how not to wreck a rear wheel?

Cqc

Hi all, quick one here; I'm lucky enough to be heading off to livigno this summer for a week of riding at the freeride park, and don't want to wreck my lightweight crest rims. Whilst I know they are totally inappropriate wheels for this, I'm riding then anyway as they're my only wheels. I'm just wondering if pumping up my tyres mega hard will protect them, our what else can. I will obviously try to hop any wheel wrecking obstacles, but an just wondering how I can protect them. Cheers

paul.skibum

You could put a larger more DH oriented tyre with a heavier carcass, thicker side walls and so on and a little more air if you have the space in your frame.

Not sure what you already have as a bike or tyre but I would not just pump the tyres up harder - you will just end up reducing the grip and losing some of the suspension effect.

rockmonkeysc

I have had to use my xc rims for a dh race in the past. What seemed to work for me was using a dual ply, large volume tyres. Don't go too hard with the pressure or you will just have no grip.
Don't get too upset if you do trash your rims though, they really arent appropriate for the job.
A set of used dh wheels won't cost too much and if you don't destroy them then you can sell them when you get home.

Angus Young

Cqc wrote:

I'm just wondering if pumping up my tyres mega hard will protect them...

And that will just make your riding horrible and, so, make you trip pointless.

felix.london

£130 on set of Superstar DHX and then sell em on your return? Not feeling confident in your kit is a good way to ruin a ride (or holiday in your case) if you ask me. I bet the Crests would hold up but if they don't it could be an expensive trip to an Italian bike shop

rockmonkeysc

If you have light xc wheels, is the rest of the bike up to the job?
A light, twitchy xc bike with flexible forks will be a nightmare in a freeride park.

ilovedirt

Definitely get some dual ply downhill tyres if you haven't already.

jairaj

I'm with Felix and Rockmonkey.

Is the rest of the bike up to job? If its just the wheels the then get a cheap but strong pair from someone like Superstar and if you really don't want them afterwards then sell them. When they start at £130 new you can't loose a much selling second hand. While buying a pair of new wheels because you trashed your Crests will be expensive out there.

Cqc

Yeah, I'm confident in the rest of the bike, it's by no means an xc whippet. But I'm not sure about butting the new DH wheels. Definitely not that superstar pair; £130 is quite a lot, as I'm spending most of my money on the trip, but am happy to buy second hand, again the only problem being that most DH wheels have bolt thru hubs and mine are QR. I'm not saying I'll run it way too hard, but just enough to stop a rock actually contacting the rim, or can a wheel break without that actually happening? Any good mixed conditions dual ply rear tyres you would recommend? Thanks

rockmonkeysc

Its not just rocks making contact with the rims that's going to cause you problems. Pinging off rocks can cause buckling very easily, especially with a narrow xc rim. Bad jump landings will flat spot the rim very easily.
Superstar wheels are qr compatible, very few dh wheels are. They also cost less than getting your crests rebuilt with new rims.
With a qr fork you're really going to notice the front end flex through rocky sections, holding good lines won't be easy. Bike park braking bumps can be brutal on bikes and especially wheels.
Don't forget you will be on trails built for hard hitting bikes and there will be many sections where you will need speed to carry you through.

Cqc

Cheers rockmonkey. I've ridden there before and the trails weren't too insane, although I will be trying the world champs trail this time, and I'm not too bothered about the flex as I've only really ridden flexy forks before, so I have nothing to compare it too (well have ridden a DH bike a couple of times, but couldn't immediately compare wit my bike). Would riding a Dt swiss x430 xc on my back wheel be a better or worse bet than the crests, cost irrelevant ; the dt Swiss is narrower but heavier- which is stronger? I cannot afford the superstar wheels I'm afraid, so what dual ply tyres do you recommend?

rockmonkeysc

Due to the narrow rims you won't want to go to wide with the tyres. Forget Schwalbe downhill tyres, my EX721 rims are only just wide enough for them.
I would go for 2.35" Highroller dual plys in 43a compound. The sidewalls are really stiff and on hardpack trails there's loads of grip. You won't want more than 30psi in them to keep your rims off the ground.
I have dented a rim with them on once but it involved a puncture before a drop on to a really nasty rock garden and resulted in three broken ribs and a very broken clavicle.

Cqc

Cheers, but I might go for the 60a ones as I still wasn't to maintain some reasonable rolling speed. What do you think about the x430s? They've got 17mm internal width vs the crests' 21mm internal. Which ruin should I go for?

rockmonkeysc

Wider is better, especially if you're running dh tyres.
The 43a highroller isn't slow rolling at all, faster than a 60a minion. You know you want that extra grip :-)
You don't need extra fast rolling in a gravity bike park

Cqc

Hmmm....
But about the wheels, I know the crests are wider, but i've ridden 2.2 rubber queens which should be about the same size as the 2.35 high rollers on the narrower ones without a problem, and I'd be much less gutted if I smashed those rims, so would the x430s be ok? Here's a link to them: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/dt-s ... -prod23698

rockmonkeysc

Narrower will mean more flex and more likely to buckle.

Cqc

Oh right... Gosh. But amount of metal must have something to do with strength as otherwise crests would be the same strength as arch ex rims as they are the same width

rockmonkeysc

It's all about shape not the amount of metal. It doesn't matter how much metal you put in if it's in the wrong place.
The crests are lighter because they use a better grade of aluminium which means less material for more strength.
17mm is way too narrow for harder riding in rougher trails. Personally I wouldn't use a rim less than 23mm wide.

paul.skibum

I should say that I have ridden in the alps loads on xc bikes including hardtails. I have ridden my Handjob on Mavic X317's as a guide and taken in rocky rooty trails, more freeride oriented trails and all sorts without smashing them to crap and back. In fact my freeride rims on my freeride bike stood up less well as I tended to ride less light and with less care.

I didn't even have heavier duty tyres.

felix.london

+1 ^^

When I first moved here my old SunRingle XC rims got a good working over for a season on my Rockhopper, that included red DH runs on the weekends (taking the chicken line on the bigger stuff though!) - those wheels are still going strong and yeah my Flows get a harder time because I just ride that much harder on them

Cqc

Well I'll be getting a dual ply super tacky high roller ii rear and high roller ii super tacky exo front. Should be good I hope.

paul.skibum

They should be good solid tyres, you could get a tubeless set up too to help with air volume and good squish in the tyres.

What bike are you riding out of interest?

Cqc

Thanks, but I might want to get that back tyre off at some point if I'm doing an xc ride as it weighs 1.25 kg, and removing tubeless tyres is a pain. I'll be riding a 2007 stumpy fsr.