Sorry to start yet another thread but this is very important and I need ALL the people who have had issues with the current “X” airfoil to speak up and let UDC know about your experience…why? I spoke on the phone with both Amy (5/31/07) and today with Andrew, and…
BOTH said that they have NEVER heard of ANY problem with this rim, and that NOBODY has EVER called to complain or report a tire “blowing” off the rim, either while riding or otherwise. So my feeling is, something is quite strange because they say that they regularly read this forum, and that this is totally new news to them.
So I ask, ALL THOSE who have had issueswith this rim– several of whom have posted that indeed their TA tire had blown of of their “X” airfoil rim–PLEASE EMAIL OR CALL UDC and tell them your story. I was also ready to order the Nimbus 36 Deluxe and asked Andrew, since he said he’s never heard of the tire coming off this rim, if he would guarantee that would not happen, under normal riding conditions.
He finally stated that something like that would be covered under the standard 30 day warranty, and that they would replace it within that time period if that problem did occur. I ended the conversation still feeling very unsure about whether or not to make the purchase at this time.
My advice: You could start another new thread, asking EVERYONE who’s experienced problems with the rim to share their stories. Then email the link to UDC after a week or so.
Yeah I was going to do that then I thought it would be better to let people relate their “X” complaints directly to UDC, wither by email or phone, then let us know the result.
Hopefully this turns out to be a bad batch of a limited number of rims, not a whole production run in the wrong size. This air really needs to be cleared, so people can go back to buying those rims if they’re fine, or knowing what their tire limitations are if they’re small.
I know both the Coker and the Radial TA tire are very tight fits on my 1st-generation Airfoil rim. I had to get a bike shop to change my tire. I like my new Radial, btw!
Its not that I dont want to participate, its more that:
A) I was riding my rim 3PSI over 32.
B) I’ve brought th issue up to Tim and Andrew at UDC US already
C) The rim was already outside the 30 day warranty window.
D) I just dont want to put that much time into it. I work with various web hosting companies doing technical support and there are questions that clients ask that we are instructed to BS about. Example:
“hi my sites statistics dont work”
real reason: shared web server is overloaded. We dont tell people that, we just BS about it and tell them to download the logs and run stats themselves if they are important to them.
so there are times where you should realize that the company made a mistake, but if they’re ignoring the issue this long into it they will continue to do so. It doesn’t make them right but it happens.
On my non-“x” rim, I had to take it to a bike shop to have a wheel TA tire put on. On my X rim, after I patched my tube, I reinstalled the tire without even being close to needing tire levers.
No the post I was responding to didn’t specify a tire blowing off, but that it was just very easy to install the TA onto the “X” foil. So I just wondered if that’s a good or a bad thing to be able to install the TA easily.
Ok that’s clears that up thanks! But I’m still perplexed and befuddled (wow TWO $2 words in a row!) at UDC’s claim that they have NEVER heard from ANYONE about ANY problem with the “X” foil rim. Amazing to me. The implication is clearly that as far as UDC is concerned, there are no issues with this rim, and it is perfectly sound in every way. So there can be only ONE explanation; Somebody is being less than truthful, to put it as tactfully as possible.
I’ve had my own go-around with UDC, (about defective powdercoating on a new-out-of-box frame), in which they went two rounds trying to convince me that the defects are normal, implying that I’m being really picky, and finally sending me a new frame on the third round when I insisted I was not satisfied.
It seems to be their default response to customer complaints.
I had a blow out on the a new airfoil weekend before last, thankfully shortly after I’d got off it. I was running it at something slightly lower than 40 PSI.
I’m in the UK though so don’t know how much point there is telling UDC USA. I haven’t gotten round to talking to UDC UK about it yet having been working nights recently. I’m hoping UDC UK will be more helpful that it sounds like their cousins across the water have been.
I’m in a bit of a quandry as to what to do as it’s pointless replacing the rim if it’s only going to be replaced with one of the same dimensions and I don’t really fancy going back to a steel rim.
This is evidently why so many are waiting for a better, proper fitting rim/tire. I’ve decided to wait as well. There is just NO WAY I am going to be constantly worried about a blowout occuring at any moment, causing potential injury and being stranded in the midle of nowhere. Not worth it period imo.
Here’s how you tell: On past threads, we measured the outside diameter of the old & new rims. The good older ones were 806-807mm. The X rims are 802-803mm. Not a big difference, but that few millimeters can cause the Coker tire, which has a slightly larger bead circle than the TA, to blow off the X rim.
This is a much-discussed issue and the truth is that UDC intends to sell off the remaining X rims before they order the next big batch. And what that next big batch will be like is anyone’s guess.
