Deconstruction: Part 1

Well, since I've been getting rained out here I figured I may as well get cracking on with the new wheel build for the Fargo Gen I. "New" as in a new assemblage of older parts I have. The spokes and nipples may be the only new thing I use. 

The rims will be the venerable Bontrager Duster rims. These were off the Trek Sawyer I once had. The hubs will be the old Chris King hubs, the very same hub set I used over a decade ago during the "Mud Year" of 2015 at the DK200. 

The plan will be to do the "Guitar Ted Special" build, which is black spokes on one side, silver on the other, with one wheel having a reverse arrangement from the other. Black spokes will get silver nipples and silver spokes will get black nipples. I know, it sounds weird, but it looks rad - to my eyes - and I have a few wheel sets already built up using this scheme. 

Other details will include removal of the stickers on the rims, getting the hubs checked out inside, and re-using the Bontrager TLR rim strips. Bontrager TLR Rim strips? Yes..... I'll show you. 

But first, I had to begin things by blowing apart the old wheels. Let the deconstruction commence!

Dismounting the Extraterrestrials was no small task. This was due mostly to the TLR rim strip. Dislodging the bead of the tire from the bead channel molded into the TLR rim strip is a chore. Good thing if you flat while riding because it is unlikely the TLR rim strip will let your tire go. Bad if you want to actually remove a tire. 

So, to dislodge the bead from the TLR bead channel, I devised a tool from a Pedros tire lever. The purpose of this was to push the bead over the inner part of the bead channel and into the rim well. It worked! Good thing because I could not roll it off with my hands at all. 

After this, you'd think things would get easier. Nope! Next you have to remove the TLR rim strip to reveal the spoke holes and nipples. You want to do this very carefully. The reason being is that the edges of the rim strip are delicate and it is easy to damage the molded strip. I was able to get it out okay. 

Then all I needed to do was start cleaning things up and move on to the next wheel. But I won't get into all of that here. The next update will show you the rims cleaned up and what my spokes will be for the build. After this, I need to verify the condition of the rear King hub, in particular, and build up the wheels, of course. 

The TLR rim strip in situ.

 

Here the TLR rim strip is removed.

One more thing about the system. This was the first, good tubeless rim system ever made. Everything fit together like puzzle pices, but you were locked into Bontrager stuff. Maybe not necessarily in regard to tires, but the rim, rim strip, and valve were all proprietary technology. Brilliant in design though, and it worked perfect most every time. 

No tape to fail, tires were held securely, and things were serviceable. It's too bad it wasn't an industry wide standard, really. Anyway.... 

Stay tuned.