Upgraditis #2

Borrowed Rims

Well, I had managed to get the utility bike put together on budget... and then, wouldn't you Adam and Eve it, the trouble and strife wants her wheels back. Clearly, a fine excuse for fettling together a replacement set, if ever I done hear one.

Sharks With Frickin' Lasers

I fancy lasers...

Rim Tape

Sometimes, you can't DIY...

With a combination of the rubbish UK weather and an injured shoulder, I've only been riding the road bike lately. I had two mysterious flat tyres within the space of few days... both without any thorns, and both while the bike was in the car. Easy enough to fix, if a bit of a pain and cut short a ride or two. So what was behind the mystery?

The tube had bulged into them there holes.

Turns out that it was all my fault (of course, these things usually are). When I'd built the wheels I'd used a few wraps of electrical tape to cover the spoke holes. Now this is all perfectly satisfactory in the land of 30psi mountain bike tyres, but when it comes to road bikes, the high pressures (100psi+) are far too much for the tape to support, and the tube had squished itself down into the spoke holes. Now, take the bike out for a few rides, and presto - much chafing action.

Lesson learned: no more electrical tape for me - proper stuff only, from now on.

Review updates

A quick update on my recent reviews, now I've been using the bits review for a few months.

Sun Ringle Estate rims for the On One Max hubs

Budget Summer Season Wheels

Rims. Round, with lots of holes in them for spokes. What else do you need to know?

Question is, on the somewhat limited RideItFixIt budget, could I scrape together enough cash to lace some appropriate rims to the On One hubs I recently reviewed and get them out on the trail?

Well, obviously I could, or this would be a
very short post.

And just what was the bare minimum cost for which I could put together a set of wheels, including tyres and cassette?