I guess I can call myself a cyclist as I have been down the road in the last couple of years on all these topics.

1. Don't get 3 or 4 speedometers. I have 4 bikes, all tracking with one Garmin model 530, and 1 Wahoo Tickr heart rate monitor. If you want more accuracy add a speed sensor on the back wheel. You can track miles for each bike on the Garmin app or the free Strava version. The Garmin 130 likely does everything you need. Wahoo makes a good computer also.

2. I have Lezyne 800 lumens headlights and the high end Outbound Lighting headlights and helmet lights. An 800 lumen handlebar mounted Lezyne or Niterider handlebar light is a good start. If you ride off road trails I highly recommend an 800 lumen (keep it light weight) on your helmet, and 1 on your handlebars. Good to have 2 of the same brand as they are interchangeable, same mounts, you have a spare, and can run 1 on high power, 1 on low power to make sure you have light to get home.

3. I have gone tubeless on mountain and gravel bikes. I am about to convert my road bike to tubeless. Make sure the rims are tubeless compatible (most new ones are) and that they have a good tape seal. I like Orange Seal sealant, Stan's is also good. Getting the tire to seat the first time on tubeless can be a pain with a floor pump. The first time you set it up might be worth having the bike shop do it. I bought a Blackburn Chamber pump that blasts a bunch of air all at once that makes it easy. If you already have an air compressor at home that will help.

4. Lezyne mini pumps that mount to the water bottle cage. Get one that has a 6" fold out air hose on it, much easier to use than the mini direct head mounts. I keep a floor pump in the car.

Daylight savings this weekend! Looking forward to some daylight rides after work, and warmer weather!

quote:

Originally posted by f2:

quote:

CO2

there are tricks to it...

Mostly ‘this’. Cartridges not seated correctly in the pump wasting air, blown tubes due to the burst of pressure (plus older tubes I’m sure), multiple flats in a ride and not carrying more than 2 cartridges. The last one was more of an issue in combination with the first... We have a weekly ride that is ‘mountain biking’, except 24 of the 30 miles we ride are pavement. So I air way up for the way out to the trail, purge when we get there, refill for the road back. It’s no fun trying to ride mountain bikes on the road with 16-18psi at 20mph because your CO2 isn’t working correctly.

RobLew, You are absolutely correct. We are talking about two different things. I did in fact bend both of the rims out of true. I don’t think it was my weight. I’m about 151 lbs (and dropping thanks to cycling).

I was looking at a few tire manufacturers graphs that indicate optimal tire pressure depending on your weight. The graphs were for tubeless tires but from the many comments I saw most people said to just add 5-10 psi for tube tires. I was just trying to get a good idea of a ballpark PSI to start with. I think something in the neighborhood of 35-45 psi is where I should be until I convert to tubeless then I should be able to run around 30-35.

Does tire pressure help at all with keeping the rims true? I’m pretty good about feeling when I have too little tire pressure in my tires. Over inflation is another matter however.

I might have been asking too much of my gravel bike to take it on trails like that but when you’re on a bike and feeling good great while flying down trails sometimes you don’t think clearly. I sort of pushed the limits of what most people expect of a gravel bike.

As far as lights I use a Lezyne Super Drive 1250XXL headlight and a Knog Blinder R70 taillight. If you are interested in a Rokform phone mount they are having a sitewide 20% discount with the code "MARCH2021", at least as of last night.

1. I have a quite old now Garmin 510. I frequently move it between bikes without any problem. It is GPS enabled and connects to my cell phone. If I were to buy a new computer today it would be an Element, Roam. Or one of the entry-level Garmin. Element is just very easy to use.

2. Lights: One is none, 2 is one. Put one on your handlebars and one on your helmet. I have a Lights in Motion and a Princeton Tactical on my helmet.

3. Rims and tires:
- First and foremost if you go tubeless you must absolutely get tubeless specific rims and tires. (I worked in a bike shop and this was always an issue).
- Next-up rims are critical. Your Nicasio + is a nice bike but it is not an MTB, it's a nice entry-level bike in terms of components. The stock rims are fine. If you want something durable plan to spend some money. Check out this website to start. https://www.prowheelbuilder.com/cw/ Use their Custom wheel building function, input your weight, how your ride, etc... and see what they recommend.

Given your bike, and what you seem to be riding on, I went with WTB KOM TOUGH TCS rims, DT Swiss hubs, spokes etc... Cost $598. This is just one option there are many, many, many more! I'm a big guy and thus tend to look for durability first and foremost.



4. Pump: There are tons out there. Stop by your local bike stores and test out a few. Small = a lot of pumping to get your tires inflated again. CO2 is a good route, however, you may not get to where you want to be, and doesn't really allow for increases/decreases in air pressure on the fly.
Get yourself a camelback and stick a pump in there. g

Adjusting your tire pressure on the fly? I'm not sure that you really need to be doing that. Aire up at the trailhead and forget about it. You might be overthinking things


I hope this is of some help

1. Go with a computer. I use a Wahoo Bolt. I am not a Garmin fan but they make good stuff too.

2. Look at Light and Motion

3. Go tubeless. For MTB I roll 18psi up front and 20 on the rear. I have gone done 24 with tubes. On gravel I 28 front and 30 rear.

4. I just bring C02 and spare tube.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: was0311,

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
RobLew, You are absolutely correct. We are talking about two different things. I did in fact bend both of the rims out of true. I don’t think it was my weight. I’m about 151 lbs (and dropping thanks to cycling).

I was looking at a few tire manufacturers graphs that indicate optimal tire pressure depending on your weight. The graphs were for tubeless tires but from the many comments I saw most people said to just add 5-10 psi for tube tires. I was just trying to get a good idea of a ballpark PSI to start with. I think something in the neighborhood of 35-45 psi is where I should be until I convert to tubeless then I should be able to run around 30-35.

Does tire pressure help at all with keeping the rims true? I’m pretty good about feeling when I have too little tire pressure in my tires. Over inflation is another matter however.

I might have been asking too much of my gravel bike to take it on trails like that but when you’re on a bike and feeling good great while flying down trails sometimes you don’t think clearly. I sort of pushed the limits of what most people expect of a gravel bike.

Tire pressure recommendations are really about balancing ride quality, traction, and at the low end, not bottoming out your wheel and flatting/bending your rim. I've pinch flatted running too low PSI, but too high a pressure and traction suffers. You just have to figure out what works for you and how you ride.

I don't think tire pressure plays a significant role in preventing pushing wheels out of true. Again you might have spokes that aren't tensioned enough so that might be worth looking into. Squeeze pairs of spokes next to each other as you go around the wheel. If the squeeze force seems different for the same amount of movement, that indicates unequal tension and could be the source of your problem. You want all the tension to be equal, and enough all around to hold the rim in place.
But as SOTAR notes, you have stock wheels, and they just may not be built tough enough for what you are putting them through.