white ZTR355 rims

New from NoTubes are these white powder coated ZTR355 rims. They are extremely limited edition at the moment, we were only allowed one pair and I had to ask very nicely but it was worth the effort. They are also expecting to have some Olympic and Flow rims in white some time this summer, and we will be getting a few if they do. Price is likely to be around 25% more than for standard black rims and they weigh about 7-10g each more.

We’ll build these up onto an Industry Nine build and see how they look…

UPDATE : 06 May 2009 – other white rims are starting to come in and the prices are about the same as black rims.

Singletrack magazine

Tubeless stuff is obviously very close to our hearts and so it was good to see a load of tubeless products featured in the latest issue of Singletrack. While they made a lot of good points and said some nice things about products we sell, and they actually tested the products for a good length of time unlike some other “reviews” we’ve seen recently, there are a couple of points where they went off the tracks a bit. So we don’t have to spend the next week answering questions on the phone “but in Singletrack they said this…”  here are some comments.

1. Stan’s kits aren’t available in just ‘narrow’ and ‘wide’ versions. In fact there are 9 different rimstrips available if you count the road version, all varying in either material thickness or strip length to get just the right fit on virtually any rim.

2. “There is no grippy mid-weight tyre on the market so I’m sticking with thick-walled tyres and inner tubes for now”, well OK but why not use that thick-walled tyre tubeless? The conversion kits open up virtually the whole world of 26″ rubber for use as tubeless tyres so if there’s nothing there to suit then you’re being too fussy. Here are some examples of what we use at JRA, all tubeless: Maxxis High Roller LUST 2.35, Maxxis Ardent 2.4 dual ply, Maxxis ADvantage 2.25 and 2.4 single plys, Maxxis Minion, Maxxis Swamp thing (2.35 SPC to 2.5 DPC).

3. We’d like a definition of “All Mountain” please…

We could go on; but won’t. If you want to purchase your own copy of Singletrack don’t forget we sell it in the shop!

Around this time of year the question we get asked most often is probably “how do I convert my cyclocross wheels to tubeless?” and until now it’s been hard to give a simple answer as it normally involves guesswork and a bit of fettling to find the right rimstrips.

This year however, NoTubes have released their road tubeless conversion rimstrips to save us all a load of trouble. They are basically the same as their mountain bike rimstrips only longer and thinner, with a longer valve stem to fit deeper section rims. This is how they work:

Fit the rimstrip starting at the valve. Squeeze the thick bit at the base of the valve to get it inside the rim and stretch the rimstrip on. Some Velox tape underneath the rimstrip helps create a tighter, safer fit and makes inflating easier.

Even up the tension all the way round so there are no narrow spots. When the rimstrip is correctly fitted, it should fit below the bead hook all the way round, like this.

Fit the tyre. If you’re converting a cyclocross tyre, you can use a normal (non-tubeless) tyre with sealant, but if you’re converting the rim for road use you must only use Hutchinson Road Tubeless tyres as the high pressures make using normal tyres dangerous.

Add some wheel milk sealant (about 40-50ml per tyre). You should be able to inflate with a good track pump or more easily with an airline. And there you go, self-sealing tubeless road or cross tyres.

Jo B broke his arm a few weeks ago and as part of his rehabilitation therapy was advised to fix hundreds of inner-tubes, a small selection are shown here. It’s a bit futile as he’s an avid convert to tubeless tyres but if it gets him back on the trails quicker I guess it’s worth it….

He also shared the valuable information that latex is hard to get out of a cat’s fur so be careful out there people.