Very little riding has been going on since late December, with a rainy Xmas Eve Ride and Full Endo (I hit brakes whilst attempting a too-late dropper adjust) being the last off-road jaunt. Some ski trips, more cold rain, more skiing and a little road ride here and there dodging rainstorms.
The fat carbon hoops showed up, and the spokes were all the wrong size. Once new spokes were ordered, I got to work tearing down the American Classic hubs.
M helped me with the front, we re-laced and tightened it down on Brian's awesome Park truing stand. The centering gauge was really useful. The carbon rims from Light Bicycle were very true and sturdy, and so once laced the wheels went together very well.
Once working, I put in a very long valved tube (required) and had to get new longer valve stems for going tubeless. With tube, I wrestled a tire on the front wheel to make sure it would work, and it did great. Next, time to go tubeless and this was, again, a huge new mess. Unable to get the Maxxis on with my floor pump, I went through 6 CO2 cartridges hoping it would be enough - nope. Part of the problem was trying to use 21mm Stans Tape - it did not fit well into the spoke hole channel. Light Bicycle tech support suggested 18mm tape, I found some "Orange Seal" on Amazon and it did the trick to cover the holes and provide the appropriate seal.
And so a little Amazon shopping and I ordered a 3 gallon 110 PSI air compressor, which made very quick and easy work of popping the tire onto the nice wide rim. Meet my new garage friend! Very loud, and it does well shooting Nerf darts.
With the front wheel together, and tubeless, and more rain in the forecast, I took apart the rear wheel and attempted to pre-lace the spokes to speed the process up a bit. Nope, I was off by a hole and had to replace the drive side, but in the end the spokes were of the right size and the rear went well together too.
I took the final assembly to work and back today, it felt good - like on the road bike, the lighter weight/increased stiffness really shows with a little speed. The wheels look massive, both deep and wide, looking forward to trying them on the dirt.
