in there so you don’t also have to deal with balancing issues.
James, just managed to find you here after
missing you over there. i’m really digging the recipes at the ends. it’s a neat surprise after carefully considering all the tech and introspection you curate, here.
Hi Dwayne, welcome to the party!
Glad you found me and that you’re enjoying the newsletters. The recipes are fun for me, too :)
My go-to in slow tubeless leaks is the tried-and-true approach of submerging sections of the wheel (with tire mounted and inflated) in water and looking for bubbles. Even the smallest rim tap leak will show up as bubbles through the spoke holes.
I think I remember your last pod at EC was with Prevelo right?
Yep, it was.
I’ve had a very persistent tubeless leak in the front wheel of my trail bike since I flubbed hopping a curb last year. I’m reasonably sure the rim is fatally compromised in some way. I’ve decided to use it as an excuse to buy a really nice alloy wheel set. It’s my first truly custom wheel set and I think it’s going to be very cool.
Raceface Arc rims, i35/28h front and i30/32 hole rear with Hope Pro 5 hubs in red. Less than $700.
I wanted to try out the Hunt Enduro Wide rims, which are i33/28h and i32/32. They are sold for a blazing price for a full set, but I really wanted pretty anodized hubs and Hope Tech is my spirit animal. To buy just the Hunt rims, they’re extremely pricey for alloy at $160 each.
Congratulations on the new wheelset! Once you're done with the swap, might be good to really dig into your old front wheel to figure out the source of that leak. At the very least, it could make for a nice spare.
Interesting bit about corroding spoke nipples. The same thing happened to me on a Cannondale carbon wheel. However, for me what corroded and broke was the spoke. The wheel had been sitting for a while. When I rode it again I heard a rattling inside the rim. The wheel was perfectly true. Turned out that the rattling was the nipple and end of the spoke. It had corroded through right at the end of the threads. I’d never seen that before.
Same exact thing with me. The corrosion has to be compromising the thin threaded spoke end. The first hint of my potentially eminent death was the rattling of broken parts in the rim, not an out of true rim.
Another reason to hate internal spoke nipples!
Uh, whoa. That's obviously not really supposed to happen!
My wheel I wrote about also never went out of true when a nipple snapped. Carbon rims are so stiff these days that the adjacent spokes no longer have to shoulder as big a load when there's a single point failure like that.
IIRC it was Ben Delaney that came up with the dD Direct
I was pretty sure I knew the answer to this already, but I checked with Ben just to be sure.
"Never seen such a thing in my life."
Hmmm…I remember someone showing it to me at interbike or Sea Otter
Ric Hjertberg (formerly Wheelsmith and FSA, now Wheel Fanatyk) is who introduced it to me years ago.
While I really like the concept of the Eaglebear Black, it baffles me that they put a full carbon fork on there. A utility bike like that should not have a carbon steerer tube. It simply doesn't have tolerance for mishandling. Ridden with a slightly loose headset for a couple months, it'll develop the "ring of death". If someone just wants to make sure everything is "good n tight", they can crack the steerer, especially with a big block of a stem like that. You get my drift.
That's all assuming that by "full carbon" it includes the steerer.
Small note, for some reason the pics in the Garbaruk column can't be clicked on and zoomed in. That includes the table, making it impossible to read.
Fair points on the Eaglebear, and I'll keep them in mind as I get into the review. I saw one the other day and was pretty sure the steerer was carbon, but I'll double-check when my sample arrives.
And weird about the table! I can expand it just fine on my end, but if it's not working for you, keep in mind you can also view the article in a much bigger format by going straight to the site: https://nminus1bikes.substack.com/p/n-1wsletter-15-garbaruks-new-wheels/