I’ll make a parallel here that I doubt too many people will understand, but it’s like Arduino.
On the original Arduino boards there was a design error that meant that the pin headers on one side weren’t spaced correctly.
Do the manufacturers of products for that make incompatible shields with the correct pin spacing, in the hopes that Arduino boards will be suddenly fixed?
No, they make compatible shields with “incorrect” pin spacing, so that their products were compatible with existing boards.
Sure, other companies have also made products with “correct” spacing, and Arduino themselves have since made boards with different (and “correct” sizing and spacing), but the shields made for original Arduino boards were made to fit that oddity.
These hookless rims should have been designed for the NR Lite tyre (and other tyres with the same casing). If they in fact weren’t, then everyone’s time has been wasted. Future “correct” tyres don’t need hooks.
Nextie has wasted their time as nobody will buy them, and everyone who’s bought them has wasted their time and money buying a product that’s won’t do what they bought it for.
Now right at this moment I’m open to the possibility that there’s something Terry and I are doing wrong and in fact this rim can work with the NR Lite, but I’m not holding my breath.
Thanks for the refreshment - they’ve made errors in their claims as we know, including the age old mistake of assumption. Certainly also assumed myself that everything was going to be fine with swapping my nightrider over no problems. Eager to please us it seems. The unicyclist is clearly too sharp and the narrative has exposed holes in the way it’s been handled. Be nice to see any evidence of the 60psi. Maybe they got a good nightrider? Used special tricks? Maybe it was a porkie…
I see the parallel with the Arduino. Was trying to think of a similar scenario, more wheel orientated. One thing to change tooling for pin headers. Another to re-manufacture the tooling for CF rim production. Doubly so for an obscure sized wheel that’s a drop in the fiscal ocean of the cycle world. Compounded by that which is the nightrider tire and older/odd/unique specification/nature. No excuse would be good enough for those that feel burned.
Had I done more digging on the state of 36" tires and tubes. Would have thought twice on the 36" uni myself. Still happy I did. It’s a blast. Even if it feels bloated out of the box compared to the other wheel sizes. 95% prefer and seek riding on trails rather the pavement with all my unicycles though. I’m sure others feel different on this one. Ed Pratt especially so.
It seems too much to ask for a quality, modern weight, foldable, reasonable price/tread pattern tubeless tire we deserve. If we do - at least we have the rim we would need. I’ve asked Brian to nudge some of his tire buddies on this one. Fingers crossed. Quote below:
You gave us a great idea. Probably we could cooperate with a tire manufacturer and develop an ISO tubeless ready tire. That’s of prospect!
Let us put it into our considering plans. I’ll keep you updated in case we develop someday! I hope it come true in near future! - Brian via email
Admittedly, I’ve done less than 100 miles on my stock KH 36" and came to the conclusion quickly that I wanted less rotating mass and more tire/tube choice. Pre-covid it was hard to get 36" rubber. Now it’s just a bit silly.
Still want a nice tubeless tire for my nice tubless rim. That overshadows Nextie’s responses for me Yes - That hooked version may leave a bit of a bad taste though if you believed.
In my eyes this is it, and also where my concerns have always been.
They seemed to be aware that it might be a problem:
but then decided it was fine. Was there too much pressure on them to make it, even if the reality was that either they needed a new machine or produce something that’s non-ideal for the tyres we need it for?
Yes, it would. @UniGeezer, did you/have you made any further enquiries about this?
I remounted the NR with one of my last 36er tubes but this time inflated only to about 25psi, which for me is the ideal pressure for 36er MUni, and possibly even lower. I will be testing it on the trail soon and will report back with results. Hopefully we can still get some use from this rim, even if it’s only functional at low pressures.
Here’s a hop test at 18psi, which still felt firm, so I could easily lower the pressure even more without bottoming out. The main objective was to see if the bead would hold during significant compression at much lower psi, which it did. This successful test gives me hope this rim is likely suitable for 36er MUni. I tried to upload it directly but the file size limit is only 4mb, so here’s a YouTube link:
Although interesting, I find the NR Lite horrible to ride on at pressures lower than 35PSI, and don’t really have many opportunities for 36er MUni!
If we can’t get it to work at (at least) 45PSI, then it’s of little use to me, and I’d struggle to trust it unless I could get it to 60PSI. That’s why I had it at 50 on my latest attempt. I was planning to check back on it after an hour or so and then take it to 60PSI before leaving it in the shed for a few more days.
From how the tyre was rising out of the rim for me after my first ride, it sadly seems like the hook on the rim is doing nothing to actually assist with keeping the bead in the rim. The higher bead-lock ridge will likely be helping to keep the tyre on generally, and when riding at low pressures, but it’s likely that the hookless rim would perform similarly with the same modification. I’ve checked back on all of my pictures and there’s nothing to suggest improper seating of the tyre, and as you also know from personal experience, when it’s on, it’s on - there’s not really any way to seat it better; it seats very evenly and solidly over the bead lock.
@JimT posted an image above (some time ago) showing the NR bead superimposed on the Nextie rim profile, and at the time I went “oh well it’ll push more into the gap especially with the higher bead-lock, and the rubber is malleable so the bead will press into the corner more, and the hook will press into the tyre creating a more pronounced bead hump on the tyre”, but it seems that’s not really the case.
Yes, it’s either properly seated or it’s not. I’m sure you have plenty of experience mounting tires as well as I do, and there is no such issue with the stealth rim even at 65psi.
On the Stealth II rim (now called the Dominator 36" IIRC), you can have a NR tyre seated incorrectly which will increase the risk of a blowout (and @JimT also posted a good example of that above!), but because the space for the bead is so large even with a tyre that’s not seated perfectly centrally it’s pretty low risk.
I don’t personally know anyone who’s had a blowout on a Stealth II 36" rim, and most of those people are far less careful than I am around things like tube and tyre install!
I feel fairly confident in mine at 25 psi in lower at this point. The trails i ride are very Rooty so lots of hopping and tight corners that almost certainly roll the tire sideways and no issues so far. I’ve done plenty of hopping in place also jumping back-and-forth to put lateral load on the tire with no issues as well
@saskatchewanian : would you happen to still have some of your frankentires around?
Because technically, doing a frankentire with tubeless tires should be a good enough protoype to test the “pure tubeless tire” theory…
Vee tire answer an italian 36er bikes builder related to Alchemist that next Track Monster will arrive maybe around mid 2023… (I got yesterday the message). The last couple tires on the market were sold from Vee Tire months ago at about 180$ (I paid mine before world crysis half that price)
I emailed Alice 2 days ago to report that there have now been 2 out 2 (so far) blow-off failures with this rim; mowcius and mine. I explained that these failures occured at just 45psi after initially and successfully seating the beads, and in my case, let it sit at 35psi for several hours before increasing the air pressure.
I also mentioned that although mowcius used (and has used 29 inch tubes successfully before), I used a traditional 36 inch tube, yet we both experienced the same blow off failure at just 45psi.
I expressed my concern and disappointment at these results but I have not yet heard back from her, which is unusual. She usually responds the next day unless they are on vacation or away from the office for an extended period. My guess is she may be in talks with the engineers before she formulates her response.
I emailed Brian yesterday mentioning that we’ve both had issues, questioning the legitimacy of their 60PSI Nightrider picture and asking for more info on their setup.
28.5 mile paved trail ride on the Nextie at 30psi today. Normal tire installation, bead seat at/before 30psi; subpar wheel build, even for me. I built up enough confidence to donut, speed, and hit some bumps. Am I ever so pleased with the whole thing? It’s more like my 29er than the KG/stealth2 I bought stock.
As a muni/low pressure rim it definitely seems like it has promise, just not at high pressures for either the hooked or hookless, at least not without the Vee tyre.
To my situation, it was a big improvement over the aluminum rim in acceleration and maneuverability. My memory won’t disagree with anyone who might will say lower pressures than 30psi go with the best pavement rides. What might likely be the condition for failure this way?
I really hope that it is an misunderstanding and that its really mid 2022
I prefer lower pressures for my Unis as its more comfortable and easier to ride for me on my mixed asphalt and gravel rides. So far I’ve been riding at 30-35psi in my Vee T-Monster on the (original) Nextie hookless rim. But reading all this made me curious if riding at higher pressure was even possible. So for my last ~12km ride I rode at 45psi. And had no issues… so the T-Monster is different for sure.
Yes - That hooked version may leave a bit of a bad taste though if you believed. 
