General Bike Thread (Desiderata, Questions, Pics)

[mhip]

This morning I tried the back tire and inflated no probs with the hand pump. I thought I had it figured out, went to try the front tire again, and still could not get it to fill. Why? There's an actual ******* hole in the rim sidewall and the air is coming out of it! I had assumed it was part of the manufacturing process, it sits directly opposite the valve stem, and a similar indent is on the rear tire but apparently it doesn't go all the way through. Now I'm wondering when that is going to break through and leak out?

Is a small hole normal in CF rims from manufacturing? Can I somehow overcome this or do I need to return? I'll probably just run with the OEM hoops if I return as **** this nonsense.

View attachment 1610168

It's to access the rim's integrated storage...

 

[patrick_b]

Not a defect; it's a drainage hole. Suggested I try with a compressor, and if that fails, examine the rim tape.

Looks like you got the info. Mine have the same hole. Didn’t know it was for drainage.
Check the valve stem too. You can see a little gasket on the outside of the rim that seals with the threaded washer. Make sure that is tight.
Good luck. You may be better off at LBS for air as a gas station comprsssor will be schrader valve. .

 

[Piobaire]

I've got a small compressor and even it won't seat it properly. Air shoots out the drain holes but the tire won't pop against the side of the rim. I've got a Schwalbe product coming today that is supposed to help with the initial seating and inflation. If that doesn't work I'll drive down to the Trek shop and see if they can get it inflated tomorrow or during the week.

In other news I put on the new Ultegra cassette. That operation went just fine, got out the Park centerlock tightener and my 170 piece DeWalt mechanic's socket set...which apparently stops at 15/16th! Nothing is coming easy here.

 

[vdubiv]

You have to pump so much faster after 6-7 hard strokes you’ll see it start to fill and hear the telltale pings

TWSS!!

 

[Piobaire]

Yeah, there's got to be something wrong with the rim tape as there's no reason the air should be whistling out of the drain holes. Imma get it to an LBS this week and take it from there. I suspect Zipp might be getting a bad review from me.

 

[patrick_b]

Yeah, there's got to be something wrong with the rim tape as there's no reason the air should be whistling out of the drain holes. Imma get it to an LBS this week and take it from there. I suspect Zipp might be getting a bad review from me.

It’s sucks when something like this goes wrong. I can sense the frustration when you make a big bike purchase and get stuck in the install phase.
Just remember all the research you did, Zipp owns this segment. They make a fantastic product.
It was your research that got me to buy them ?.

 

[Piobaire]

We'll see how this all gets resolved. I have to say this doesn't instill faith in me for the move over to tubeless. Back tire had no issues. I popped out the tire with my floor pump easily, deflated, put in the sealant, re-inflated. Also have the new Ultegra cassette installed and waiting for that 1" socket to arrive from Amazon tomorrow. ?

I'll probably not be able to hit the LBS until Tuesday or Thursday. I also put an email in to Zipp so we'll see how they handle this.

 

[patrick_b]

Remember you can always just throw a tube in for a quick ride while you wait to get it sorted.
Zipp recommends no tubes unless you are doing a roadside fix or something. I ran tubes for 3-4 days while awaiting tires.

 

[Piobaire]

Tempting but I need to wash my beast and degrease the chain/derailleurs before I put these on. Also, I'll be pulling my current rotors at this point and who's got time to be swapping rotors multiple times? Ain't nobody got time for that.

 

[otc]

Air should not come out that hole. If the tape is good there should be no pathway for air to get into the rim itself.
Although it should be obvious if rim tape is damaged enough that air could escape... Like a visible pin prick or wrinkle.

Do you have sealant in them already? Shaking it around and getting it spread should stop any small leak... Although if you can't get it to seat with a compressor, it sounds like a pretty big leak.

 

[patrick_b]

One thing I notice about sealant is it takes a ride or two to really seal everything. My tires lose a bit of air overnight for the first few days after an install. After a couple of rides they are solid for weeks or even a months.

 

[Piobaire]

The rear tire is holding air just fine. I'm hoping I can get into my LBS Tuesday or Thursday and maybe try these out next weekend.

Washed the dusty beast just now after a nice, 30 mile cruise. If I don't return these damn rims looking forward to the beauty shots next week.

 

[patrick_b]

The rear tire is holding air just fine. I'm hoping I can get into my LBS Tuesday or Thursday and maybe try these out next weekend.

Washed the dusty beast just now after a nice, 30 mile cruise. If I don't return these damn rims looking forward to the beauty shots next week.

Can't wait to see it!

Don't forget to take off the dork disk. I spaced it the first time around.

How much sealant did you add? I went with about 2 oz (used a shot glass for reference). Wasn't sure if that's right or not.

 

[Piobaire]

Hah, DD off was done at unboxing. I used 2 oz. I just brought home a big syringe with the proper tubing. Pro tip: IV tubing has the same thread size as Presta valves.

 

[otc]

I think I'm officially a flat pedal convert on MTB. I had to service my flats (the grease in one of them suddenly turned to sticky glue and was oozing out the seal???) and threw the ATACs on instead.

I didn't ride familiar trails (story below), but I really didn't feel like I was gaining anything noticeable in climbs or singletrack and I felt completely uncomfortable on features like skinnies because I couldn't just bail.
I don't think its a "get used to it" thing--I've been riding clipless for 20+ years at this point.

Modern pinned flat pedals combined with shoes that basically have sticky climbing rubber on the bottom just work really well now that I am used to them. You can position your foot however you want and then it just stays there. If I ever did a long distance XC race or something, I might throw the clipless pedals back on, but if I'm just trying to have fun, I'm back in the flats.

I tried to go ride yesterday and when I was about halfway to the park it just started pouring. I checked the radar to see where the storm was going and if the park on the other side of the city might be OK, but it was also about to get dumped on.

I still wanted to ride, and I remembered there is this brand new MTB park in Valparaiso, IN...and it was far enough west to miss the storm.

Place turned out to be super nice and unlike my home park, it had some pretty big MTB features built up and the harder trails were all 1-way, bikes only (although that didn't stop some trail running dude...but at least he always got out of the way). Only about 5 miles of trail built out so far, so I rode everything at least twice.

I could not force my brain to let me try this suspension-bridge feature. Maybe if I had the flat pedals on or if it was a straight entry/exit rather than an uphill+small drop...I'd just roll up the ramp and it'd be like "nope".

The planks on the cables were about 6" wide. Maybe even 8...so it might not have actually been that hard but, getting on it with feet locked into the pedals was just too much.