Gentlemen, how many 'valve holes', does one rim have?

Regourds,
J T

I know the answer to that! One!

In that case, are you sure that the rim

on the right hand is a Mavic GP4?


REgourds.
J T

Yes, they're both GP4. Some of the eyelets are covered by the glue, but they're all there.

Thanks.

Upon closer examination . . .

Regards,
j t

You seem to suffer from the same ailment that afflicts me from time to time.;)

Double gourds,

John

In actual fact, when I say 'Regards', it is as written.

'Regourds', requires 'think about it', as in 'gourd', = 'head'.

'Reguards', details something to be 'alerted to'.

To top off all the above, after making a mistake, I will

sign off with 'jt' (lower case) due to my feeling 'small'.


REgourds,
Jt

I have no problem using a wire brush in the ol' drill on rims like this. I don't get every spec of glue off but a quick once around should get as much as 75% of that off, what is left you know has a good hold so you should feel good about gluing over it.

Geez, and I thought the Merckx minutia was hard to keep track of:D

Generally I'm afraid to do this and have not needed to. I'm worried about breaking or stressing the fabric.

I install tires as follows:

1. place the wheel on the ground oriented vertically, with teh valve hole up.
2. Insert the valve, and start to place the tire in the middle of the tire trough, maintaining tension with both hands and using your body weight to stretch the tire from the behinning
3. Continue placing the tire in place stretching downward all the time. Apply as much tension as you can.
4. At the end of the installation the tire may slip on without much trouble. If not, I life the wheel and lean it against my wooden basement wall, and push the tire with my thumbs to push on the last 10 inches or so.

Having the tire in the center of the channel all the way around minimizes effective circumference and minimizes the tension on the tire at the very end.

This method works in my experience with new, unstretched tire.

Lennard Zinn explains this method better than I just did, in his book, Zinn's Cycling Primer.

Road Fan

Are you referring to

'The method of my madness',
or
'The madness of my method'?

RE:
J T

An excellent method. I'd like to add one suggestion: First, mount the tyre on an unglued rim, inflate to decent pressure, and let it sit for a week or so. That'll stretch the tyre, after which it'll be a lot easier to mount when you've added glue to the situation.

Make that two suggestions: Skintight disposable gloves makes life real easy if you get fumbly during the mounting process. You don't have to worry about glue on your hands, and invariably everywhere else you don't want it shortly afterwards. I even keep a pair in my traveling repair kit in my jersey pocket.

with continental tires, you almost have to stretch the tire by hand and foot to get on a rim, even with both unglued.
what i do is grab the tire with both hand right next to each other. make sure the valve stem is between your hands so you don't put any pressure on that area.
then step on the tire, you foot should be opposite the valvestem at this point. now just pull up with both hands and stretch the tire a little. you should feel it stretch just a bit.
this will make it easier to slip on a rim. the tire unglued and an extra unglued rim works great. just leave the tire on the rim at air pressure until you are ready to glue it.

i let an older sprinter sit on a rim for a few months, re-airing it every once in a while. i glued it last night and it was still really hard to get on. continentals are just tight tires.

i use nitrile gloves to spread an even coat of glue on my rim and my tires with my finger. let the glue dry for about 20 minutes or so and then you can mount the tire with bare hands and not really get much glue stuck on your fingers.

Took the first step in installing my first set of tubulars (a set of Vittoria Rally's) this evening. Pulled the tires out and pulled them over my spare set of tubular rims and inflated to about 40psi. They'll be there till the weather improves or I have time to go over to my parents to have a good place to work with glue.

Take the pressure up to 100 - it'll ensure that the tyre is stretched enough when the time comes to finally mount it.

By the way, I've been running 90-100 religiously on my Rally's, and have yet to get a puncture in two years. Other tyres have gone down, but not the Vittorias, and they rack up about half my mileage through the year. And yes, you top up the tyres EVERY time you get the bike down to ride.

+1 on all counts.

140 psi will stretch them even better. I've had bad luck with Rallys and flats... I suspect it's mostly luck, but one was a casing failure.

http://lh3.google.com/DiabloScottsBi...lure%20001.jpg

My $20 Servizio Corsa's from Yellow Jersey held air great, they did not need topping off every ride, not even close. Then again the rear tire only lasted one season.

Now I'm on Bontrager Race X Lite Pros, and +1 on topping off every time. They went on in September, we'll see how long they last.

I'm a tubular newb[ular] and am in the process of buying my first tubular wheelset. I think I'll be in a hurry to try them out, so while I'm stretching two tires on the new wheelset for a few days, I want to have the spare stretching on something else. I've heard that you can stretch tubular tires on a clincher rim. It just seems off to me.. would the tubular be damaged anyway from this?

Comments?

Hey, if you're in a hurry, just glue the rim and stretch the tyre straight on.
In spite of what you may have read, the world won't end, honest.
Just make sure you line up the valve right on the first go.
Jeff.

Honestly, cyclotoine, I would jsut build them up and glue them as they are. Maybe I'd dig the big chunks out of the spoke holes.

Main question is, are they true and not dented?

Take the pressure up to the limit - 130, I think? If you're going to have a casing failure, have it before you're 50 miles from home without a cell phone, a pump, a spare tire, or a credit card.

Topping the tire at every ride is a judgment call. Pressure from 80 to 120 can work pretty well, if you don't ride through potholes. There's a balance between cushion and zing.

i don't have definitions of those terms written.

I have been using Tufo Elite Roads for a few thousand miles now with good results. The ride is very nice when I use 110-115psi. The only flat I have had was on the rear at the same time I broke a spoke. I am not sure if somehow the broken spoke made the hole in the tire or it was just coincidental. I had a bottle of the Tufo liquid sealant and I put maybe a 1/4 of the bottle in and it sealed the leak instantly. 2 thumbs up.
They Tufo's were very easy to mount as well.

Not at all, works fine. You might damage a tubular by pressurizing it when it's not on a rim, but they fit just fine on a clincher rim. I've done this for years, pressing up to 140 or so with zero problems. I also do this to quality control check my patched tires.