Our Spoke Cutting & Threading (SCT) machine has undergone some pretty nifty improvements. All the tweaks below are found on SCT’s we currently (2016) ship. If you plan to attend NAHBS in Sacramento, please pay us a visit in booth 85 to see this marvel in person.

The design’s inventor is Morizumi Masakazu who made them by himself and, since 2007, is represented worldwide by us. In 2014 Mr Morizumi stepped back from production and a new team took over. Mr Morizumi stays closely involved with the project and we continue to add clever details.

Read more →

For years we’ve needed a dedicated wheelbuilding oil for spoke threads and nipple-rim contact. Builders succeed with oils intended for other uses: linseed oil (for paints), chain lubes, and oil for derailleurs and brakes. However, wheel building is a very specific task and deserves a dedicated lube.

As builders, we have particular needs: our task can be quickened or hindered by tool and lubricant choice; the wheel itself has specific performance objectives and hazards to endure; and the builder has aesthetic, economic, and health concerns.

At last, Wheel Fanatyk announces CLEAR, oil for wheel building.

4oz and 16oz sizes, each with cap and spout.

FEATURES
(1) Amazing friction reduction, a truly slick feel between fingers. Equivalent load capacity and wear reduction to the highest grade motor oils.

(2) High viscosity but easy to pour. Adheres to and compatible with all materials. Excellent corrosion resistance.

(3) Food safe (Kosher Pareve and HALAL registered) and biodegradable. No known symptoms from eye or skin contact or ingestion.

(4) 100% synthetic, extremely temperature stable. Over 100°F higher flash point than most petroleum or mineral based oils.

(5) Economical, available in 4oz (118ml) and 16oz (473ml) bottles with caps and Yorker spouts.

Convenient pour tips.

TOXICITY
We rarely discuss toxicity in bike mechanics. Maybe because the sporting goods industry is full of health, fresh air, and fun. Besides manufacturing, the industry seems clean and benign as a public park. We also face more obvious risks: losing it on a steep section; a distracted driver in your right of way; or oil, slimy leaves, or ice where you least expect it.

Wheel Fanatyk CLEAR meets high performance standards but takes toxicity very seriously. To understand means seeing through over-simplified labels like “environmental,” “biodegradable,” “green,” “natural,” etc. Unfortunately, that means most prospective customers won’t make it through the story. For those of you who do, you are a lucky lot. Choices like the one I’m offering are key to living well in the 21st century.

Nice image that stands for no particular standard. Used for dry cleaning, diapers, and produce.

Green for the biosphere can be toxic to humans. We often miss this detail and chain lubes are a good example as many go the extra mile to be environmentally friendly. However, how many are truly non-toxic? A bit of anything you breathe or contacts your skin ends up in your blood. We are protected from many contaminants but our bodies are permeable.

ECB (European Chemical Bureau) hazard symbol.

FOOD SAFE
What is the standard for safe use? That is a complicated question so I, as a potential user, suggest “Food Safe.” Most bicycle lubes and cleaners fail this test. Sometimes there’s no choice for the task at hand, but there is often an alternative.

After decades of covering my hands with lubes, fuels, and cleaners as a mechanic, I am determined to offer a Food Safe wheel building oil. This quest seemed hopeless until entering the food processing world, a huge scene with many products that never see retail commercialization. Long story short, I found lubricants with astounding performance including being food safe!

No surprise, just think of the massive horsepower, speed, temperatures and loads in food processing. I found a gear lubricant that outperforms synthetic automotive racing oils yet is Food Safe. Why aren’t these in our cars? Price, of course. Secondly, “Food Safe” isn’t required of many chemicals not meant for bare hands. Paints, for example, are used with gloves by those with chronic exposure. Same with automotive oils. Bicycles, however, are hands-on machines both for riders and mechanics, and nearly impossible to work on with gloves.

CLEAR WHEELBUILDING OIL
It’s called CLEAR because it is almost completely transparent. In actuality, there is a faint amber tint but in a tablespoon it appears transparent. Let your components shine through. It is also nearly odorless.

Question: what about linseed oil?
(1) It must be industrially boiled so that it will eventually dry. Boiled linseed oil retains the label “boiled” but no longer is. The equivalent chemistry is done today with additives that are usually not specified. Toxics in these additives (heavy metals) are in very low quantity and, besides, boiled linseed oil is intended as a paint or paint ingredient. Why risk if there’s an alternative?

(2) “Boiled” linseed oil dries by oxidizing. In a warm and humid atmosphere drying can take two weeks; too long for an event in process. Oxidation releases heat and anything flammable (textiles, paper towels, wood chips) containing “boiled” linseed oil will catch fire, with near certainty. Closing the container limits oxygen so the fire may be delayed. This tendency to burst into flames makes “boiled” linseed oil a substance to handle with care.

Question: how best to apply CLEAR?
(1) Apply as you presently use oil. Many add to a freshly laced wheel, dripping into the partly occupied nipple bore and around the nipple head to wet the nipple-to-rim seat.

(2) Others prefer dipping nipples in oil, draining, and then sorting. Wheel Fanatyk’s Nipple Bath and Nipple Shuffler support this approach. Pick up each pre-oiled nipple from the Shuffler with a pointed tool like EVT’s Mulfinger or our Nipple Inserter. Then start the nipple on a spoke. CLEAR’s high viscosity means plenty is on the nipple even weeks after a soak-drain.

(3) To secure threads, use a post-assembly Loctite™ (222 or 290) or DT Spoke Freeze™, or coat spokes with a compound like Spoke Prep™ prior to lacing. I prefer the last since Prep dramatically reduces friction so truing is less strenuous and more accurate. For me, this is fastest.

MORE DETAILS
• CLEAR oil is a synthetic, PAO based material. This accounts for the astounding load capacity, thermal stability, and surface tenacity.
• Actual viscosity: ISO-320, SAE 60 (engine), SAE 125 (gear), AGMA 6. Easy to pour and apply.
• CLEAR has no food value, do not drink! If ingested, stay calm and drink small amounts of water.
• Exceptional water resistance, high demulsibility, superb corrosion resistance.
• Outstanding film strength, ASTM D-4172 (4-Ball Wear Test) = 0.31mm. Here (pg 4) is a 2013 test of ten high end synthetic oils that CLEAR would have won.
• CLEAR bottles are HDPE (plastic #2), durable, squeezable, most recycled plastic in the US.

A responsible choice.

• Biodegradable is good but we don’t want this oil degrading quickly. Technically, CLEAR is “ultimately biodegradable.” Like steel, returning to the environment through natural processes, but not quickly.
• Food safety is not new but programs to ensure it are fairly recent. The worldwide standard, HACCP, was developed as a microbiological safety system in early days of the US manned space program to assure the safety of astronaut food. Prior, most safety was based on end product testing that didn’t fully guarantee safe products as 100% testing was impossible. Consequently the pro-active, process-focused HACCP concept was born. CLEAR is in compliance, meets FDA regulations 21 CFR 178.3570 and CFR 172.882, and certified NSF H1.
• Wheel Fanatyk sells direct so an important margin is missing, hence more value.
• MSDS is available on our site.

TRY IT!
The 4oz squeeze bottle is a generous amount for a busy wheelbuilder and enough to form your own opinion. You may resupply with the 16oz bottle but the 4oz container is still the most convenient to use if you apply at each nipple.

If you’ve made it this far, you are definitely someone who should try CLEAR!

My fellow spoke nerds deserve something to chew on, even at the risk of boring other worthy readers.

Disclaimer: I’m going to share some magnified images of threads. Some of you may find these unexpectedly ugly and not representative of the named brands. Mind you, none of this post is intended to evaluate brands. Let’s just explore the details.
Read more →

Part 4 closes our ball bearing series with a visit into how these little mechanisms impact our wheel building.

Bearings make wheel building possible. However, their effect is exaggerated. What happens at the hub is magnified ten-fold at the rim (where we work). This is owed to wheel geometry and must be appreciated throughout the build process. Bearing play has a disproportionate effect on trueness but it’s there for an important reason.

Play is good
For anything to run freely there must be play, a bit of extra space between moving parts so they never suffer self-inflicted friction and wear. The loads of cycling are quite enough. Internal, avoidable loads are unacceptable. Play can be small if rolling parts are made and aligned with great precision. While grease prevents easy feel of this play, it is present none the less. If a hub is built too tight, without such play, wear will create it. Running in a tight hub makes needless wear that eventually creates the missing play.

Work without play is dull.

A wheel builder wants a hub with no play so the rim is not subject to movements generated by bearings rather than spokes. Trouble is, 0.002” of hub play (less than the thickness of paper) creates 10X the rim play. Most riders consider 0.02” rim play excessive. If a rim jumps around on bearing looseness, truing becomes a moving target. In the past, most hubs could be tightened to excess (bad for riding) so they are free from play (good for building), then loosened for use. Today’s hubs are more often equipped with cartridge bearings that can’t be adjusted (magneto bearings as used in Odom hubs, an exception). Many riders perceive hubs that have no play to be superior but more often the absence of play is evidence of friction under load.

A builder can do little to fix a hub’s play/friction situation. We need to notice if untrueness seems to change from rotation to rotation. If the pattern of rim wobble is not exactly the same on each wheel rotation, you can be sure something in the bearings is responsible. You might worry you’ll be blamed for untrueness owed to bearing play but rarely will you. While truing, keep a finger on one side of the rim, applying a small side load to dampen bearing play. This way you can see actual wobble more clearly and true in spite of play.

It’s important you appreciate bearing play because it is a guarantee of smoother running and longer lasting mechanisms. All small cartridge bearings, made for modest (not engine) loads contain play. If handled individually, the play is easy to detect. Manufacturers specify the exact amount for each product. Hub bearings are used in pairs so play is nearly cancelled, but the cost is microscopic friction. Cartridge hubs that claim to be adjustable without using the historic cup-cone (as with magneto) approach, are simply side loading. Play disappears but only thanks to friction.

Play is unavoidable
Up to 0.008” of play (measured at the rim) is generally acceptable in a bicycle wheel. Such a small amount cannot contribute to handling trouble, generate high speed wobbles, or cause premature hub wear. To measure, put a dial indicator on the rim and push and pull using only ultra-low force, just a feather touch, or you’ll be watching the wheel flex. Good proof that bearing play is not a factor compared with regular flexing of the spoked structure.

Bearing play (and untrueness) impacts dishing (centering) measurement. A dishing tool applied to both sides of a wheel is very accurate. Small untrueness and bearing play will reverse dishing measurements if they are taken several times around the wheel. No worry, just don’t be a slave to dishing.

To work with modern hubs and their cartridge bearings, bear a couple of principles in mind:

(1) Spoke tension is a huge force on hubs. Most hubs expand with spoke tension so cartridge bearings no longer fit snug in the hub shell. The solution is to make hubs too tight for bearings but, after spoke tension expansion, the bearing is held with appropriate light force. This is a universal feature among hubs but hard to navigate. Who knows exactly how much spoke tension a hub will see? How can you compensate for an unknown load? As an industry, this problem is handled well. Just be aware that it underlies bearing play issues. No free running cartridge bearing would ever be made to endure the press fits of bike hubs. The expansion of hub shells with spoke tension is supposed to reduce friction-causing compression. The bearing press you use to service the hub would be a bearing engineer’s nightmare if she didn’t know the fit will become looser with spoke tension.

(2) Individual cartridge bearing hubs are built with play both in radial and angular movement of the axle. Since bearings are generally used in pairs in bicycles and electric motors, that movement tends to cancel out between pairs. Hubs that seem free of play actually have excess grease, hiding the play from detection, or friction .Thankfully, such low friction and premature wear are small factors and most hubs give good longevity in spite of it. In practice, more hubs die from contamination and corrosion than pure wear.

Going to extremes

Hub shell in titanium.                               © Gokiso

(3) To have cartridge bearings run perfectly requires unreal attention to alignment. One Japanese hub maker has gone the distance on this topic: Gokiso. Take a look at their elaborate designs. Here is a hub designed by bearings! Not inexpensive but legendary. While 700g and $5000USD may seem high for hubs, these have a strong following. Some models are guaranteed for 29 years and you can watch wear tests of 100,000km at 300kph! Takeaway: all the hubs on the market are all compromises for economy and weight. We use them to take terrific rides but judge accordingly.

Flexing Ti fingers spare bearings shock.                © Gokiso

Get out the Q-tips, this beauty will take some maintenance!             © Gokiso

(4) Resist the temptation to spin your wheel fast in the truing stand. If you do, no worry, but realize it slows you down and makes trueness harder to isolate and address. Short, half turns are mostly what is needed. Adjust an area but don’t throw everything back and begin again from zero. I did this for years. You can become quite quick in spite of such a style but, in the end, it will limit your speed. Contact indicators will bounce, confusing the picture and your eye, while it perceives a pattern, is handicapped for devising corrections. Few can retain the 3D mental image of a full wheel with precision enough to act effectively. It’s just a recess. Spin fast for relaxation but not to nail the target.

(5) Avoid building around a hub with blown bearings. Not only is the task made harder but once new bearings are installed, the wheel may show untrueness or asymmetry. The builder gets the blame or at least the unpaid task of retruing. We build wheels around bearings. Minute changes that arise from bearing replacement will cause effects at the rim. Of course, field conditions may give you no option.

Wheel builders, don’t be overly critical about components like hubs. They’re an easy target. Be a guru so the wheels you create balance cost and performance in your riders’ best interests. That wisdom is too rare. Don’t let marketing define your work. Today’s great products will soon enough be obsolete. The “no free lunch” rule is in play: a perfect running hub is heavy and expensive. Be grateful for the hubs we have and work with the consequences!

Yup, it’s spoke tension time again. I hear too many builders saying “I don’t really know if my tension gauge is accurate but it’s easy to use and we do OK.” Ask yourself, what is a measuring instrument without a scale? Or with a scale that is wrong? Not much. Perhaps a waste of time.

If you use a tensiometer, and not everyone does, be sure of its accuracy. A simple in-shop weight test is better than nothing. Hang a bucket of known weight from a spoke and see what your tools say. Mass doesn’t lie. DT, Park, and we offer calibration tests. There is no specified amount of use that recommends you have a tool checked. Under ideal conditions, a simple articulating, spring loaded tool should go forever. However, the world is full of dirt, accidents, and mischief that puts tools into doubt. Read more →

Here’s a post just for wheel builders. Some topics are best shared with those who understand (not necessarily agree) with what I am saying. If you are not a builder, proceed at your risk. If you find content disturbing, please know that it takes a builder’s perspective. If you don’t have it, don’t blame us.

I’m weary of builders on the spot for spoke breakage. That was true in my youth, an age of much greater wheel building ignorance. Such worry plagued my early career and those of peers. It’s likely some aspiring builders ditched the trade rather than face ever present guilt over spoke breakage.
Read more →

Season’s underway and builders everywhere are slinging parts as the weather (in the N Hemisphere) woo’s riders outside.

I’m hearing more questions and grumbling about all the over-dished rear wheels landing in our laps.  No time to waste with some advice about this situation. First, it’s not related to climate change!

We builders can navigate the extreme specs of 10 and 11 speeds as long as a few basic ideas are kept in mind.

(1) A wheel’s geometry is determined by the hub and rim maker. The cross section triangle describes your spoke tension balance. This balance is beyond the builder to make significant improvement.

Every wheel has a cross section triangle.

The tension balance is the center-to-flange distance ratio, non-drive side (Y) to drive side (X). Those distances are easily measured and derived:

X = r (cos b)
Y = l (cos a)

Wheels with 10 or 11 speeds and low spoke count are functioning well in the market despite tension ratios often greater than 2:1. Some brands employ off center rims, others use variable left-right spoke count. However, among those with traditional rim and spoke layouts there is still big concern. Pro’s use both and results do not suggest anyone is in trouble.

(2) Avoid over-tightening the drive side simply to have more tension on the opposite. Max tension for the rim should not be exceeded.  NDS spokes may appear too loose but they rapidly reach high tension with mere millimeters of lateral rim movement. In practice, lateral stiffness is barely compromised.

(3) Ultra low non-drive tension is a pain. Measure their tension and reduce inequality between pairs. Use an effective thread compound. Which are effective? Bench tests (just spokes and nipples) will confirm your program is good.

(4) As wheel builders, we understand wheel geometry better than others. We need to remind (no whining) those who will listen that extreme dishing is dumb. In time it will be an historic novelty. We endure it today but it serves little purpose. Adding disk brakes and widening the rear triangle improves the situation, so some relief is coming.

Whoa, comfort has a cost!

(5) Never forget that nothing takes the load off wheels more than tires. The larger and more supple the casing and the lower the pressure, the happier and more effective the wheel. Thankfully, this is a strong, current trend so builders cannot complain too loudly!

Don’t hesitate to mount wide tires to narrow rims if the frame permits. Rims with 17mm inside width (like old Mavic E2’s) can easily wear 2.1″ (53c) tires. The narrowest rims at 13mm inside width easily carry 35c tires. Remember, though, these are for moderate pressure (50-75psi) and must be tested (like all tire fits) by an experienced mechanic and then ridden carefully to learn the handling before going wild.

Send comments. What are you doing this year?

Know about ear worms, tunes you can’t get out of your head? I am plagued by a bike worm. Bicycles can imbed themselves in my head and, short of owning them, I am helpless to escape. Sound familiar?

Can I escape this worm if I share? Welcome to the coolest bicycle I have seen lately. No wonder it’s stuck in my head.

In 2013 I first saw brief mention of Mikulas Novotney and his unique design. Not enough pictures, not enough background, I had questions (and compliments) but no answers! Asked one of Wheel Fanatyk’s customers in CZ to try and reach him. Sure enough, we exchanged info and after familiar delays, I eventually got answers to my questions.

Coincidently, I recently noticed that Mikulas has been included in a lavish book about frame builders, The Bicycle Artisans, published last year.

His bike is genius: a full sized wheel machine that folds in half and can be rolled around like luggage.

Righty front and back.

You saw it, now you don’t.

Rolls like luggage.

Here is how it folds.

While accomplishing this ambitious function, Mikulas also insists on structural simplicity that even without a folding element, is beautiful. Nothing enhances bicycle aesthetics like simplicity. This one should be in the permanent MOMA collection.

To achieve this master work, Mikulas needed to be free of preconceptions from the bicycle world. He succeeds in part because he is not from the bicycle industry. Despite a devotion to fixed gear urban riding, he is architecturally trained. Another reminder that, while bike veterans may know some things “best,” we are also trapped by the past. Cycling carries 150 years of sales and engineering baggage. Designs to meet our challenging future must be free to go where we haven’t been. Bikes speak for themselves and solo creatives like Mikulas deserve our attention.

To my mind, he is a precocious master. Here is a transcript of our exchange: enlightening for me and I hope motivation to creatives that are not certified bike designers to dream, sketch, and build.

WF: You are a designer, architect, engineer? What is your direction?
MN: I started my studies on Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague as a product designer. But soon, after finishing my bike project I decided for an internship in the architecture atelier. After one year experience, and summer job in RaumlaborBerlin studio I became a student of architecture. Architecture and bicycles are the matter of the heart for me.

WF: Are you a bike fanatic or a Duchamp [fine art] type of interest?
MN: I’m definitely a bike fanatic. I prefer riding. Building is nice, but I do it mostly for this reason.

Elegant at rest.

WF: Did you design the bike for a project, for fun, for friends?
MN: This is a result of a two semester project at the academy, focused on movement by self power in the city. I’ve chosen a bike, which you can put easily into the car trunk on your way to work/school, and after parking on suburb, you can continue on the bike. You can take it also to the tram, bus or train when weather changes, or the part of the city is too hilly. I wanted bike with optimal riding properties, which would looks simple at the same time. Important was also that you don’t have to carry the bike, but just lead side by side.

WF: How many prototypes? Did you ride it much? How is the ride?
MN: I didn’t have money or time to make tests before building the final prototype. I had to design precisely and think out everything… measure all the components which have been used (and some of them also modified) in stores with a caliper and prepare perfect technical drawings. When I persuaded a bike manufacturer that my design can work, he let me build it by myself in his workshop. I had a lathe, mill, and a guy who can weld what I prepared. It was nice experience.
Since I know that it works in terms of riding and folding I ride it less and less, because I’m more afraid about the only prototype.
Ride is good. You have to get used to fork on one side and top tube in angle to the direction of travel, even if you’re convinced that it’s psychological.

WF: What are its specifications (material, size, weight, cost…)?
MN: It’s made of Reynolds Cr-MO tubes, but heavier than it would be in production because a lot of parts are now assembled of several welded pieces. But it weighs about 25 pounds at the moment.

WF: Did you build only one? What are your goals for this idea?
MN: I’d really like to put it into production. I want a small series. Necessary to keep it simple, but well crafted and well equipped. It’s also possible to add gears integrated in BB and mudguards of course. At the moment I’m speaking with a company that seems able to produce it.

WF: Does this bike embody your design philosophy? How? I see beauty and multi-function. You?
MN: Thank you. I hope  this design meets its purpose in a smart way, and that is very important. But it should be still proved by usage.

WF: Any info about you, your path, the scene where you live, what is next?
MN: There  is my blog, where you can find some other projects and brief info.
I’m finishing my studies on Academy this year [2014]. I’m part of the fixedgear/singlespeed scene, but generally I don’t care about bicycle types.

All details serve a purpose, yet simplicity flows.

Put me on the list for the first. If it doesn’t happen, I’m going to make one (and escape from the worm). The breathtaking asymmetric front end is enough to want this ride!

Thanks, Mikulas, and good luck with this and other creations.

Clinchers are the primary pneumatic wheel system of our time. Cars, planes, high speed trains all use forms of this proven approach to suspension and travel. In cycling as well, clinchers are the bedrock tire system. Today’s topic concerns the high pressure clincher (HPC) for road racing and performance pavement riding. Who would question The System??

Psssst, pro’s don’t use them, but they’re just what you want!

When did HPC’s arise?
Before the ’70’s, bicycle clinchers had maximum pressures of 80psi and most depended on 30-65psi. They served the needs of everyday riding from commuting, to commercial delivery, to touring and recreation. Racing to win was another form of cycling. Competitors used narrow (18-25mm) tires at high pressures (7 bar/100psi+) to make wheels light, yet resistant to dents, and hopefully win races. Since the dawn of pneumatic tires, racing needs were not met by clinchers but, instead, by tubular (sew up) tires.

The mass of riders on modest pressure clinchers were well served and racers had little problem gluing sew ups or hiring mechanics to do it. For both systems, rims and tires were simple to design and flats were rare and easily fixed. What ended this happy, stable era?

In the mid-1970’s, America experienced a sudden bicycle boom, fueled by alternative thinking and, especially, a nationwide gas shortage with soaring prices. Suddenly mobs of young Americans wanted to ride bikes. Cycling didn’t have much of a role in the US besides besides grade school commuting and news boys. To get out on the roads with cars was intimidating, but less so if you rode fast. Going fast was fun and the boom focused on speed. European racing was inspiring.

Unexpected Boom Crisis
Importers found supplies of racing bikes and soon everyone was hunched over skinny tire racing bikes, riding as fast as they could. Despite some problems (neck pain, sore butts, safety, etc), one threat loomed largest: better racing bikes from Europe came with tubular tires. Few in the US knew what to do with them, no old timers in the neighborhood to mentor beginners. Tubulars were misunderstood, miss used, and became the bane of lightweight riding. They weren’t, after all, intended for general use.

An alternative to the tubular was needed quickly or the biggest American bike boom of the century faced an untimely end. Mountain bikes were still 10 years away so a new machine was not an option.

“The only thing we could determine was that it just got so hot in the car that the tubes expanded…”

Enter the HPC. The dawn of tires and rims attempting to hold high pressures, for example IRC High Racer tires on Araya rims, was scary and loud. Tires could be mounted crooked, rims could expand with pressure, standards for fit were inadequate, tire levers bent and broke, pumps were not strong enough. HPC’s, the bastard child of an awkward historic moment?

However, the goal was clear: a system to equal the performance (pressure, weight, speed) of racing tubulars but be easier and cheaper for the masses to maintain.

40 Years Later
Where do we stand with high pressure clinchers?

(1) They are heavier and less strong by weight than tubulars.

(2) They are not cheaper, rather equal or more expensive than tubulars.

(3) They get more flats, especially pinch flats, than tubulars.

One boom deserves another?

(4) Rim-to-tire fit standards are so vague one can buy a top-of-the-line tire and be unable to mount it to a top-of-the-line wheel. I would estimate 70% of riders of HPC’s do not repair their own flats. They call home. Prying off the tire and making the patch or tube insertion is complicated, requires too much hand strength, and often fails. Mechanics, like the readers of this piece, have noticed the difficulty but are not in the 70% helpless category. We are busy helping our less-able customers and riding companions. Fact is, more tubular riders with punctures ride home than their HPC counterparts.

(5) “Tubeless” systems aim to fix this but is it worth the trouble? True, fewer flats, but the rim interior is often invaded with sealant that can NEVER be removed. Bead fit is so tight that only experts can mount them. Tires cannot be inflated without compressed air. And the suggestion you can insert a tube if you flat during a ride is bogus. Putting tubes in a road tubeless system is a task virtually no one can accomplish.

“Fill your wheel with ounces of sticky white glue. Trust me, it’ll be great…”

(6) Making light rims in any material for HPC’s is complicated. Outward pressure of tire beads is gigantic. To withstand this force carbon rims add mass to equal the weight of aluminum rims. Huh? The circumferential pressure of HPC’s (tube or tubeless) on rims is 10X that of tubulars due to the different physics. Tons of constricting force shrinks light rims, lowers spoke tension, and deprives wheels of much strength. Is it worth it?

49″ tires (18) at 310psi for the 400 ton 747. Successful HP pneumatics, just not cycling.

High pressure clinchers have had 40 years to accomplish the goal: equivalent performance, improved convenience, and lower price than tubulars. They have failed. It’s over. Good try but no win. 40 years is long enough. Believe me, I’m not alone among industry veterans puzzling over this situation.

What Next?
This is not a call to return to tubulars. That’s the system that needs replacing. A new system is needed for the narrow, high pressure, racing pneumatic. Don’t stop using HPC wheels. Until there is a better alternative, it’s the best we can do.

Nor does this apply to moderate pressure clinchers as in BMX, MTB, utility, and randonneur riding. Larger casings, lower pressures, and a wide variety of rims are delivering great function and value. It’s also important to note that efficiencies of narrow, high pressure tires have been exaggerated. Fast, competitive riding is often better with lower pressure and larger cross sections. Jan Heine’s Bicycle Quarterly (among others) has really driven this point.

Here is also not a criticism of the modern HPC tire. Taken alone, todays’s HPC’s are remarkable technology and quality. Complex and refined, tough and impressive. Same with rims. It is the system that is at a dead end for high pressure.

What to do?

(1) Separate yourself from deniers who claim HPC systems (especially tubeless) are perfect. They’re not.

(2) Think hard about alternatives. Study tubulars. Study HPC’s, both tube and tubeless. Cycling innovation begins with you.

(3) Don’t hold your breath. Innovation requires motivation (we have plenty), technology (it’s out there), and courage (well…). Structural obstacles also seem insurmountable. Tire companies are some of the largest corporate entities in cycling. Michelin, Hutchinson, Continental, Innova, Cheng Shin, Kenda, these are global chemical giants. Cycling products are trivial for them.

Why does this spill from the mouth of a wheel person? We are über proud of wheels. Anything seriously limiting their beauty and usefulness gets our attention.

Rest assured, a fearless young bicycle thinker is reading this and in due time will engineer the needed solution. I’ll bet it’s a wheel builder.

If  my tongue-in-cheek leaves you confused or annoyed, make a comment. Then hug your bike and take a ride!

Mobility is Work
The more efficient the mobility, the more successful is the organism. Salmon and gulls rate highly but humans aren’t far behind. Our ability to move with relatively low energy expense is key to human history. Bipedal motion, sweating, a springy foot, and other physiology made it possible for indigenous hunters to simply walk their prey down over a period of days.

We demand similar efficiency from bicycles and they deliver. After all, look who made them. Bearings, of course,are key. Keeping their friction low is one of our highest priorities.

Rarely seen anymore, some early bikes used bearings with spherical races that would continue to spin even if the axle was bent. Today we try and keep axles from bending but there’s no denying this is a clever idea.

Spherical races, like a sun with little planets.

Before cartridge bearings, adjustable loose ball bearings ruled bikedom. Shimano and Campagnolo still use them in many of their high-end hubs.

Cup and cone bearings, the original format for bicycles and still going.

A cup and cone system features angular rather than annular contact.

The basic difference between annular (radial) and angular (cup and cone).

Why angular?
Most think it is because of regular side loads that a hub must see. True on a 3 or 4 wheel vehicle but single track side loads are relatively tiny and statistically rare. The best reason is how much easier it is to get the bearing to a sweet spot of adjustment where friction and side play are low.

Side play is important not only because of noise and squirrelly handling but the potential for harmonics. Vehicles that are light (like bikes and planes) are vulnerable to harmonic vibration. That’s why test flights, before the era of computer modeling, were so suspenseful. Many planes (and helicopters) failed because harmonic vibration that could not be dampened shook the structure to pieces. Cars and locomotives are less risk because it takes so much energy to vibrate larger masses.

We’re all familiar with bicycle speed wobbles. They rarely cause a nasty crash, but take worrying concentration to control. Bearing play will aggravate, if not promote, speed wobbles. So we want it minimized. The angular contact bearing can be adjusted whereas the annular is manufactured to a given fit and cannot. Today’s annular bearings are made so well that when located at either end of a hub, there is often no play to be detected. Small play can be made invisible by slightly side-loading a pair of annular bearings with only a small friction consequence.

None of this compares with the friction from grease and seals. Chester Kyle conducted tests that should have woken the world to this factor. In one case, he swung a 1o-pound weight on a pendulum from a hub with sealed-cartridge bearings. He then removed the seals and grease, and performed the test again. The pendulum swung 20 times longer. He estimated seals and grease were responsible for a 3 to 5-percent increase in total bike rolling resistance. Clearly our choices affect performance; bearing friction is not negligible. Since we all use similar bearings, the subject is overlooked; like complaining about air density which is pretty much a given. But bearing friction is no longer taken for granted.

Look Out Ceramics
The latest chapter in bicycle ball bearings has begun. And it is being ushered in by the widespread adoption of ceramic bearings by professional racers. These spheres of silicon nitride, not a true ceramic, are lighter, harder, smoother and rounder than the best steel bearings. Combined with high-grade chromium-steel races, they’re known as hybrid bearings and are huge news throughout cycling and in other sports. Invented nearly 25 years ago by Swedish bearing giant, SKF, these units are now finding their way into bikes.

Whether the expense is warranted for your own riding is not the issue. They simply illuminate how important bearings are. A perfect object lesson.

Looks pricey? Well…yes.               © ceramicspeed.com

The ceramic bearings hiding in this bottom bracket offer huge performance gains – reducing rolling resistance by up to 4 percent. That’s like doping without the crime.

lnline skaters, whose wheels revolve thousands of times per minute, were some of the earliest adopters of ceramic bearings. Next came F1 (up to $250K per car), and now cycling. Ceramic bearings are everywhere in top UCI road and off-road competitions. Retrofitted to hubs, bottom brackets and pulley wheels, the bearings represent the latest performance enhancement, and unlike many injected “enhancements,” they are completely legal.

The benefits are twofold: first, the actual ceramic ball is three times harder than steel. While this leads to greatly extended life spans, it also reduces friction. Believe it or not, all balls deform slightly under load. This is the major, microscopic source of friction in a bearing. Less deformation equals lower friction.

Like the proverbial truffle in cooking, however, it’s a waste to use ceramic balls if the other ingredients are inferior. So the second benefit stems from the better seals, grease and retainers that harder, smoother ceramic bearings allow. For a higher price, you can use extra—low—friction seals that aren’t available on industrial bearings. At the same time, weatherproof grease can be replaced with extra—low-viscosity lube. Most bearings use a retainer to separate the balls from each other. If balls bump, there’s extra friction because they’re rotating in opposite directions at the moment of contact. Compared to metal retainers in traditional bearings, some ceramics have low-friction retainers made from special polyamides.

The best are built one-by-one, matched to the micron.         © ceramicspeed.com

Many of these non-ceramic improvements (better/fewer seals, lighter grease/oil, etc.) are available to anyone and as Chester Kyle pointed out 25 years ago, they greatly reduce friction. But when they are combined with ceramic balls, the bearing is taken to a whole new level.

The next and final chapter of this bearing excursion details how they affect wheel building. Understand what the hub is doing and don’t let bearings interfere with your building.