More on Rims and Tires

Well, maybe it isn't the rims. Maybe it was the tires. But a set of
Pasela 32s, 35s, AND Schwalbe Marathon 37s? They're all super loose;
the wire bead tires don't stay on the rims at all.

But now I put on these Kenda folding 38s, and they fit perfectly.
Will they be junk tires? I don't know. At $14 each, I'm willing to
take my chances.

But what's the deal with the other tires? Are the Kendas (and the
rims) extra small? Are all the other tires extra large? None of those
options seems very likely.

I'm happy to be able to try 38s on the touring bike. They fit under the fenders and within the stays and forks. They even have a generator strip! I like to have the touring Trek be different from the Rambouillet, tire-wise. I have a set of Pasela 32s that I'll put on the Rambouillet, so both bikes will be upgrading to fatter tires. The 32s, after all, are the same as the 1 1/4s that were the standard size on clincher tires for years and years. They should be nice on the Rambouillet.

Velocity Synergy Rim Problems

When I had Rich at Rivendell build me a set of 700C wheels for my touring Trek, he used Velocity Synergy Rims, with the asymmetrical rear holes to minimize tension disparities. Supposedly really nice rims.

But here's the problem: Most 700C tires don't fit. The first tires I installed were Panaracer Pasela folding 700x35, and although they seemed loose, they worked. But when I went to put on a set of Schwalbe Marathon 700x37 wire beads, they were so much too huge that they nearly fell off on their own. There was no way to get them to stay on the rims. Thinking it might be a bad pair of tires (what are the chances of that?), I tried some Panaracer Pasela non-folding 700x32s. Same problem. It really looks like the rims are simply the wrong size.

The photo above shows a distinct gap between the tire and the top edge of the rim flange. I am easily sticking a tire iron all the way through. I could install the tire with my elbows, or with my hands tied behind my back, just using my lips. I could take the tire off using only my left pinky. There's no way that tire can hold an inner tube under pressure. The tube just squirts out--explosively.

When I contacted Grant at Rivendell, he said he had never heard of this problem, thinking (I'm sure) that I just don't know how to install tires. But I'm 50, and I have installed probably hundreds of tires over 35 years of bike tinkering. I know how. And these don't fit. Not that he was unhelpful. I just think he couldn't imagine that I was sane. (Although he was nice about it.)

That was a lot to pay for wheels that don't take most tires. They're only just barely useful.

If Rivendell were closer, I'd take the wheel in for them to try mounting the tires. Or if I had another set of wheels, I'd send one to Rivendell. But they're in California, I'm in Michigan, and I need these wheels. At least the folding Panaracers fit.

Supposedly, Paselas are good tires, but I had one fail last summer. I was within a whisker of a disasterous blowout on tour (carrying 35 lbs) when the sidewall developed an unhealthy bulge.

As an experiment, I've ordered some Kenda folding 700x38s. I know, I know, Kendas are junk. But that Panaracer last summer was junk, too, so you never know. I'll report back how (if) the Kendas work.

Remember The New Crankset?

Really, the Shimano crankset that I got for $15 on eBay worked pretty well until I fell on ice and bent the drive side crank arm. This is getting ridiculous.

In case you think helmets don't help (see my post previously), I was glad to have one as my head slammed into the very hard ice. And who says you can't ride with a bent crank?

Sigh.

But the commute must go on. It's only February, but at least we had some nice warm weather that melted the bulk of the January buildup. Now I have to watch for black ice on sidewalks from refrozen snow melt.

I decided that not having functioning front brakes was a bad idea, so I took a V-brake off a bike carcass and put it on the slush mobile. Works better, I think. We'll see when I ride to work tomorrow.

We're supposed to get three inches of snow tomorrow, so winter is still here.

And rain.

But really, I don't even mind riding in 35˚ rain. With the right protective gear (or even marginally tolerable protective gear, which is what I seem to have) it's ok. Beats driving.