roadcx.net

After reading a few articles and a few reviews, I decided to try out tubeless for cx. I bought the Stan’s No Tubes kit directly from them and got it setup Wednesday after work. I started to mess with it on Monday & Tuesday, but didn’t have much time other than to put the strips into my Velomax Vista rims and try to inflate the tires.

The front wheel with the Mud2 already installed sealed around pretty well even dry (and despite the puncture hole in the sidewall. The rear wheel was more of and issue… in the end I decided to use the Kenda Kommando’s that Andrea won (which replaced the ones I bought during the summer but ended up on her single-speed cx bike). Anyway, these readily inflated (after soaping up the beads) and I added the latex solution and performed the ritual of sealant distribution in about an hour….

I decided to test out the new tires/no-tubes combo on the night mtb ride out of the Outdoors, Inc / Cordova. I rode down to the shop with 30/30 psig in the front/back. It felt weird, but solid. At the last minute, I borrowed a pump and tried to air them up a bit more for the trail. The pump I borrowed sort of sucked, and I ended up (I think) adding air to the rear and taking out air from the front.

We started out on the road to the trail and immediately the front end was really, really squishy…but it was holding air. On the more technical stuff, the ~17-18 psig (as I found an hour later at home using my floor pump) was not really enough and I ended up losing too much time as I tried to minimize bottoming out on the roots, etc. I decided to bail out about half-way through the ride because of this and rode back home.

(smiles only allowed during pre-ride…. Beat the Freak #5. Andrea and I hitting the stairs.)

All-in-all, I think the setup is a good one. I aired up the tires to 30 psi and will try to use them on a more conventional cx course this weekend. I hope I can get this setup ready to give me another option the weekend after next…at kccx nationals……. I have my number, which puts me 3rd row (#519). It is a lot better than last years ~12-13th row spot.

Long range weather for KC is showing 32F (low of 22F) with some warmer weather on Thursday (40F).. This could result in a pretty similar conditions as last year as the Thursday races tear up the course and the muddy ruts freeze overnight.