roadcx.net

I finally got my correct wheels in today after getting the wrong ones first. They are not much deeper than the Zero 038’s I have been racing on since July 2007, but they will be a bit more rugged for CX next year. In the meantime, I am going to practice my gluing technique with these wheels and a pair of Continental Competition tires.

Here pictured with my tried and true Zero 038’s. I will have to make some decisions about what to do with these, probably will race them some this year also.

These will be my first wheels to glue. I have always used Tufo Extreme Tape on the Zero’s. I have never had anything even come close to rolling off these. In fact, this tape is so strong that is a real hassle to pull the tires off even with a break in the tape at 180 degrees from the valve stem. I pretty much use a pocket knife blade or a screwdriver to carefully cut the adhesive tape… it is worth noting that it almost always trashes the base tape since it is bonded so strongly that the tape comes apart first, which has been okay since I am normally removing a skinned or punctured tire.

I basically used these tires for only racing, so it is pretty easy to estimate the life. Installed a pair of Tufo S33’s in July 2007. I ended up going to Hi-Composite Carbon for both front and back (I started in the back) after several of the tires died a early death. I over many races, I had two S33’s rear tire get punctured with a few blocks of each other on the streets of Chattanooga (2007 River Gorge and 2008 Georgia Cup race). The other one I took down to the cords during the 2008 MSGP due to pack accordion-effect braking in the large 123 field. I ended up putting a HiComposite Tufo on the front.

For my new wheels, I decided to get Continental Sprinters… They shipped Conti Competitions. I guess I got the upgrade. I plan to glue them on using Conti glue.