To Build UW or not to Build UW?

[janvanhulzen]

One possible solution for wheel friction is to saw smooth material on your wheel. The post below is from another thread:

@janvanhulzen

It has been a while and i have tried several things with my ultimate wheel modding two tires so far and am now happy with the result so far. I thought of posting the result here for others since it involves a considerable effort.

I have used duct tape which i found to be sub optimal. The tape does not stay in place for two long and is expensive to use. I tried taping the wheel and the leg armor.

I have used dish washer soap on a pear of jeans with i wear over the leg armor to prevent trashing the leg armor. This works but as you can imagine it is quite messy and raises eyebrows when you apply it on the street :-).

Currently i use the system demonstrated here:

http://www.tux.org/~bagleyd/ultimate.html

where Tubular Webbing is sewn on the tire. I have tried a standard needle with high quality thread. This is less than optimal since the sewing process wears out the tread quickly when it is pulled through. Also it requires a pair of pliers to get the needle through the tire. After a bit of googling i found this

http://www.speedystitcher.com/#the-basics

which works like a charm and is available on amazon. Be sure to include the additional waxed coarse thread they offer.

I started sewing away on a tyre and looped it twice on both sides. The result is shown below. The lower stitching is below the rim and is not visible.

I tried it today, again with leg armor below jeans and am satisfied with the result. There is a bit of friction and maybe the thread will wear through before long but i already have an idea on how to solve this when it does.

happy riding

here it is in action (leg armor is below my pants because i have KH leg armor which also causes friction)