Two Wheel Blogs

I was having one of those days yesterday, so I left work early and went out for a ride.

I went to the trails and started from a different trailhead. This is a neat way to experience the same old trails in a new light. You might be surprised at how different a trail can feel when you start from a different point (or ride in a different direction).

I have very little to report from the ride, other than I had fun and just rode at what felt like a nice sustainable pace. As it turned out, the pace was very fast (nice).

Much to my surprise there were not many others out enjoying the trails, the conditions were quite good for a ride.

As an update on the new wheels (Stans Flows laced to Chris King SS hubs)... I think they may need to be re-tensioned already. As I ride I hear a click that occurs about once per revolution. This click is exactly the sound you hear if you pinch two spokes where they cross as they flex and slide past one another.

I have only about 5 hours of ride time on these wheels, but he spokes felt as if they had low tension from the first ride. In spite of this apparent low tension, the rims are laterally as stiff as anything I have ever felt in a wheel. These wheels are also still very true. I have beat them with almost everything I have in the past 3 rides, and I can not feel any lateral flex (other than that coming from the tires).

The tires are performing well also. I have settled on 30 PSI for most conditions (perhaps 28 will be fine too, but 30 is a nice round number). This tubeless pressure (30) feels much softer on the trail than 30 with a tube, but in the parking lot it feels about the same. This is one of the common reported advantages of tubeless (the way the tire behaves and conforms without a tube slowing it down).

After about a week, I am concluding that the tires are sealed and no air pressure is lost sitting or riding. I further conclude that burping is far less of an issue with the Stans rim than it was with a conversion. A final conclusion is the Nevegal tire is really amazing and even more-so when run tubeless (I was finally able to get it to drift last night, but it took a lot of speed to do it).

That said, I am still interested in trying some of these new Bontrager tubeless ready tires that Guitar Ted reviewed recently. They look promising.