New wheelset advice

[Ajax Bay]

Pump some air in before you remove the tube and you'll feel where the puncture is.

Massively simplistic and optimistic. You don't say whether you've actually done this ("you can just pull the offending bit of tube out and stick a patch on"). If so how big was the hole and was that typical of the punctures you've experienced?

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I was only kidding about the wheel removal problem.

Anyway, the more I read the more confused I become over what "tubeless ready" means for rims. And Spa seem to have a mental email server that is bouncing everything back at me.

If you're on Cycling UK Forum (CTC that was) then PM colin531, who is their bike designer and (I think) the guy in the wheelbuild images*, but I must admit when i saw your original reply to my post I did think that this new-fangled e email business isn't always the best method of contacting them. I resorted to a telephone in the end

*he's certainly the bloke on the Titanium Audax

 

[Dogtrousers]

If you're on Cycling UK Forum (CTC that was) then PM colin531, who is their bike designer and (I think) the guy in the wheelbuild images*, but I must admit when i saw your original reply to my post I did think that this new-fangled e email business isn't always the best method of contacting them. I resorted to a telephone in the end

*he's certainly the bloke on the Titanium Audax

I've emailed them successfully in the past, and got replies. I'll try again when the hols are over.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I've emailed them successfully in the past, and got replies. I'll try again when the hols are over.

I reckon that they'd probably had an email salesman in that week and ordered a gross of them (in Imperial) or summat.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Massively simplistic and optimistic. You don't say whether you've actually done this ("you can just pull the offending bit of tube out and stick a patch on"). If so how big was the hole and was that typical of the punctures you've experienced?

In the days when tubes were relatively expensive compared to wages and few people carried a spare that's how most riders who punctured out on the road repaired them. In my early club days I can't remember any member doing a roadside tube change.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

In the days when tubes were relatively expensive compared to wages and few people carried a spare that's how most riders who punctured out on the road repaired them. In my early club days I can't remember any member doing a roadside tube change.

In the 1980's when I was riding with a local touring club I don't remember people swapping tubes, that seemed to come along later with the 700c wheel size

 

[Ajax Bay]

that's how most riders who punctured out on the road repaired them. In my early club days I can't remember any member doing a roadside tube change.

I don't remember people swapping tubes

My question was regarding not taking the wheel off and pulling out the inner, and finding the puncture, etc (and whether @Smokin Joe had ever actually done this himself). No direct answer was offered. In the unhappy event of a puncture, our wheels always came off, location of puncture determined; cause found (eg through tyre) position pinpointed by where the tube had punctured; patched (though most carried a spare tube (early 70s, Herne Hill roads)) and, in due course, back on the road.

 

[Grant Fondo]

I've decided to treat my trusty 1980s Dawes to a new pair of wheels. The ones it has at the moment are of dubious provenance (each has a long story, both are a bit crap), and I want to experiment with bigger tyres and also dabble with tubeless tyres.

Why bigger tyres? Well, I've discovered that that's what the bike likes (see herefor a load of gushing pretentious rot on the subject).
Why tubeless? I'm just curious really. If I don't like them then I can just run ordinary tyres & tubes on the same rims (that is true isn't it?)

So to the wheels. What are my requirements?

• I want to run tyres up to 32mm (I think that's as much as the frame can take). I think, from Sheldon's chart a 17mm rim would be in order.
• I want to run tubeless tyres. I'm thinking of going with 30mm Schwalbe One tubeless tyres. But that's just because Schwalbe One is the only brand of tubeless I know about.
• I'm not a performance rider and the bike in question weighs a ton (Ginormous Reynolds 500 plain guage Cro-Mo frame) so lightweight aero performance wheels aren't what I'm looking for.
• I'm a heavy rider (I'm about 92kg) my bike is quite heavy, and I carry a lot of heavy things like pork pies, tools and so on so lotsa spokes is the order of the day.
• I run an 8 speed Shimano cassette on the bike (I can only use 7 of those because it's an old frame, but that's another story).
• I may want to transfer the wheels to my best bike, which currently runs a 10 speed cassette and has 105 hubs. So I want a freehub that will handle both.
• My best bike has handbuilt wheels (Mavic Open Pro rims/105 hubs) and I've been happy with them, so I'm inclined to get a pair built, but I'm also open to buying a factory-built wheelset.
• I'm thinking, on the basis that they've never given me any problems, that 105 hubs may be the thing to go for.
• My riding is best described as long and trundly. All day rides up to and beyond 200km.
• This is likely to be my only big-ish cycling purchase for 2017, so I'm not going to be scrimping. I see that Spa charge £150-£300 for their handbuilt wheelsets (but I've no idea about the suitability of the various components they offer). I'd be happy to pay the upper end of that.
• And yes, my current wheels are 622mm rims. They aren't old 27" ones.

Questions:
Do different makes of tubeless tyres require different rims?
Any freehub compatibility problems between the 8 and 10 speed cassettes?
I'm just beginning a web search for wheels and rims, it's all a bit confusing. Any suggestions?

2017 may also be the year I attempt to cold-set the frame of my Dawes to make rear wheel replacement less of a physical battle. But that's another story entirely.

Not sure about cold setting? Ok if steel frame?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Not sure about cold setting? Ok if steel frame?

Tis indeed a steely. Mid 80s vintage. Reynolds 500 plain gauge

 

[Smokin Joe]

My question was regarding not taking the wheel off and pulling out the inner, and finding the puncture, etc (and whether @Smokin Joe had ever actually done this himself). No direct answer was offered. In the unhappy event of a puncture, our wheels always came off, location of puncture determined; cause found (eg through tyre) position pinpointed by where the tube had punctured; patched (though most carried a spare tube (early 70s, Herne Hill roads)) and, in due course, back on the road.

Loads of time in the past, I thought my answer had made that clear in my answer. Tip the bike upside down, pump some air into the tyre and rotate the wheel till you find where the air is escaping, then you know which section of tube to pull out.

 

[ianrauk]

Tis indeed a steely. Mid 80s vintage. Reynolds 500 plain gauge

There's a good thread about Cold Setting over at the other place.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Tis indeed a steely. Mid 80s vintage. Reynolds 500 plain gauge

Good luck with that then! Bet she's a plush ride!