Water in tubular wheels....

bs_360
bs_360 Posts: 2
edited November 2015 in Cyclocross
Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone else has experience this, after a particularly wet and muddy cx race at the weekend there seems to be water in between the rim and the tub.

I have tried holding the wheel horizontally and shaking it to get some of the water out but there is still some in there.

Any recommendations on how to fix this?

Cheers in advance

Andy

Comments

  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    I have the same problem - water inside my carbon rims. Only options I can think of are:
    1. Drill a drain hole somewhere. The rims have a braking surface but I've built them up for disk brakes, so I reckon a 1-2mm hole in the brake track should do the job without causing any structural issues.
    2. Drill an extra spoke hole opposite the valve hole, and suck the water out with a tube.
    3. Peel back a bit of the tyre and drain through a nipple hole.
    4. Ignore, and hope the water goes away of its own accord.

    So far I've been trying option 4.

    Trying to seal every nipple/valve hole when building the wheel would be a futile exercise; my experience from bikes and boats is that it's very nearly impossible to stop water getting into things, but such attempts can often succeed in stopping the water from getting back out.
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • Ber Nard
    Ber Nard Posts: 827
    Some tubs have a removable valve stem rather than just a removable valve core (such as old Vittorias). If you can remove the whole valve, that should leave a hole to drain from. If the rims are deep enough, removing the valve extender may work.
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19740726#p19740726]Ber Nard[/url] wrote:
    Some tubs have a removable valve stem rather than just a removable valve core (such as old Vittorias). If you can remove the whole valve, that should leave a hole to drain from. If the rims are deep enough, removing the valve extender may work.
    The problem with that is that the hole's in the wrong place. Gravity ensures that the water always lies against the outer part of the rim (ie the bit the tyre's glued to) whereas the valve hole is on the inner part of the rim (where the spokes are attached, which is where the water's getting in).

    I used to have a similar problem with the drive-side seatstay on one of my bikes; there's a cable stay rivetted part way down the stay, and water was getting in through the rivet hole. Of course, whichever way you tilted the bike the water just ran to one end of the tube. I solved that one by drilling a drain hole.

    We could just stop pressure-washing our bikes :lol::lol::lol::lol:
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • VamP
    VamP Posts: 674
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19741049#p19741049]TGOTB[/url] wrote:
    We could just stop pressure-washing our bikes :lol::lol::lol::lol:

    You'd be amazed how often I have had that particular piece of advice :roll:
  • Ber Nard
    Ber Nard Posts: 827
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19741049#p19741049]TGOTB[/url] wrote:
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19740726#p19740726]Ber Nard[/url] wrote:
    Some tubs have a removable valve stem rather than just a removable valve core (such as old Vittorias). If you can remove the whole valve, that should leave a hole to drain from. If the rims are deep enough, removing the valve extender may work.
    The problem with that is that the hole's in the wrong place. Gravity ensures that the water always lies against the outer part of the rim (ie the bit the tyre's glued to) whereas the valve hole is on the inner part of the rim (where the spokes are attached, which is where the water's getting in).

    Ha! Yes, hadn't thought of that.

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