Would anyone in the community be able to help with this? I need a way to contact with Braus / Alchemist. Is there anyone who can speak Italian who can help to call them?
I have been chasing them for months now. I have 4 different email addresses for them… no reply.
I have tried sending messages on social media - which I can see they have read… no reply.
I have asked Harrison to help by contacting them as the “customer”… no reply.
The rim does need replacing, it is unfortunate that we did not see this rim before it was shipped. We did our normal checking when they came in, but we could not have removed this from all it’s packaging or we would have seen it.
What spoke tension have people built their wheel to?
Using an internal disc 100mm hub, I think there are problems.
The recommended max on other rims are often in the range of 90-150kgf. 120kgf is common. I started with 100kgf on the left side, since I’m afraid of damaging the rim.
No tire:
Average left-side spokes: 97kgf
Average right-side spokes: 47kgf
With a Nightrider Lite tire 1-side bead seated:
Average left-side spokes: 82kgf
Average right-side spokes: 37kgf
With a Nightrider Lite tire 2-side bead seated:
Average left-side spokes: 62kgf
Average right-side spokes: 26kgf
With a Nightrider Lite tire @20psi:
Average left-side spokes: 58kgf
Average right-side spokes: 23kgf
With a Nightrider Lite tire @40psi:
Average left-side spokes: 51kgf
Average right-side spokes: <21kgf
The problem here is that the spoke tension drops a lot! Both due to the bead being tight, and also the air pressure.
Riding with low spoke tension means the spokes will fatigue and break very easily.
If I increase the tension to around 120kgf max, then the minimum tension might be okay. But, I don’t know what the rim’s max tension specification is…
Have people used very high tensions, or instead just kept it at very low spoke tension?
I had exactly the same issue as you when first building the Alchemist+Nightrider Lite+quaxle wheel. I solved in 2 ways: using a tube (so the tube will inflate mainly outward avoiding serious spokes’ tension loss) or switching to a Vee Tire and retensioning a bit after inflating (even if it is not recommended). The Alchemist rim (mine) seems strong enough
Those spoke tension numbers are actually with a tube.
I am also planning on retensioning a tiny bit after inflating as well (yes, not recommended ). If I ever have to unseat the tire bead, then I can possibly lower the tension before doing so.
Do you all know LightBicycle? They manufacture carbon rims. In fact, they seem to be the main rival of Nextie. There are some rumors that they may want to develop a 36er carbon rim. Well, when I say “rumors”, I mean they are looking for info on what we, unicyclists, are looking for. They are still unsure whether they should invest in a mold but if we are a bunch of people asking them for a 36er carbon rim, they may develop one!
I partly disagree with you. I’d prefer a narrower rim, such as the Braus Alchemist one. The tires may be harder to fit, but it feels better to ride than the Stealth 2 rim.
However, regarding the tubeless part, I agree it is a nonsense.
In fact, I guess what I’m looking for is a Braus Alchemist rim with 36 holes
I’m in a very torn position about carbon rims right now.
It’d be lovely to have a rim made to fit current 36" tyres made by Innova, but I equally don’t want to perpetuate the production of tyres which are simply not up to modern standards and therefore do not fit properly on an ideal 36" rim.
It would seem to make very little sense for them to make a competitor to the Nextie rim, with the same diameter issues with current Innova made 36" tyres as there’s not exactly a huge market there, but it would equally seem silly for them to make a rim to match existing tyres when it would then be likely to not fit properly with any future modern construction 36" tyres (kevlar bead, accurate BSD).
I don’t know much, but is there no way of bringing both worlds together? I mean, maybe there could be some way of building the rim such as it would accept a current tire and a “correct” tire.
Innova makes a 36 inch bike tire? I checked online and couldn’t find one anywhere. 29er largest I found. Do you have a link, and is it compatible with the stealth ll rim?
I’d be down with a rim from them. I suspect they’re sharp enough to read any and all details about Nextie’s input to this space. And I feel a bit more reassured by the customer service know-how they’ve shown me.
I get it is niche - but looking at the bike wheel bikes from TrueBike and 36pollici, there’s a market there.
The cross over is that the tyres for the most part are coming I think from the unicycle need for a tyre. Vee perhaps being the exception now - in terms of how they’re making it/business model - but it did also originate due to unicyclists clubbing together to get one made.
So LB would be super wise to listen to all the needs and concerns about tyre and rim compliance from the unicycle space - to solely to help unicyclists, but to make for a more compliant product for our two-wheelin’ brethren!
I don’t imagine the unicyclist market is that huge, but I do see a hunger for innovation here.
I’d gladly buy a Braus rim - for which I do have a line on supply, even if it is expensive.
I’d prefer to get a 36h option from LB that was a mix of the Braus design - which to my eyes just seems better than what Nextie went with - and say a dose of inspiration from the Steath2 rim for good measure.
That would be great. But 36er seems to be the least of their problems. During the Covid-19 pandemics, they stopped producing T-Monsters to focus on more traditional tires, meaning they probably don’t sell many T-Monsters. I’m not sure they want to invest in a new 36er tire. But I may be wrong. And I hope so!
I think I’d be a happy chap if I saw a carbon rim work with a Vee tyre at its max PSI.
Sure the tyre isn’t really road focused but when I’ve pumped mine up to a high PSI on my standard rim I’ve found it to feel super fast rolling. No more sluggish that a NR lite. In fact it was less so perhaps because it felt like it reacted more to the PSI going up.
Off the back of this whisper re a 36” rim from LB I decided to ping them an email to express interest in such a thing - you know, stoke the engines so to speak. I got this by reply:
What inner width of 36" rim do you like? Also what about the rim width?
What tire size will you use? How much tire pressure will you use on it? We can design the rim accordingly.
I don’t quite know what to make of it. I guess it is the first intro before forwarding to an engineer - but if taken at face value it makes it seem do-able. However I do feel like I’m seeing signs of déjà vu (re the previous mission to get a rim built by another company)
). If I ever have to unseat the tire bead, then I can possibly lower the tension before doing so.
