some 29-er questions

On the Big Apple tire issue I have one on my 29 and love it. It is a
very smooth ride, rolls well and has good bump absorption. It is great
for distance and works well on the beach (hard pack). My first Big
Apple tire experienced sidewall cracking. It became quite gruesome so I
emailed Schwalbe and they were extremely cool about it and sent me a new
replacement tire. They explained that there was a problem in the
production some months ago and it was already corrected. If you are
interested in getting one of these tires I would buy it direct from
Schwalbe to avoid the possibility of getting the older stock.

http://www.schwalbetires.com

--
hedge - Vet Rider
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I've used my Big Apple for over a year, no sidewall cracking so far. It
seems to have been a 'younger' problem. I got my tyre from Germany.
Please be aware that the Big Apple 29'er of 2.35" width doesn't fit in
the round Nimbus I 28" frame, but it does fit a (square) 28" Nimbus II
frame.

I can't compare the B.A. to the Notos, but compared to the standard
skinny 28" x 35 mm it is Day and Night. So, if the Notos versus the
skinny isn't Day and Night, there is still room for improvement :-)
That's all I can say.

I bought a 40 - 62 mm tube on recommendation from the folks through
which I ordered the B.A. They of course knew I had the skinny tube; I
assumed it would be to small for the B.A.

Onewheeldave, your post had double line spacing, how come?

Klaas Bil

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Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
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Klaas Bil said:

*
I can't compare the B.A. to the Notos, but compared to the standard
skinny 28" x 35 mm it is Day and Night. So, if the Notos versus the
skinny isn't Day and Night, there is still room for improvement :-)
That's all I can say.*

That's my difficulty- the Notos/28 comparison is actually day and
night.

Yesterday, due to the 29-er tyre being damaged I swappped back to my old
28" tyre

(700 x 40mm) and went for a ride.

It was awful, despite running all the pros (light weight, fits in frame
really well

etc) I just felt that I had to constantly watch the road for defects
that could

throw me off.

After the ride I immediately patched up the 29" Notos and put it back
on. Later I

went for a night ride and it was superb, I could just focus on riding
rather than

worrying about being thrown off.

There's no way I'd ride the skinny at night, neither would I be able to
ride as

fast as I do on the 29-er.

I really can't emphasise how much nicer to ride, the Notos is than a
skinny 28"; I

can imagine that a Big Apple could be more of the same.

Sticking to your analogy, maybe going from day to a really nice hot
sunny day?

Certainly people who havce the Apple seem to universally rave about it,
but then

again, I rave about the Notos in comparison to skinny 28".

Contrast that with the fact that, at 2.35", the Apple isn't really much
bigger than

a Notos (2.1"😉, so maybe there isn't that much difference?

That's why I need some feedback from people who've ridden both types of
29-er, but,

failing that, I'm tempted to just get the Big Apple and a bigger frame,
and find

out through experience.

Klaas Bil said:

*
Onewheeldave, your post had double line spacing, how come?

Klaas Bil *

I don't know; my computer is in a bad state and does wierd things. More
bizarre

than the double spacing is the fact that when I type 'c', it often comes
out as

'cv' (I'm definitly not hitting two keys at once)- really annoying and I
can't

figure out why.

--
onewheeldave - Semi Skilled Unicyclist

"He's also been known to indulge in a spot of flame juggling - but it's
the Muni that really fires him up."

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An element to consider IMHO: I think crank length is a huge factor in my
ride satisfaction.

I have some limited experience with 29er experimentation. I have 2 diff
tires and 2 diff crank sizes. Sorry, no Notos.

Cranks: 125mm and 150mm
Tires: Big Apple and Nanoraptor.

Therefore 4 configurations
BA-125, BA-150, Nano-125, Nano-150

(It occurs to me I could run a test with one 125 and one 150 on the uni.
Left vs Right. Thus getting the benefits of each. Or it could screw up
the harmonious resonance in the uni-verse, tangling up my zen and that
could take years of therapy to correct. I must first seek the council of
Grandmaster2T.)

Readers Digest Conclusions:

BA-125: Fantastic for paved touring and gravel roads. Heavier, smooth,
round profile... An elegant ride.

BA-150: Would be good for touring in the mountains or crosscountry.
Better braking and hill climbing. But its flat here in Mudville so I
don't configure like this.

Nano-125: Lighter tire. But I tend to UPD a lot. Losing precious time
and sapping energy by having to remount so much.

Nano-150: Fantastic for crosscountry (which includes the low end of
MUni). Good control from longer cranks keeps me in the saddle and
moving. Any loss in speed due to longer cranks is more that compensated
by not UPDing.

Light tire and long cranks good if it will be stopping and starting and
changing direction a lot during the ride. Heavy tire good if a smooth,
swanlike ride is instore. IMHO.

I only have the one rim. Its pretty skinny. I blame this for the
Nanoraptor wanting to fold if I land on it with some sidewards momentum.
I haven't paid any attention to the tube. (except to fix a flat once.)

Right now my Niner is configured Nano-150 because there is the Wolfpack
Triathlon on my horizon.

The short answer: cranks are an important component.

--
Memphis Mud - Student of GrandMaster 2T

Mantra: Avoid Hitting Tailbone...Avoid Hitting Tailbone...

"do not think, just ride"...muniracer
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Sadly, it seems that my 29-er pincture problem that I mentioned in a
previous

thread, and which I thought was resolved, isn't.

http://tinyurl.com/4vd7d

My solution had been to repair a damaged portion of the tyre sidewall
and to

install some proper cloth rim tape (after filing down any spoke nipples
with rough

parts).

Two bouts of prolonged and hard riding, both trouble free, seemed to
suggest I'd

solved the problem, however, today, after fixing a spoke I found the
tyre had gone

down.

The puncture was on the inner part of the tube, and l0oked like it was
directly

over a spoke nipple. I couldn't feel anything protruding from through
the rim

strip, so repaired the puncture and refitted the tyre.

I inflated it to just over 50 psi, replaced the valve cap. Seconds later
the whole

thing rapidly deflated. 🙁

Inspecting the tube I find a puncture, again on the inner part of the
tube (a different place to the first though) which looked as though it
was either over a different spoke nipple, or over the overlap of the
cloth rim tape.

The obvious reply is, I guess, that this is a problem with the spoke
nipples.

However, like I said I've checked for protrusions and can't feel any.

And I don't see what I could do about it anyway, short of replacing
every nipple.

I'm currently totally at a loss as to what's going on here, over past
few weeks I've been getting punctures every one or two rides, which is
clearly unnaceptable.

The punctures have been of different types, and my attempted solutions
have failed to stop the problem.

I'm not naive about the causes of punctures having taken advice from
this forum and done extensive searches on the net in general.

I'm wondering if there are other possibilities, such as: -

-----------------

this problem started soon after I switched from 125's to 150's.

This initially seems unlikely to have an effect on punctures, but, one
result of the switch is that I ride the 29-er much harder- go faster,
ride lots of really steep climbs and generally don't stop for much.

Last night, for example, I finished by ploughing up a climb so steep
that, half way up, I snapped a spoke.

Could this harder riding, in conjuction with a rim that is old and
narrow, be the straw that is breaking the camels back when it comes to
punctures?

This situation affects my upgrade plans as I'm not especially inclined
to invest £50+ on a Big Apple and the bigger frame necessary to take it,
if the rim I put them on is going to be puncturing tubes on every other
ride.

--
onewheeldave - Semi Skilled Unicyclist

"He's also been known to indulge in a spot of flame juggling - but it's
the Muni that really fires him up."

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Breaking spokes is one indication that the wheel is under-tensioned.
Overall, it sounds as though the wheel is very under-tensioned. This is
exacerbated by the increased roughness of your riding style. The style
is good, the under-tension is bad.

By being undertensioned, the rim is flexing so much that the spokes are
pushing up into the tube and penetrating it, or the surface of the
nipple head is. That slotted surface can be quite rough and sharp.

Since you are breaking spokes, all the spokes are compromised. Simply
increasing the tension will just make the compromised ones break faster.
I recommend having the wheel rebuilt by a good wheel builder.

The best rim that I know of for your riding is the Sun Rhino Lite. It
has the widest cross-section. There is no DX32 equivalent for 700c (not
that you would REALLY want it). Off-roading on a 700c is cross-country,
not trials. To keep the tire from folding over on side hops, you will
have to increase the tire pressure quite a bit higher than on your 24".
In addition, you may have to use more angle on your hops and dismount
more often.

You may consider replacing your rim when you replace the spokes. That
way you will have a good overall package when you get done.

--
U-Turn - Member of Generation XO

Weep in the dojo... laugh on the battlefield.

'29er Tire Study' (http://u-turn.unicyclist.com/29erTireStudy/)

'Strongest Coker Wheel in the World'
(http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albup39)

'New York Unicycle Club' (http://www.newyorkunicycle.com)

-- Dave Stockton
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