I am on the verge of purchasing a new 85mm front carbon clincher wheel.
My questions are:
For those of you riding 80mm+ rims, what latex tubes have worked best for you?
What length valve stem and extenders have worked best for you? I have a wheel cover on the back with a Mavic CXP 33 rim. I would like to carry only one spare tube if possible. I’m assuming I would need a shorter stem with a longer extender to be compatible with both wheels.
Is there a rim tape that works best for carbon rims?
Any input would be greatly appreciated. My only previous experience with deep wheels was a HED CX tubular bought used with the tire and extender already installed.
the inside of the gigantex wheels you are thinking of getting is very smooth so you can probably get away with the lighter, plastic rim tape, but anything will be fine.
nothing wrong with “too long” of a valve stem on a spare, it will just stick out, no harm done.
otherwise just do the math, you need to clear 85mm plus enough room to get the pump on there.
agreed, even if the valve stem sticks out to far it won’t hurt anything. i plan on running michelin latex tubes this season, some of my teammates used them last year and swear by them
If you’re going to run Michelin latex, I’d strongly advise that any you don’t immediately mount up you put in plastic zip-lock bags as soon as you get them. They get brittle fairly quickly and, once they do, they’re useless. Vredestein latex tubes are hard to find, but they’re sealed in plastic at the factory and they’ll store for a long time that way. Also, the Vredestein latex tubes have removeable valve cores which allows you to run the Tufo-style extenders (which are really good).
Glorycycles.com is the only US e-tailer I know of that lists Vred latex tubes on their website, but they’re always out of stock when I try to order. I end up getting them from chainreactioncycles.com in the UK.
Thanks everyone for the input. I guess my only issue with a longer stem is it being too long for the wheel cover opening, not so much with the 85mm wheel. I think I’ll go with the shorter valve stem to fit the wheelcover rear and use a longer stem/extender for the 85mm front. For a spare, use a shorter stem and long extender that can be removed if for a rear flat.
From my searches it seems the Vredstein tubes are preferred over the Michelins if you can find them.
I have an identical rig to you, and do hte exact same thing- it works fine.
do NOT use latex as spares- latex and CO2 dont get along AT ALL (and they are very hard to field-change anyway)
Ive been told by good wrenches that its good policy to store latex tires uninflated to minimize any creep issues you have (tho they uninflate spontaneously in a few days anyway)
Ive been told by good wrenches that its good policy to store latex tires uninflated to minimize any creep issues you have (tho they uninflate spontaneously in a few days anyway)
If you do so…be VERY careful when you re-inflate them. Put a small amount of air in first and then go around the tire on both sides and push back the bead to make sure that the tube isn’t showing, just like you’d do for an initial installation. That will go a long way towards preventing an “installation pinch flat”
