Italian Road Bike Mirror

Between clueless installation instructions, and inept fan videos, I'm surprised this company is still in business. The reason it IS in business, is it's a really GREAT product. Somehow, road vibration is just GONE!

The 4 fingers go UNDER your bar tape

Sometimes something is so improbable you know you must be missing something or it'd be long gone. In this case, the size of the mirror seems ludicrous, but this is one of those VERY rare items that's the result of endless trial & error refinements, and it shows immediately when you start to actually use it. If not for the Conti GP5kTLs, this would easily be my Product of the Year Pick.

Like most right-handed riders, when I stop I only unclip my left foot, leaning the bike slightly against my left thigh. Every bar-end mirror I've ever ridden before gets knocked out of alignment when doing this, but not the IRBM. Don't get mirrors with ball-joints. They're never in alignment, and tightening down the ball joint just leads to failure. It's an idea that seems like a good one, but ends up being as welcome as a stone in your shoe.

After breaking 3 of the Hafney handlebar end mirrors (constantly getting bumped, and readjusted for aerobars) I was fed up enough to look at mirrors again. This in spite of having an eyeglass mirror that I used for a few rides, and AGAIN, rejecting it. 

For me eyeglass mirrors require too much time to get into position to see something somewhere behind me. They also cause a lot of neck strain, as holding your head in THAT position can be painful as the miles wear on.  I also don't like getting an eye-full of my Hi-Viz shoulder and adding a blind-spot. Bottom line, by the time you've gotten a good look at what's behind you, you've ridden far enough to get in trouble.

That's dangerous, but it does bring up an important point. There's more to mirrors than size, in particular, the following are the most important features of a bike mirror...

1. Clarity, which is really two things, the quality of the mirror's optics, and
2. Vibration-free operation
3. Time to acquire a useful sight pic
4. Bump resistance - maintaining its adjustment ride after ride
5. Riding position tolerance (like riding in aerobars and it still works!)  
6. Durability (essential on event rides in strange areas)

Those were the biggies, but there are some other considerations too...

1. Aerodynamics
2. Ease of mounting
3. Price

The clarity, according to the mfg's statement, is due to a "front-silvered (also known as a “first-surface" mirror.) The glass has a vacuum deposited hard aluminum coating on the front, it is not “silvered” on the back like a common mirror. This front-silvering eliminates ghost images which are seen in common rear surface silvered mirrors. A front-silvered mirror displays the most accurate reflected image." It's really remarkably brilliant and clear.

I wish I knew how this mirror manages to be so vibration-free. It's just amazing, and incredibly valuable. It also makes getting a good sight-pic much, much faster. Getting a sight-pic is the time it takes to see what you want to see. The Hafney were very fast, but then you couldn't see anything clearly. The eyeglass mirror is the slowest. The IRBM is very close to the Hafney, but you CAN see what you're looking at, not some perpetual blur of something.

I've known about this mirror for over a year  now, but passed on it because, come'on, it's tiny, and you can't even adjust it (not quite true, btw). It was the repeated urging of a friend that finally forced my hand. Mounting this mirror was my biggest turn-off. WTF?  A mirror you can't adjust? (but also can't knock out of adjustment!)

Mounting the Mirror:

1st, the included instructions are idiotic, and an insult to my intelligence, as they show how to mount the mirror with handlebar tape taped from the center of the bars down to the ends. Stupid! NOBODY wraps tape that way. You wrap from the bar-ends to the center, AND, that's actually very helpful as it turns out. Before I forget, when ordering new bar tape, which you'll need, buy an extra set so you get 3 tries to get the mirror taped before you run out.

You're going to need some trial & error to get the mirror mounted correctly - mostly in the up-down direction. So, to do that, as the tape goes OVER the mirror's "fingers", you need to strip the tape off the end of a bar. Guess what, when you pull the plug out of the end the tape doesn't unfurl like toilet paper in a hurricane, it CAN'T. To remove it you have to tear it off one wrap at a time. Do that until 4-5" of bar-end are exposed and leave the rest of the tape alone!

Put a rounded bar-end cap on the bar. No, NOW, before you forget and have to start all over from scratch! You don't want the sharp end of the bar gouging the back of the mirror mount (as per included instructions) Without any bar tape to push against, you're going to need to tape it in place with electrical tape. A 6" piece folded over the plug leaves plenty of stick for the bar. The more rounded the plug's shape, the easier it is to get the correct adjustment. Something domed, plain and unadorned is perfect. Nothing to dig into the back of the mirror.

Domed & unadorned, too flat, adorned. #1 for the Win!

I'm assuming your bars are just how you want them, so this procedure is NOT going to rely on you moving your bars. Put the 4 fingers over the bar, wrap your hand around the bar end, and pull on the fingers until the mirror is looking directly behind you with the horizon going right through the middle of the mirror.  A long hallway where you can mount the bike is very helpful. Now wrap some tape (Cinelli's finishing tape is perfect for this - easy to R&R) around the fingers to tack it in place. Wrap as much or as little tape on top of that as you like - enough so you can go for a test ride. I had to pull my fingers a LOT to get the sight-pic I wanted, but the IRBM easily pivoted over the domed bar-end cap and held nicely when taped.

Remember how I said you CAN adjust this mirror just a bit? By twisting the mirror you can move the sight-pic inboard or outboard, and that's very helpful. It won't stay there forever, but it will for a few minutes. This works better if you don't wrap electrical tape all the way to the bar ends (you're going to wrap everything with bar tape eventually anyway, so completely unnecessary). Just tack it well enough it will survive replacing bar tape in the future. That's enough. 

Go for a ride! Take some mental notes. Tweak for perfection riding on the hoods. Twist on the mirror, tug, pull, spindle, mutilate like it's your Birthday!

If you used the finishing tape that comes with bar tape (which I NEVER use as intended, preferring electrical tape) it's easy to make adjustments as you ride, stop, ride, stop, rinse & repeat. Got it where you want it? GREAT! Whip that 3M tape out of your jersey and wrap the ends of the fingers until they are in full contact with the bar, but leave the last 3/4" to 1" at the end of the bar loose to facilitate twisting for sight-pic. 

Once you're home again, remove all the old bar tape and retape your bars. Start by cutting a long, shallow taper about 3" long from the center to the edge of the tape. You'll end up with a 3" long wedge of scrap. That tapered edge is the part you can't stick inside the bar where the plug normally seals it in place. 

Note end of wedged-shaped section at 2 O'Clock position

Place the tapered tape end to start at the 2 O-Clock position (looking forward from the back of the bike) with the flat, uncut edge against the base of the mirror. Hold it there while starting the tape by pulling it under the bar-end toward you until you've overlapped it with the next layer of tape when coming over the top, the tape edge held hard against the base of the mirror. 

Factory edge held flush against mirror base all the way around

You'll need a little bit of a loose wrap to spare tape usage all the way along, as the extra diameter will leave you short otherwise, but other than that, just wrap the bar like you always do, and finish it off with whatever finishing tape you like. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. 

Another view from the bottom

Full-width of tape seen here, partially exposed,  9 O'Clock position

Zoom-out from 9 O'Clock position

The mirror can now be twisted clock-wise or counter-clockwise to move the sight-pic in or out, but otherwise it's rock solid. Absolutely bump-proof, and you get a fast sight-pic with no vibration whether on the hoods, tops or in aerobars. I'm afraid in the drops all I can see is my arm, but YMMV. (making the "OK" sign with your thumb and forefinger and twisting your arm outwards uncovers the mirror nicely though). 

The optical quality of this mirror is spectacular, enough so that it's worth cleaning the mirror before you start a ride. It's a small thing, but it helps. Use a cleaning cloth from an old pair of sunglasses. You don't want to scratch the reflective surface, which is on the face, not the back, of the mirror.

BTW, in spite of appearances, this mirror actually sticks out LESS than the Hafney mirrors with their ball & bracket system. It's also, OF COURSE, much more aerodynamic. I don't think this is going to create any Strava Heros, but every little bit helps. Look at the stuff Wahoo is doing with their GPS mount. 

Normally, in the US, the mirror goes on the left side, BUT, there are times when having one on the right side would be nice. For instance, if on a street where you have to move out of the bike lane, cross 2 lanes of traffic, and get into a L-Hand turn lane. You really can't see what's going on behind you as you move across those 2 lanes of traffic. I know it's a small thing, but it could save your life. 

I almost got run over coming upon a major intersection with no bike lane, 2 lanes going forward, and a dedicated L-Hand turn lane morphing out of nothing (no turn lane on the road anywhere else). There's also a shallow climb the last 300 yards or so before the intersection. It was near the end of the ride, I was tired, and the road had some gravel in it. When I took my hand off the bars to signal I started to wobble, so a very short and late hand-signal. A pickup decided at some point (too much vibration on the Hafney to see clearly) to pass me on the left. I took a good guess, straightened out my line, abandoned my turn, and he went all the way around me, crossing the center line, and then back into the lane I was still in ahead of me. 

If I had realized in the moment what an asshole thing he'd done I guess I'd have swore a blue streak at him, but as it was I was just happy that somehow, someway, everything had worked out sorta OK. The look on the faces of the other 20 or so drivers at the intersection was one of pure wonder and horror. It's like watching a train wreck - that somehow miraculously never happens. Long story short, a R-Side mirror would have allowed me to track the traffic behind me as I moved across 2 lanes into a dedicated L-Hand turn lane.

I have to say, I had no idea how many times I was checking my mirror until my Hafney mirror broke 10 miles from home. I'm guessing every 30-45 seconds. That's a BIG void when missing. Also, if you ride with a partner it's great to have mirrors AND headlights with Day-Flash mode. We both use CygoLite 1100 lumen lights, and you can see those in the IRBM for up to a mile. It keeps you from leaving your partner by the side of the road with a mechanical - or worse. 

Air-Compressor for Tubeless Tires

The Options:

On some tubeless tires, sometimes, you can get by with just a track pump. The (old-style) Schwalbe Pro One tires were pretty good this way. A reliable system though, it's not.

It's pretty common knowledge by now that to seat the bead on many tubeless tires you need a big shot of high-pressure air, and a track pump just can't  do that. Lezyne (Pressure Overdrive) and now Topeak (Joe Blow Booster) both make a hybrid track pump that incorporates a ~ 1 liter canister you can pump up to ~ 150 psi and then release all in one shot.

Both are decent systems, but a lot of work if you have difficulty getting the bead to seat on a tire. That 1 liter volume means you get 1 shot to get it right and then back to 50 pump strokes. You also have to guess how much pressure you're going to end up with, as over-pressurizing the canister in anticipation of the volume drop is required. They're also expensive, at $139 and $159 respectively and not general-purpose air-compressors for pumping up car tires or operating small pneumatic tools.

I air up my car tires on a seasonal basis, and might want to run a small pneumatic nailer some day, but airing up my Conti GP5kTLs was my primary use for an air-compressor, and I didn't need much. I did want a large enough tank though that I could produce several good shots of air to get a difficult tire to hold the bead, and that excluded the small pump-to-hose systems where there is no tank, or virtually none.

Compressor Setup:

I found a $60 Briggs and Stratton 3ga (11.3 liter) compressor (made in China and sold under 3-4 other names as well) at WalMart with 125 psi max pressure, pressure regulator, and all the hoses and fittings included. It's oil-less (you don't want oil in your tires), easy to carry and doesn't take up much space. Unfortunately, as I found out, the hoses and fittings are pretty much useless. You could inflate a football or beach ball with them, but for tires, useless.

 A Presta valve internally is pretty darned small, so presents a lot of restriction to any air source. A CO2 cart can easily overcome this with 850 psi (yeah, really) at 70F (3,170 psi @ 140F!), but working with pump pressures you need to eliminate every possible restriction from the tank to the Presta valve.

Turns out, I'm not the 1st guy to figure this out, which is why Milton Industries created their HV (high volume) line of couplers and fittings. Many other mfgs now make comparable systems, like the Husky labeled system I got from Home Depot. Still, I like to give credit where due.

The best way to see for yourself how much of a difference it makes is to simply blow through a standard fitting and an HV one. Likewise, the 3/8" ID hose vs the 1/4" ID hose. I cut a 6", 12" and 18" piece of the blue 1/4" ID hose that came with the compressor, and blew through them each. WOW, I had no idea length had such a HUGE impact on volume. Try blowing through the rest of the ~ 15ft hose that's left. What an eye-opener.

Resolved to go HV all the way, I wanted to by-pass the pressure regulator as well, but there's no way to do that without putting in a "T" on the unregulated side of the gauge panel that the EMERGENCY pressure release is attached to. That should NEVER be taken out of the system, and as you can see, I did not - thus the "T".

 After installing the "T", screw the HV coupler in one side, and the EPR in the other, and TEST IT by pressurizing the tank and then pulling on the lanyard ring. You should hear air escaping. If not, there may not be enough clearance between the tank and the EPR. If this ever fails the tank will EXPLODE. (the pump has its own pressure shut-off, so this is a fail-safe, but be smart and leave the safety measures intact)

I don't know if it's really necessary, but I drilled out the back of the air-chuck with a "large" drill bit to taper the air into the valve stalk. It helps, but don't get too crazy. By removing material you are weakening the chuck. Once done (or not) put some tape on the end of the Tektron hose's 1/4" fitting and tighten it up. Ditto for all the other fittings. Tape and tighten, assuming there's no pipe dope on the threads already.

Like with all compressors (vs canister systems) you now have a Schrader, not a Presta system (this system ROCKS for filling up car, motorcycle or Fatty bike tires equipped with Schrader systems) so you'll need a $1 part - an adapter. After you pour your sealant into the tire through the valve, install the Presta valve body and screw on the adapter. Once you've seated the bead and aired up the tire, remove the adapter and turn the valve closed. No hurry. You can leave the valve open overnight if you want, as the pressure keeps the valve from leaking.

If you follow the instructions given on my GP5kTL review, the 25mm tire drops tank pressure from 125 psi to an almost perfect 110 psi. Be a little careful with the 28mm not to go past 90 psi as the pressure limit is 94 but tank pressure will still be at ~ 105 psi. As soon as you get an initial bead seat, check the pressure on the gauge and then air up in small spurts to get to full pressure. If it's a new tire, expect a little stretch.

This little AC takes 4-5 minutes to come up to full pressure from an empty tank, so I usually plug it in and let it run in the garage while I put the tire on, put the sealant in through the valve, and roll the tire around to spread the sealant around. It turns itself off at 125 psi, so just let it run. Oh, and it's noisy, so I don't head for the garage until I'm ready to air the tire up.

There's a small valve on the bottom of the tank. It's there to drain water out of the tank. When you compress air you squeeze water out of it. That's a steel tank, so to avoid rust and pitting it's important to use this valve to depressurize the tank until the next time you need it. Tilt the tank to one side so the valve is at the very bottom of the tank.

For a total of $97 bucks this beats any canister pump system like a rented mule. Now if those drop in price to $50 I might have to rethink my position, but .... nahhhh.

HV Parts List:

You'll need some Teflon pipe tape/sealant as well, and a couple of good Crescent wrenches, one for the jaw and one for the hole in the end of the handle needed to turn the fixtures tight so the tape (or often-included pipe dope) seals up tight.

If you want to put in a HV coupler on the pressure-regulator side you'll need to order 2 Milton S-765 1/4" MNPT V Style couplers. 

Merry Christmas!

Continental GP5000 TL tubeless tire, 6 month Review

Overview:

The 1st thing you notice about the Conti GP 5000 TL is the smell of rubber - that smell you get when you walk into a tire store to put new tires on your car or truck. It makes an immediate impression that these are SERIOUS tires that can take a licking and keep on ticking. Turns out, that's a great impression, because they are very, very TOUGH. The only downside is they let go of the bead below 10-15psi, so the sealant has to go in before inflating the tire.

In a nutshell, here's what I love about the tire...

1. It's tough, no, really, really tough
2. It rolls better than any other general purpose tire (8.3 watts)
3. It soaks up road vibration via some kind of German magic @ ~ 85psi
4. It grips really well, even in corners with sand and debris
5. It goes on with just bare hands (yup, read on)
6. It's close to its advertised width on the wheel

You read over and over again that the point of tubeless tires is the 100 grams of weight wasted on an inner-tube is instead used to make a much tougher tire. Unlike the warm butter toughness (cough, cough) of Schwalbe Pro One tires, this tire lives up to that promise. Everything about the GP 5kTL is made tougher - tougher than the Michelin Pro 4 Endurance and Conti inner-tube setup I was riding before, and that tire was at the end of a long evolution of progressively tougher tires that still had acceptable ride qualities. Tougher than the Gatorskins my riding partner on the Victor Valley Bike Tour was riding. She flatted. I didn't, and Gatorskins ride like a a lumber wagon on frozen ground while devouring 19.3 watts.

Conti GP 5000 TL come in a beautiful black box almost identical to Schwalbe's - probably sourced from the same company. The box has specs for all three 700c sizes, 25mm, 28mm and 32mm. I especially like the inclusion here of the circumference as some bike computers still need that info to get proper speed and distance.

Mounting the Conti GP5000 TL Bare-handed:

If you're reading this post, there's a good chance you're  here to call me a liar when I tell you I can get both the 25mm front (easy) and the 28mm rear (harder) tires on my Easton R90SL rims with my bare hands. Seriously, cross my heart and hope to die.

1st, I'd recommend, as with ALL tires, that you unbox and unwrap them and lay them flat on the floor overnight to allow the bead time to return to a round state. Bring them in from the garage to warm up in the winter as well.

2nd, clean the bead-socket on the rim until it's spotless. I mean NO little rubber balls of dried sealant, and valves that have been removed and cleaned spotless. Use a hard cloth and old plastic tire-iron (tire-plastic?) with some alcohol to get the bead-socket bone dry and spotless.

3rd, use Stan's yellow rim tape that is wider than the rim, as per Stan's recommendation. Clean the rim/tape interface spotless. I always replace the tape if installing a tire. It makes it easier to get the bead-socket clean, and removes the tape as a failure node if the system leaks air after. Also, water and soap degrade the glue, putting the tape seal at risk.

My custom wheels arrived from Colorado Cyclist with 4 layers of Stan's rim tape. That's too much. It doesn't help seal, degrades the seal at the valve, and takes up a lot of the rim cavity at the center of the rim needed to allow the very tough beads to seat deeply so the opposite side of the tire can clear the rim. I've settled on one layer of tape overlapping 4 1/2 spokes on each side of the valve hole to get a good seal at the ends of the tape. This leaves almost all the cavity on the opposite side of the wheel unfilled, which you'll need. Pull the tape as taunt as you possibly can, and cut it off with a sharp scissors.

4th, install the spotless and dry valve by shining an AAA pen-light through the back side of the valve hole in the rim and use an ice-pick (leave the X-slits to idiots who flunked physics class) to slowly push through the tape at the middle of the hole. Use a leather awl or nail-set to widen it until it's slightly smaller than the valve. Push the valve through the hole gently, expanding the hole as you go before seating the rubber seal. Use thumb pressure on the back of the valve to press the seal against the rim tape, while snugging up the nut on the valve on the other side of the rim,

Use thumb-pressure to provide ALL of the pressure. Don't use the nut to apply pressure, as this subtlety twists the seal, which will break the pneumatic seal later when it twists itself back due to road vibration. The rubber seal should squat just slightly, and be pressed against the plastic material of the rim tape, not against the metal of the rim. This creates a simpler seal for the sealant to work with vs rim, tape, and valve.

5th, check that the tire is going to be mounted in the right direction. Conti GP5000 tires are directional. You do NOT want to mount a tire twice because you got this wrong. Trust me (I would never do a thing like that, gulp). BTW, since you can always reverse the skewer on the symmetrical, caliper brake front wheel, there's no directional requirement for the front wheel. Yes, there is the esthetic of having the hub label the wrong way around, but 0.00001% of the World knows there is such a thing, so don't risk screwing up a perfectly good seal by starting over, just flip the skewer (if you have disk brakes, you're SOL).

6th, put on the 1st bead starting at the valve and working your way to the opposite side. If it's hard getting the bead over the rim, herd the bead into the center cavity all the way around. Putting the first bead on valve-first assures you get the bead down past the valve, and into the bead-socket, where the valve will tend to hold it until you get the first bead over the rim.

7th, starting on the opposite side from the valve, work the bead around until it's up against the valve, making sure to herd the 1st & 2nd bead as deeply into the center cavity as possible. You can press the wheel against a rubber-backed rug or carpeted floor to help hold the beads down into the center cavity - whatever works best for you. Again, use the fat-pads at the base of your fingers to push the bead over the rim. This time up against the valve.

If the beads are going rouge on you, you can use 1 or 2 Zip-Ties as a 2nd set of hands. Just be sure to place them so the spokes will keep them from sliding along the wheel. This is 100% effective at preventing bead-slide. I used this technique when putting a Conti GP5000TL on an old DT Swiss RR-465 rim (which leaked like a sieve, so not a viable system) and it worked marvelously.

8th, assuming you have the tires mounted, the valve in place, and the tires are going in the right direction, it's time for some sealant. Conti GP5000TLs will NOT, NOT, NOT hold onto the bead-socket when tire pressure falls below 10-15psi, SO, you need to put the sealant in BEFORE airing them up. I would RX putting in the sealant before inflating the tire even if you can get the bead to stay seated. The sealant loss is almost zero, and it makes for a much simpler procedure to only inflate the tire once.

I know, I know, it sounds scary, but the Stan's sealant stays put inside the tire very nicely provided you spread it around by spinning the tire while moving side to side. I find hanging onto the hub skewer while seated with my right hand works best. You want to spread it as evenly as possible.Take your time and get a good spread (2-3 minutes). Sealant makes better lube than soapy water to assist getting the bead seated properly, and guess what, sealant seals the bead. Soapy water doesn't.

To get the sealant inside the tire, put the wheel on a hard surface like a garage floor (something that you're OK getting some sealant on) and use your forearm to press air out of the tire, so that when you put the 2oz bottle of Stan's (save the little bottles for this task) up against the valve, with the core removed, and release the pressure of your forearm on the wheel, the vacuum that is formed sucks the sealant right into the tire. I do this with the valve at the 7-O'clock position.

9th, air up the tire. I bought a little Briggs + Stratton 3ga air-compressor ($60) for this task, but you will need to throw out all the included couplers and replace them with Milton High Volume (Home Depot's Husky HV connectors work fine) connections. (details here). You'll also need a Schrader air chuck and Schrader to Presta adapter for your valve until you get your tire aired up, at which point you can remove the adapter, screw the valve closed, and put the cap on.

6' Tekton 3/8" ID lead-in hose with 1/4" male connectors

Assuming you have 125PSI and HV coupler and hoses, a 3ga tank is enough, in fact, it's perfect, as the pressure drops just enough when seating the bead that you don't have to worry about over-pressure. Position the wheel so the valve is at the highest point when inflating. You don't want to blow air or CO2 into a big puddle of sealant pooled at the bottom of the tire.

Pressurize for the "POPs", and then again in 30 seconds for a full seal. If done right, you will lose almost NO sealant at all. I use the full 2oz bottle of Stan's, which IIRC, is 60ml. Especially for the 28mm, that's needed to get full coverage inside the tire, rim (tape) and valve and have some left over for punctures.

Briggs & Stratton compressor with Milton HV couplers and fittings

CO2 carts will also work (RX a 20g cart) but their very high pressure will blow the sealant away from the tire across from the valve, so take care to spin the tire again and re-cover that area with sealant.

10th, and last, from a seated position spin the tire SLOWLY on its side at a shallow incline (~20 degrees) so the sealant gets distributed all over the bead and bead-socket seal. After 5-10 minutes of this put the wheel on the bike, turned upside-down, and spin the wheel hard stood upright. Air up the tire/s to full pressure before retiring for the night, and check the pressure in the morning. You should have a full seal, but if not, repeat the sealant spreading process.

Black plastic spacer from Giant hugs the rim perfectly

 

Closing Remarks:

I should mention that I used to use soapy water on the rim, wheel, tire, etc, and I own a Kool-Stop tire jack (great device, but you shouldn't need it) and a dozen pairs of tire-irons, but none of that is necessary if you work on your technique. I assume soap and sealant hate each other with a passion, so avoid any risk of them mixing. For bike mechanics, being able to build good wheels is what separates the men from the boys. For us amateurs, being able to put tires on dry with bare hands is the litmus test. Be patient and observant, and don't force things. Wheels and tires are expensive and you don't want to ruin either.

I have to say, at this point, for me, mounting tubeless tires is easier than mounting tubes and tires, especially since I don't have to worry about pinching a tube during installation and ruining it or having it stuck between the bead and the bead-socket, blowing the tire off the rim and ruining the tube.

In general, tubeless systems are more work because of all the cleaning (Get a pressure washer or find a high-pressure car wash to remove old sealant from tires. Works like magic!), and a bit more complex overall, but you save a lot of weight and bother on the road not having to carry tubes, tire-irons, patch kits, etc. The weight of the tire system itself is the same, but it's inside your tires, not strapped to your bike, and the smaller lighter saddle bag is a HUGE win. For that, with the Conti GP5kTL, you have a nearly flat-proof system that rolls and feels like a dream. Yeah, they weigh 50gm more than the Schwalbe, but who cares? You can actually ride where you want, anytime you want, and know you're going to get home before dark (or 110 degree heat) reliably.

PS:

After not riding for ~ 4 weeks, the front tire, having a slow leak, leaked down to what turned out to be less than 5 psi, but did NOT let go of the bead. The tire is 8 months old now, and has ~ 1,000 miles on it, but contrary to what I've reported here and elsewhere, the tire did hold the bead at sub-10 psi. YMMV. I've also done an update of sorts of this post regarding cleaning and mounting a very tight 25mm Conti GP5kTL here. 

PPS:

I was able to successfully add sealant to the front 25mm tire without removing and cleaning the tire, rim, wheel - quite to my surprise. Details here. It seems the more experience I gain with these tires the better work-arounds I find. Hope this helps!
.

Schawalbe Pro One: Smooth, Fast & Worthless

The Schwalbe Pro One come in a beautiful black box. Enjoy the show. It's the best thing about these tires. They also ...

• go on easily
• hold the bead nicely, even when pressing flat to create a vacuum
• roll pretty well
• save a bit of weight (not a weight-weenie)
• are UTTERLY USELESS

I was lucky that these were my 1st tubeless tire, as these MicroSkin tires were pretty easy to put on (Schwalbe, has now abandoned the MicroSkin technology for lack of puncture protection), and fill with sealant as the bead stays stuck even when fully deflated and pressed down to get enough air out of the tire so it will suck in the sealant. All nice, friendly things.

UNFORTUNATELY, they're made of warm butter, and unless you ride in pristine conditions they puncture if you look at them cross-eyed. They also sit VERY wide on my Easton rims, the 25mm measuring 30mm and the 23mm opened my digital caliper to 28mm. I don't know what "polymer" that utterly useless V-Guard is, but it's beyond pathetic for puncture protection.

(Conti uses Vectran, ~ 2.5x as strong as Kevlar by weight, and thus the choice for bullet-proof vests around the World.  They use Vectran, and they TELL YOU they use Vectran, because it's the best stuff there is!)

A little extra width I'm OK with, but this is just sloppy and makes buying tires a nightmare. There's only so much clearance between the fork and frame for a tire to occupy. I got my rear wheel 1st, so after mounting a 25mm and putting a caliper on it I changed my mind and put a 23mm on the front wheel when it arrived. It was sitting so flat the entire tread-cap sat flat on the road, leaving no wrap-around side protection - not that there's any protection under the tread-cap anyway, but the rubber is thicker.

After running over a small amount of glass in a bike lane the 1st rear 25mm was ruined beyond repair. I had a 2nd 25mm to put on and did so. I got 4.3 miles into my very next ride before a cactus thorn when right through the molding bead right down the center of the tread. I don't care what BikeRadar.com says, this tire is complete crap!

They also cost $50 a pop, even mail-order.  That's $150 I wasted on a total POS tire.

If I HAD to ride Schwalbe road tires I'd try the One tire, except now that tire is the old Pro One tire, so Schwalbe is just hopeless, AND, the Conti 5000TL blows this tire away in every important way, including especially, toughness + rolling resistance, so why bother?

JUST SAY NO!


PS: There's a new version of the Pro tire, the Pro One TLE Addix. Wanna roll the dice again when Conti is still kicking its ass? I'll pass...

 

VVBT: 70 miles in 2019

Somewhere around late July to early August I had an epiphany - based on the impressive performance of my new wheel system, I should be able to do much longer rides without mechanical issues or flats. I'd also talked to a guy a few years older than I am who rode the Victor Valley Bike Tour last year with his nephew, and loved the shared experience - that or the 117 degree heat riding the last of those 50 miles home baked my brain. :)

I was intrigued though. Then my old riding partner took up a challenge from his daughter to ride the bike leg of a 1/2 Tri, and I wanted to lead by example and make sure my advice/coaching was sound. Also, the city of Victorville completed two excellent segments of a bike trail called the Mojave River Walk (thus setting up perpetual tension as to whose trail it is, peds or bikes), which is ~ 10 very flat miles on perfect concrete if done as an O+B, so easy to tack 10-12 miles onto the end of a ride. There's another segment on the Apple Valley side that adds another 5 miles of O+B. You can bet the Strava Heros made quick use of those segments!

In the end, for a variety of reasons, I decided to push up my mileage and see if I was up to the challenge, as I was pretty sure my bike was.

I found I had a lot of fatigue on rides longer than 50mi, sometimes, and sometimes not. I had been experimenting with putting Emergen-C in my Gatorade, and that had always helped, as vitamin C is a very powerful anti-oxidant. I added one package to each 25oz bottle. It made a big difference, and in recovery time as well, so I made it a rule to ALWAYS use Emercen-C while on the bike. I thought I might OD on the stuff, but that's not been the case.

Encouraged, I looked into what Hammer was putting in Perpetuum, and found I could buy L-Carnosine and L-Carnosite (as well as Pterostilbene, which is almost identical to Resveratrol, but absorbed 4x better) from Amazon. I started supplementing with L-Carnosine because I'd been hearing good things about it from friends for 10+ yrs, and now you can find good research on it on the web, so it seemed an acceptable risk. At this point, my best RX goes to L-Carnosine and Pterostilbene as they've had the biggest impact and few if any side-effects.

The VVBT isn't  a real Century, it's "only" 70 miles, but at 2,760ft, it's pretty climbly as Centuries go, so I started pushing my rides from 50 miles (the 1/2 Tri route is 56 miles) to 65 miles, doing a few Metric Centuries after a lot of  route finding on RWGPS. This valley is only about 18mi long, so you have to be creative to get a 100km route done in this valley. I soon found 65mi was as easy as 100km, so my last two were 65mi rides. I was working on a 67mi (the goal was something very close to 70mi) when I ran over what must have been the piece of glass from hell, which shredded my rear tire. I had to settle for 27 miles, but liked the new route I was trying out.

At the last minute I got the final route for the VVBT, and it had ~ 2x the climbing as the routes I'd been doing, building on a very flat 1/2 Tri, instead of training for the VVBT as I should have been. Mental error. I have to admit, it was with a deep breath and a twinge of fear that I decided to go for it anyway.

I over-tapered a bit, but felt that was the better side to error on. Still, on the day my legs felt a bit heavy and slow. I knew from experience though that my early ride would be slower, but I would ride my way into the event, and finish strong, probably. There's always the unexpected. (I couldn't help but think of this hilarious line in "Bridge Over River Kwai". If you know the context you'll get it!)

I was late, 12 minutes, but I missed the start, which was photographed, and apparently, everything else that was photographed. I hurried as best I could, but was determined to be thorough and not leave something critical behind. Mission accomplished! Deb dropped me off so I could ride home after if I wanted to. We waved good-bye and I was off - almost.

It was cold at the start, but it was going to get into the 80s by the time I finished, so I wore a vest and long-fingered gloves, and dealt with the discomfort for the first few miles, until the climbing started. Just before pushing off I started my Garmin and set up LiveTrack so Deb could follow along. She's my rescue when things go bad wrong, and ride organizers don't always show up, so a good fail-safe.

Climbing up the back side of Corwin Rd I made it a point to stay well within myself and vent any heat buildup. Going down the back side I didn't want to be soaking wet. As I rolled down Corwin, coasting, I zipped up nice and tight, catching my breath for the climb to the top of Tao at Kamana. These routes are bread & butter segments I do all the time riding around here, so no big deal.

I'd been working on riding the awesome rollers "backwards", for me that is, from north to south, so I took them in stride and set a new PB, is spite of staying well within myself.

Rolling down over the Yucca Loma Bridge I suddenly wasn't sure how I was going to be routed through Spring Valley Lake. I had the route uploaded into my Garmin Edge 520+ (awesome feature!), but less than 2 weeks earlier Victorville put in an access point at the bottom of the bridge to access the MRW and it's very nice under-bridge crossing as there is NO left-hand turn into SVL at Fortuna. I guess a lot of people were having trouble there, because a bike rider showed up to guide me, which was nice. Guessing there was some question whether Victorville was going to get that access point installed in time, or it would have been on the route.

I made a right turn, heading for Spring Valley Parkway, but the Garmin was complaining and showing a black band with "Off Course" on it, so I did a U-Turn on Driftwood to get back on course. I ended up at the same place, the intersection of Driftwood & Spring Valley Parkway, before climbing up SVP to Pebble Beach at Ridgecrest Rd.

There's a real lack of bike infrastructure along Bear Valley Rd, and usually we have to ride on the sidewalk on the north side of the railroad bridge, but they had the right-most lane blocked off with orange cones and crime tape, so it was a thrill to go blasting across the bridge - for a change. The surface was terrible, but the Conti 5000TLs made it a pretty nice ride anyway.

I refused to ride on Industrial Blvd and Silica (terrible surface, no shoulder, no bike lane, tons of traffic, WTF Victorville?), so I turned onto Jasmine, crossed Hesperia Rd there, and headed for 3rd Ave via Denham, the Garmin warning me 55 meters (RWGPS lets you configure this if you get the Basic Package, which I did) before each turn. This familiarization process with the Garmin Edge was comforting, because this was my 1st time using it (last minute decision) so I needed to see how it worked while still on familiar segments.

Third street took me to Nisqualli Rd, where I headed for the freeway overpass, and parts unknown. I thought going over a freeway with 3 lanes of traffic PLUS turn lanes on both sides would be uncomfortable. It was, but heading west, not too bad. The first SAG stop was less than a mile ahead.

I was carrying 3 25oz bottles, two with spiked Gatorade and one with pure water. I topped up the water, and looked around for Gatorade. They had none. They did have a god-awful concoction by Hammer that was supposed to have some electrolyte in it, which I spiked with Orange Emergen-C. OMG that tasted horrible. I ate half a Powerbar and an Espresso Love GU, drank some water, and put the last bottle of Gatorade from home on the downtube. With a little luck I'd never have to drink that Hammer crap.

Most of the 70mi group were young strong riders, and they were starting to come past the 20/32 mile SAG station as I was pushing off. One guy with a nice aero bike crossed the street in the middle of traffic. They didn't seem to have much in the SAG bag, but hoping he finished his ride.

The big 12mi box that followed was all unfamiliar to me, but El Evado Rd was downhill, as was Hopland, so the fist 5 miles, and the wind was at my back, so I was having fun! Suddenly my legs felt better and my cadence picked up and I was rolling! The far end of the box at Hopland & Cobalt was so far out in the sticks there was no traffic at all, in fact, Hopland ends 150 yards later, just past a school. I was alone.

Starting late can be unnerving, but it can also be a blessing. When riding with stronger riders at the start of a long ride you tend to go too hard and blow yourself up. I knew this from past experience, and think it a definite advantage. The thing is, you have to train alone to be comfortable alone on a strange route. I settled in, turned into the wind, and reached for the aerobars. Everything was working well, and I was in good shape. Just doin work, as Kobe would say.

The turn back east onto Hook took me by surprise, as I remembered the box as being square, but I trusted my Garmin, and had checked the route sheet at the 20mi SAG stop, so I just followed my ques and kept pushing my way back to the SAG station. It was much closer to the freeway than I remembered as I passed it by, heading east and over the I-15 freeway again.

This time the freeway really sucked. The bike lane would disappear as two exits, one to a frontage road and one onto I-15 south left me in no-mans-land most of the time. I started directing traffic and doing exaggerated head turns to keep everyone on the same page as much as possible, but when to huge semis rolled along side me with a 3ft shoulder of choppy asphalt to ride on the pucker factor got pretty high.

As has been my experience with WalMart drivers out by the Apple Valley Airport, these professional drivers are great drivers, and are trying very hard to keep everyone safe. I was acutely aware though that any tire blow-out, sand, or surface-induced control or balance issue and I'd be road-kill. THIS was the exact reason I spend so much time and money transitioning to a tubeless wheel system!

Since I'm writing this alive and well you can correctly deduce that my fears were for naught, but it was quite a pucker-factor for a half mile or so to 7th Ave, which was a good choice as it goes all the way from Nisqualli to Ranchero Rd in Hesperia, crossing Bear Valley Rd, and Main St in Hesperia on the way. I have to say though, while parts of 7th are wonderful, much of it heading south is horrible. I would much rather have taken Sycamore or Eucalyptus to Cottonwood as it is great surface.

I rounded the corner at 7th Ave into a dedicated turn lane with perfect surface. Nice. After a mile or so the road started to narrow to 2 lanes with no shoulder, so I picked a driveway just before the pinch point to stop, hydrate and eat some Powerbar. My right calf was threatening to cramp, so I  hit the Gatorade hard. As I clipped my helmet strap closed, and clipped my right foot in the pedal, the dog next door started barking again, the wind started blowing as though on cue, and I hadn't seen another rider in half an hour. The ride suddenly seemed hostile.

Heading up 7th was a big false flat into a 5-10mph wind, so down in the aerobars and low gears, until the road got nice right next to the Hesperia City Hall, which was the site of  the 3rd SAG stop at ~ 38 miles. I really didn't want to drink that horrible Hammer concoction, so I stopped to see if they had Gatorade.

YEA! Gatorade and water! I dumped the Hammer crap down the drain, filled the bottle with Gatorade, spiked it with Emergen-C, swallowed some L-Carnosine, Pterostilbene, and CoQ-10, and ate half a Powerbar and an orange GU I'd gotten at SAG 20. I felt good, and wanted to keep it that way. I was just finishing off another Espresso Love Gu when the wind started picking up.

There was another rider there, Chris IIRC. She was pretty chatty, but I had some steep climbs coming up, so decided to ask if we could ride together. She agreed, so after a quick bathroom break and a last sip of water we pushed off together.

The next 3 miles were all uphill with the wind in our faces. She seemed to be keeping up just fine, and even took up the lead for a short time, but should have drafted me, as I had the aerobars and she had a huge handlebar bag to push into the wind.

That left turn from 7th onto Ranchero is always interesting, but much smoother if you depart from the left-hand turn lane. I think that was new for her, but standard practice for me. It was fun flying downhill on Ranchero, down into the arroyo that is the very end of the Antelope Valley.

Climbing up the other side is work, but much easier headed east than west. I hit the 4-way stop at Ranchero + Danbury just right, and was able to ride through it without stopping by waving facing traffic through ahead of me.

I rode slowly, watching my mirror to make sure Chris got through the intersection OK and then slowly pushed the speed up. She dropped back quite a lot, so I stopped 1000 yards from the bottom at Arrowhead Lake Rd for a drink and another Espresso Love. I wanted time to digest some food before doing the "Big Climb".

She rolled up and we had a little chat about the Garmin, and about that time one of the mobile SAG motorcycles rolled up and asked if we were OK. We'd seen a few people with flats on Ranchero, so nice of him to stop. Chris took a bottle of water, as did I, and he took off. After 8 minutes we rolled down the hill and turned onto Arrowhead Lake Rd, heading for Ranchero and the steepest, longest climb of the day.

It's a CAT 4 climb with an average climb of ~ 2%, but the bottom is 4%, and there's one 8% pitch that I used the granny on my triple crank for. Unfortunately, Chris didn't have a triple, and struggle a bit, and though the strain from the low cadence didn't show up till later, it took a toll.

It was the hottest part of the day, and what wind we had was at our backs, so almost no relative wind. I could tell I was sweating quite a lot, but there was nothing to be done about it. We did take a little 3 minute break at the top of the hill to hydrate, before heading down, and then up, up, up Ranchero Rd to SantaFe, named for the railroad tracks that border it all the way to Main St and past. The spiked Gatorade when down s-m-o-o-t-h.

Chris wasn't familiar with SantaFe, at least AFAICT, so I assured her she'd love it as it was going to be downhill with the wind at  our backs the whole way. I also told her I knew a "short cut" (same distance, just faster) of staying on SantaFe so that we'd pass right under Main without having to stop for lights or worry about traffic. With that pep talk, off we went.

I was pretty happy with how the climb up Ranchero to SantaFe went. My legs, which had been cramping a bit when going the other direction, felt fine now, and I was looking forward to the romp down SantaFe, the BIG climb behind us, the only one left was up Rock Springs Road to Kiowa 10 miles ahead. My legs were feeling fine.

SantaFe was a blast. With the wind at my back I hammered the first 3/4 mile or so, which is a shallow climb, and then slowly ramped up the power. When my HR got up to 135 I reined myself in a bit - I still had Rock Springs Rd ahead, and Chris was lagging behind again.

There were a couple of riders pulled over on the side of the road, so I slowed to offer help. They were just finishing up fixing a flat, so waved me on as Christ caught up briefly. I was going almost 28mph as I passed Sultana, but then had to slow and circle back to make sure Chris saw me before I passed under Main St and took the bend around to Spruce.

I made the turn onto Spruce, then C Ave, then a half-block to E Ave and saw the last SAG stop  almost immediately. Chris showed up a minute later, and 2 minutes after that the couple with the flat went past the SAG stop. Staying on SantaFe to get under Main is a time-saver!

At the SAG stop they had 5 different kinds of Gatorade and cool water, as well as electrolytes and cut fruit, Cliff Bars and a bunch of other stuff they wanted to get rid of. I tried to hurry as I mixed up another batch of spiked Gatorade and nibble on a few things before heading off to the Porta-Potty. The couple that flatted didn't stop, adding to the sense it was getting late.

We rolled out of the parking lot and I started ramping up the power. E Ave has a great bike lane and usually, not much traffic. It was clear sailing all the way to the turn east at Lemon. I was flying.

I kept looking back in my mirror for Chris, but didn't see her after turning onto Lemon. I hammered pretty hard to the turn onto Peach, which headed back south into the wind. If you're fighting wind, rollers are the best terrain. They let you hide on the backsides and the rolling terrain breaks up the force of the wind. These roller climb though, so challenging. I got to the end of Peach feeling a little guilty about not sticking closer to Chris, but it was getting late.

I waited for over 5 minutes at Peach and Main, hydrating and eating the last of my Espresso GUs for the upcoming climb out of the river bottom on Rock Springs Rd. She never showed up, so I assumed she'd had a flat. I hoped she remembered she had the number for SAG on her route sheet, and pushed off.

With the wind at my back, going down Main was a blast. I almost missed the turn, crossing over 4 lanes onto RSR, shadowing a pickup through the turn at full speed. It was a very fast ride down to the river bottom. I was surprised the wind was still at my back.

The RSR bridge is normally dry, but floods when the Mojave runs high, so to keep vehicles from being swept away it's heavily grooved, AND, had a rumble strip embedded in the concrete. It was a rough ride over the rumble strip until I figured out what it was in very flat light. I moved over and hoped there wasn't any hidden glass in those grooves. As it was, I flew across the bridge, and hit the light at Deep Creek on green, so jammed right to the base of the climb and started shifting gears.

My triple's granny gear had worked so well on the Ranchero Rd climb I decided to use it again. I had lots of gears to choose from with a 12-28 (traded the 11T for a 16T on the cassette; yeah, you can do that) in back, so again, the climb turned out to be easily manageable.

I got to the top of RSR and made the turn onto Kiowa, again waving facing traffic across so I could make the L-hand turn without stopping. The disadvantage of being slow, and therefore late, on 7th Ave and Peach, had now turned into a big advantage as the wind had continued to pick up. I flew down Kiowa, and made the turn onto Tussing Ranch, whose smooth surface was even faster. I was really looking forward to the 8mi stretch of Navajo after a left turn.

My legs were getting tired riding down Navajo, so I was surprised when I got home that I set 2 personal best times on Navajo, 1 on Kiowa and 2 from Peach to Kiowa. If I had any doubts my legs were getting tired, I found out crossing Bear Valley Rd on a yellow light. I tried to hammer and my entire upper right leg knotted up as one. Uuugh.

Fortunately, as soon as I pulled the power my leg stopped cramping and everything returned to normal. It was time to start thinking about that last segment on Thunderbird INTO the wind. I collected myself, trying not to focus on my sore neck while down in the aerobars. I tried sitting up a bit, but right about then the tailwind morphed into a perfect crosswind, so I compromised and rode on the bottom of the drops. HR was good. Right calf OK. Hammie was sore, but not threatening. Just like a pilot's T-Scan. Checking in to see what condition my condition was in.

I passed a couple of riders on Navajo just before the turn onto Thunderbird. They didn't seem to care, and then one on Thunderbird, down flat on the aerobars, stretched out as far as possible to duck the wind. He made a valiant effort (think it was the guy from the couple that had flatted on SantaFe) to stay ahead of me, but it was no use. In those circumstances aerobars are a decisive advantage, and as I passed him he blew up, not showing up at the finish for over 5 minutes after I rolled in.

I was a little disappointed that after my personal triumph, they were rolling up the place by the time I got there, so no BBQ ribs, Gatorade or food. I had a little left, so no problem, and they did have ice cold water left they offered generously, but still, everyone should have the same ride experience, no matter when they finish.

I did get to meet some of the organizers, which was great, and I felt really good over-all, but with the wind so strong, and in my face all the way home, I decided to call Deb for a ride. If my life had depended on it I could have ridden home I think, but it didn't, and my butt was sore, my hands were sore, and I felt like I'd pushed my luck as far as I should on any given day.

I've spent a lot of time looking at metrics on Strava and RWGPS, and have to say, it was nearly a perfect ride, in some cases, in spite of, but in most cases, because of my efforts. I started slow, rode alone when I had to, got a boost from riding with Chris as long as that lasted, and made a good decision to move on when she didn't show up, and only let myself fly when I was sure I'd make it to the finish line.

The RWGPS route estimated 4:25 to complete. My riding time was 4:39, good considering the wind. Climbing into the wind means it hurts you for much longer than it helps you. Total time was 6:01. There are a few Centuries coming up early next year. I'm thinking it over. 


PS:
Chris was at the finish when I rolled up and had just gotten there by SAG a few minutes earlier, which surprised her. I told her I'd waited up but assumed she'd flatted or had a mechanical, which she did. Her brand new Gatorskins flatted on her, so I gave her a quick summary of tubeless tire systems, thanked her for riding along, and headed for the ice water.

New Colorado Cyclist Custom Wheels

As I eluded to months ago, I did indeed purchase new wheels, and after 6 months with them, I am very happy. I had to wait 4 weeks for the front wheel and 6 for the rear wheel though, because CK was back-ordered on the R45 Matte Mango hubs, so Colorado Cyclist was slow getting them. My top priority in buying new wheels was to move to a tubeless tire system, which I hoped would be more robust against all the thorns, goat-heads and glass here in the Victorville area.

That expectation has been met and exceeded. I have also reduced rolling resistance to about 60% of what it was ( ~18 vs 30 watts) while vastly reducing hand-numbing and saddle soreness, dramatically increasing road contact surface and therefore grip, as well as saving some $$$ in not having to buy 12-15 $8 tubes per year. More on the tire journey in another post.

I ended up choosing Easton  R90SL rims, DT Swiss silver Aerolite spokes, silver nipples and Matte Mango Chris King hubs. Here's a bit on my decision process...

1. I wanted faster, lighter wheels
2. I wanted bomb-proof hubs and wheels that were so distinct they would discourage theft. Orange hubs are pretty unique. Where you gonna pawn them Wanna-B thief?
3. I wanted wheels that made me more visible to enhance my safety. The hubs show up MUCH better than I expected, in part because I used "naked" stainless spokes, which amplifies the hub's effect rather than mutes it. 
4. I wanted nipples that wouldn't fade in the sunlight, so "naked" alloy. 
5. I wanted a little wider rim for strength and stability.

To keep the wheels durable I went with 28/24, with 3x lacing in back and 2x lacing in the front. I weigh 185-190 so durability was important to me. The 2x lacing in front decision was made for me by Colorado Cyclist, but I was leaning in that direction because I've found the Mavic Cosmic Elite 20 spoke radial wheel to be harsh AND slow. For whatever reason, crossing the spokes seems to soak up road buzz better. I went with 24 bladed spokes up front for strength.  Very happy with those decisions.

It may seem that I saved a little weight (300 vs 245+100 for 25mm tires), as I don't have to waste 100gm on a tube, but by the time I put 60ml of Stan's sealant in the tires it works out to be the same weight. BUT, the GP5000TL has proven to be more flat resistant, AND, I no longer carry a tube, patch kit, tire irons, etc, so my saddle bag is half the size and weight it used to be, so in that sense I am saving quite a lot of weight and drag. Basically, everything you need is on the bike, but it's rolling around inside the tire, not in your saddle bag, and no rides ruined due to flats, nor phone calls home for a rescue.

 I have to admit, I got lucky in regard to the raw stainless steel spoke color choice, because when you get a puncture with a tubeless tire, sealant often leaks onto the spokes, and it's VERY hard to get off. With uncolored spokes though, you can use a ScotchBrite pad to scrub those spokes clean, and because stainless is so hard (~ 300k PSI), unless you're obsessive about it, you don't have to worry about damaging the spokes.

Happily, bladed spokes make good reflectors. I just shone a small desk lamp onto my front wheel here. By way of comparison, the saddlebag has a reflective coating. A small thing that might save your life on an evening ride when you get delayed due to a mechanical or a flat.

Just a caveat about bladed spokes, you need a good spoke holder to hold the spoke so it doesn't twist when you turn the nipple to true the wheel. It's important, because once the spoke is twisted it will never twist back into the correct flat shape, and that can cause weird turbulence on fast downhill runs.

I also got lucky in my rim choice, because not only do I get a very strong, stable wheel which increases the tire's road patch, it makes the tires easier to put on because the beads, at least with the R90SL Easton, have plenty of room to seat in the bottom of the channel in the center of the rim. Once I got the hang of it I no longer need any tools to put on any tires I've tried. NICE!

The wheels came in the mail with Stan's rim tape on them, and I've stuck with that because I like Stan's tape. It's very strong, tough and lightweight. From the factory they had 4 layers of tape, which is excessive. I now use a single layer, except that I start 4 1/2 spoke holes to one side of the valve hole and overlap the same on the other side. This because I've found, in contrast to tubed tires, tubeless tires go on better when you push the last of the bead over using the valve as a stop to keep the bead from crawling past the valve.

Let me explain. I've noticed that with tubeless tires, in contrast to tubed tires, it's best to end up pushing the bead of the tire over the edge of the rim up against the valve. With a tube you want to keep the bead down against the rim at the valve, and the valve pushed up into the tire, so working the bead over at the OPPOSITE side of the rim is best.

By contrast, with tubeless you want the two beads to slide down into the deep cavity in the center of the rim (that's what makes a rim "tubless ready") to allow the bead to move as far to the opposite side as possible when going over the rim. The rub is the beads can't GET into that cavity at the valve because that space is occupied by the valve, so use the valve to stop the bead from crawling away, and let the 2 beads seat as deeply as possible on the opposite side of the rim. The priority should always be getting the 2 beads as far into the center channel as possible. Arresting bead crawl is just a nice side-effect of that.

If you need a 2nd set of hands to hold the bead (assuming you have some weird kind of rim that is very hard to get tires on, or whatever) you can use a set of Zip-Ties instead to cinch the bead down tight against the rim. Then work against that "hard point" to get the bead over the rim.

I really like the color and quality of the CK hubs. They RX you tighten up the bearing pre-load after 10 miles or so, and that is definitely needed. It's so easy though, as you don't need to remove the wheel, or even release tension on the quick-release lever. All you need is a short hex wrench to loosen the threaded bearing pre-load collar, then using that wrench as a lever, turn the collar clockwise until the bearing is snug again. Mine was VERY loose after 15 miles, the 1st chance I had to stop and futz with it. Silly simple. I love KISS engineering! As always, with bearings, loose is fast and long-lasting and tight is slow and ruinous. There are places where tighter is better, but this is NOT one of them. 

The "angry bees" sound of the Chris King (same ratchet mechanism that DT Swiss uses) took a bit of getting used to, as I sometimes thought I had a vehicle behind me instead of a CK hub! My Ultegra hubs were nearly silent by contrast.

My only complaint about the CK hub is it's alloy freehub body had some tear-out from the cassette after only a few rides. I wish they offered a titanium freehub body like Shimano uses on their Dura Ace (hubs we can no longer buy for some odd reason, anyone know why?) which do NOT tear out.

Giant black plastic spacer between rim and valve

I had a hell of a time trying to find handlebar tape I liked whose color went well with Matte Mango. Fizik sells some in orange that matches the color pretty well after a bit of road grim accumulates, but it's crappy tape if you care about killing road buzz. My favorite tape, Cinelli gel cork had several colors I tried. Blue (too dark), Blue Prince (not a good color match), orange (not even close), and white (gets stained by my gloves too fast).

I finally settled on Serfas light blue. It kills road buzz nicely, has just a little teal in it, and is a perfect contrast IMHO that is highly visible to mortorists. It turns out it's the same tape I put on my old CroMo steel Nishiki Competition single-speed conversion to match the lettering. I'd forgotten I bought it. Nice surprise! A little spray of Formula 409 cleaner with a hand towel keeps it nice and clean.

I have to say, these wheels have changed my life. I now feel confident riding where I want to ride, instead of where I have to guess I'll be least likely to flat. When riding next to the many, many 18-wheelers going to & from all the warehouses around here I feel pretty confident I'm not going to have a catastrophic blow-out and end up pancake-flat road-kill.

As you can see from the number on the front of the top pic, I rode the 70mi Victor Valley Bike Tour, with ~ 2,800ft of climbing. Seventy @ 63 (I'll be 64 in a few months) was only possible because the last 3 months I traded in most of my 25-35mi rides for 50-65mi rides to train for the event. I guess the word I'm looking for is LIBERATION.
.

Nice to be Proven Right

This finite analysis by Williams Wheels confirms almost everything I said years ago in this post on the superiority of custom built wheels, and ESPECIALLY, the folly of Mavic's Isopulse system, where the drive side is radially laced (pg 1 is blank, scroll down). This analysis was for 28 spoke wheels, not 32. I don't do disk brakes, living in a dry climate, and probably never will, but the analysis is valid for both.

Here's the conclusion:

 In this analysis the 3x/3x wheel provided the best combination of strength, stiffness, power transfer and reliability. The 3x/3x wheel outperformed the two half radial wheels because allof the spokes share the power. In the half radial wheels, only the crossed spokes transfer power – the radial spokes only support rider weight. The 2x/2x wheel matched the 3x/3x wheel in stiffness and power transfer, but the 3x/3x wheel won on fatigue strength. 

This is because the spokes emerge from the hub at an angle nearly tangent to the hub flange. This is true with a 28 spoke wheel; however, as the number of spokes in the wheel increases or decreases, the number of spoke crossings would need to be adjusted to maintain the tangent condition. Accordingly, 2x lacing should be used with 20 spokes or less, 3x lacing should be used with 24 or 28 spokes, and 4x lacing should be used with 32 spokes or greater. So it is concluded that the best rear wheel is cross laced on both sides with number of crossing chosen to make the spokes as close to tangent to the hub flange as possible.

Interesting conclusion in that 2x is tangent to the hub flange at 24 spokes, and 3x at ~34 spokes. For 40 spokes, 4x is tangent, but 4x is past tangent for 32 & 36 spokes, as 3x spoking is for 28. For 32 spokes, 3x is just slightly under-tangent, and at 2x, 28 slightly more so. Keep in mind that every spoke creates more wind drag, no matter how thin or bladed, so spoke count itself is a trade-off.

None of this matters for rim brake front wheels that bear no torque. (disk brakes don't stop the wheel, they stop the hub, which has to transfer the torque to the wheel via the spokes) 

Tangent spokes pull on the wheel most directly, at a 90 degree angle, not off to one side or the other, just the way you'd stand to pull on a beam with a rope. They also pull against each other at the hub, pulling in EXACTLY opposite directions, so there is no net stress on the hub, unlike radial spoking where the spokes are always trying to rip the spokes out of their holes. The spoking pattern with the lowest range of tension is, all other things being equal, the best, as it puts the least stress on the spokes, hubs, rim with each turn. 

As you may have guessed, I'm looking at buying new wheels again, this time for something that cheats the strong winds here, and tubeless to rein in flats, as this high desert is chock full of thorns  that get bad enough to flat me every-other ride at times. At $8 a tube, that's not only really inconvenient, but expensive too. 

After a lot of back & forth with Fairwheel Bikes, I'm leaning towards Colorado Cyclist again, (gulp - had some trouble with them before, but no good builder within 50mi of here) building on Chris King or DT Swiss hubs and Easton R90 SL rims, built 28/24 - 3x and 2x with bladed spokes.

Fairwheel Bikes customer service has been a little out to lunch - not necessarily bad, but slow to respond and most recently, a mail server meltdown that lost my order. Fairwheel does have some very nice Ti Carbon hubs that are very light though, and a great reputation, so I wouldn't want you to rule them out without talking to them. To be fair, at least part of the delay with Fairwheel was affordability on my end.

At 190lbs I don't quite trust the Ti Carbon hubs (162 grams rear hubs) to be durable enough long-term, nor Easton's factory built EA90 SL road wheelset with 24/20 spoking. I stumbled across the Williams Wheels analysis trying to check the right box on Colorado Cyclist build options pull-down, specifying 2x  or 3x with 28 spokes. I would have gone with 2x, but this clearly says 3x is better. Unfortunately, it's a computer analysis with no follow-up reporting variance with real-world testing of a prototype, but still compelling. 

As an update, after crashing and completely mangling my front wheel, I bought an "emergency" Mavic Cosmic Elite expecting it to last a few years. That was 7 yrs ago, 2 of which I didn't ride, but still surprised they're still serviceable, though at ~ 850 grams they're heavy and now loose as a goose. 

I rebuilt a new wheel on the Ultegra 6700 hub, switching to DT Swiss 465 rims with DT Revolution spokes and those ride SO, SO, SO much better around here on badly broken road surfaces. In addition to the Revolution spokes, I think the 3x lacing is a big help in making them more compliant than the radial Cosmic Elite - enough so that I am going with 2x lacing on my new front wheel. 

With bladed spokes I think 3x in front would be a little dense for the fierce cross-winds we get around here, and with rim brakes, there's no torque to consider. Radial would work fine, but would be a harsher ride.