Project 1X1: The Wheels Part 3

Applying the tubeless tape. Velocity tape is really good!

Wheel Build Part 3: 

If you have been following along with this project's wheel build, and you missed the last update and want catch up, you can check Part 2 here. In this update I will bring the wheel building part to a conclusion and in the next update I will get into the rest of the bike.

The Velocity Cliffhangar rims are a tubeless ready design, and you can use Velocity's own "blue tape", as I call it, to tape up the inner rim well to seal it off. It's a necessary step to bring the well into an air tight status so you can ditch your inner tube and run the tires that you choose tubeless. More on tire choices coming up.....

I want to give a shout out here to the Velotape, (Velocity's name), and say that I feel it is some of the most underrated tubeless tape I've used. Why? I find that it has characteristics of the typical yellow tape- the stretchiness, the ability to conform to the contours of an inner rim well- but it also is translucent. This may or may have not been designed in on purpose, but, if you are a little "OCD" about how your tape is adhering to your rim, you will appreciate this translucent characteristic of Velotape. This characteristic of the blue tape lets me see where air bubbles are trapped under the tape and I can squeegee them out before continuing further. When I use the typical yellow tape, those little air pockets are harder to find, because they cannot be seen through that opaque tape. Those air pockets may not be a big deal, but I don't like them......so there! The Velocity tape helps me to eradicate them.

The wheels on the 1X1. The tires will be replaced soon....hopefully!

With the taping job done, and the process of wheel building having come to a close, it was time to mount up a free wheel, space out the axle, and mount tires and tubes for a temporary set up. Now about these tires.....

I had a set of tires I mentioned previously, so I won't get into that, but those went on with some ancient 26" tubes I happened across in my Lab. That all mounted up well onto the Cliffhanger rims, the tires aired up perfectly, and that part was no big deal at all. Of course, I want to get tubeless tires at some point and the upcoming Surly Extraterrestrial tires are my choice. I'm excited about these treads as they will be a bit bigger, cushier, and should work for my intended purposes perfectly. Apparently I'll have to wait a month or so to see these. Stay tuned on that front....

The Velo Orange axle on the rear hub is made to work on several different overlock dimension standards. I needed to add the provided two spacers for each side for a total of four spacers to make the wheel fit the Surly's 135OD rear drop out spacing. Once I did that, and added the two provided spacers to the inside of my free wheel, I could slap the rear wheel in there. The chain line isn't perfect, but I can maybe adjust with a different bottom bracket to dial it in just right. The brakes needed to be adjusted to the wider 30mm Cliffhanger rims, and once all the dinking around was done, it was rideable.

It always amazes me that a couple hoops, some wires, a couple hubs, and some nipples can make wheels.

So Far......

The Velocity Cliffhanger rims are a rare bird for a 26"er choice- Tubeless ready, wide, and available in a few different drillings. I found that the rims were really easy to build up. Tensioning the rims showed that these rims were very round and true. The rims are pinned, but the joint was one of the best I've seen, and the machined side wall for the brake track was beautifully done. The inner rim well is looking really good from the standpoint of setting these up tubeless. The Velotape, as stated above, is awesome stuff too. Once I get some tubeless tires, I will update on these wheels, but my initial experiences have all been very positive.

Next up- Setting It Up To Ride