I didn't go into my own cone rebuild problems. The stock bearings are not well suited for getting wet. I had them rebuilt once then decided to find a better sealed bearing setup. I have one stock RCS front wheel with the Novatec 36h hub and one custom built Sun Ringle Mulefüt 80SL 36 hole rim with same Novatec hub. The wheel rolls so much better with the Novatec. I have tubeless setup on both bikes now. It has been a journey to get to this point but I have enjoyed the challenge. I did have the Bolany MTB Front Fork for awhile but it had a click when fully compressed. I sent it back. Then found the ZTZ with rebound adjustment and have them on both bikes now. On my hardtail RCS I run Maxxis Minion FBF and FBR EXO/TR 26" Fat Bike Tire 26 x 4.0 - EXO/TR while my wife has the RCS Step Thru with the Vee Rubber 26x4.0 Mission Command tires. She is mostly paved road with some gravel. My other ebike is a Luna X-1 FS all carbon fiber. If you decide to try trail riding start with gravel, service roads then progress to single track. It took me almost a year before getting to the harder rides. Most of my weekend rides are now 2 hours long 15-20 miles depending on the trails.
Hey ZIP, like I'd mentioned before, I got up to and was considering front wheel replacement for my RCS and was studying every YouTube vid on lacing bike wheels I could find. I've been lucky to know a couple of old school wheel tuners and shown a few tricks, so I was unafraid and ready to lace up this Novatec hub I'd purchased . . . . And then, after a month, Juiced emailed me saying they had found a stock replacement hub . . . so I stayed with a stock wheel assy.
During that month wait for a front hub I was looking at tubeless friendly wheels. The intel I'd gathered 2 yrs ago told me the "tubeless" wheel design was not yet standardized among manufactures even though Fat Tubeless Tires were aplenty . . . also, the tubeless pioneers were presenting YT vids on "Hacks" for converting stock Fat Bike wheels . . . . I'd had Zero experience with tubeless repairs, meaning I had no knowledge of reliability and or success rates when compared to tube repairs. I'm talking repairable flats, not tire killing damage. Can Fat Bike Tubeless repairs tires be as reliable and solvent ( no need for additional attention) as patches over a tube?
I'm experimenting with the Tannus inserts Only to reduce rear flat occurrences. Had only one front tire slow leak in 7K pavement miles : ) but probably average one (or more) Rear flats or repairs per 1000 mi (1600 Km) . . . and then the E-Bike rear wheel R&R dance begins . . . I can do it in under half an hr . . . in ideal conditions ; / but it's still not fun : /
The Tannus test has gone on for less than ten outings and, as advertised, feel considerably different over jolts/bumps and turns, do loose tire press slowly (due to foam compression) @ about 1psi per hr of riding and the rolling resistance has increased noticeably . . . Both in feel and at the gauge . . . My fav 24 mile ride now drops my finish voltage by 1v or more or 1 bar on the bar graph display. It was like the difference from when I'd swapped the stock Kenda knobby's for the street savvy Origin8 Supercell's. I burned a Lot less calories and volts after that : ) This Tannus insert was stuffed into a Vee Zig Zag that was less than half worn, so the comparison was reasonably fair and the diff was instantly noticeable. Zig Zag's are fast tires @ their rated 20psi so I usually run at 22psi and love how far this beast of a bike can coast. Not happy about the increased rolling resistance so far but Hey, no flats so far : )
The Origin8's had Tuffy Fat E-Bike liners installed on the rear about a month after the tire first went on . . . so after roughly 6K miles of using Tuffy Liners can say I'm done with them. While they likely did prevent a flat or three, every flat I got had pierced the Tuffy's (obviously : ( Maybe I expect too much but doesn't mean I'm out of options.
I'm still willing to go tubeless, just need to think it through and determine if the pro's outweigh the cons. Any input on your personal "tubeless vs tube'd" experience for Fat Tires would be appreciated, ( I know the true mtn bikers have done the pioneering on this) so pretty much Everybody has more experience with tubeless than me. I like the idea of less is more, potentially easier flat fixes and potential performance increase . . . just haven't had good reason to go down the tubeless rabbit hole yet . . until now : )
bw
