Road tubeless experiences

Just get Fillmore valves, best thing ever for tubeless.

Any suggestions for how to fix air leaking out around the tubeless valve stem?

I taped the wheels, installed the valves, got the tires to seat, but air leaks from around the stem hole on both wheels. As best I can tell, no air is leaking from any of the spoke holes (used soapy water to check), so I think the tape job is good.

(Small rant: I’m frustrated with Enve. For as expensive as their wheels are, they do not tape them, install the valves, or even provide rotor lock rings. Hunt, eThirteen, and many other brands with lower price points do. Rant over.)

What has worked for me in the past is, electrical tape over the valve hole (a couple of inches either side), make a pin hole over the valve hole, then push push the valve through and close/ tighten with the nut as usual.

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That;s a good suggestion. These wheels have some sort of rectangular indent about an inch on either side of the valve hole - looks like part of the mold for the valve hole. Maybe the tape isn’t doing a good job in this area.

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As above, but inch wide duct tape :sunglasses:

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I don’t know, guys. I never do any of that. Puncture with a round file, install valves finger tight, and my valves seal fine.

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^^^ that’s what I do. And the shops that have taped my rims.

I will say that I find Enve rims more challenging to tape neatly due to the intricate shape of the rim bed. But I’d be careful with any unusual valve sealing measures. Any leaks from a bad tape job that make it inside the rim will probably leak from the valve area just due to it being the largest opening. This does NOT mean the leak is at the valve where it contacts the rim bed. Enve even stipulates you use their pressure relieving nut, because air does not get out easily through the spoke openings of their rims, and without some way to relieve pressure from a bad or failed tape job, the rim will explode.

Enve doesn’t tape the wheels because tape doesn’t hold well for shipping. It’s a problem for every brand but Enve chooses to let customers take care of taping rims at home to avoid issues. I’d call it a smart decision but it does require that you are able to tape your own rims.

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Do you have a source for that info?
Roval, DT Swiss and other brands I have purchased are pre-taped and have been perfect out of the box…

My source is Enve, I’ve also discussed it with Hunt who do tape wheels for shipping but are actively working on creating better tape. It’s the heat cycles that cause issues. Haven’t talked to dt swiss and roval wouldn’t say anything but it’s nothing specific to one brand vs another. Often new wheels have leaks in the tape, it’s because of heat cycles.

that is odd, i wonder why enve isn’t able to figure it out but other brands like roval and dt swiss don’t seem to have issues. maybe they are unwilling buy a rim taping machine for their domestic manufacturing facility?

factory rim tape jobs are the gold standard in my experience across many brands, and i’m talking about wheelsets (not tubeless wheels included in complete bikes which I suppose have the benefit of an inflated tube pressing against them during shipment/storage)

I have a pair of Giant taped from the factory as well. All set, tape, valve. Just mount the tires and good to go.

Edited: remember I had a pair of Mavic taped as well.

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whatever the giant OEM brownish-transparent tape is… it’s very good stuff IME

similar to the green powdercoating tape but with a much more tenacious adhesive

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My last two builds are tapeless, ie undrilled from the rim bed.

The LBS hates me and charge me a little extra (likely not enough to cover the extra labor), but worth it in the end.

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Exactly this one. GP5k with a floor pump, zero leaks. 1 year working flawlessly

No brand has it figured out. I’m glad you’ve had good luck but it’s a problem all brands experience.

i am not a professional in the bike industry, but you are the first instance i’ve come across of a specific brand stating that they are having problems with pretaping across their products… It seems like it is more of an product/process quality issue with enve and not a universal thing that applies to all brands/mfgs.

Where is the Enve recommendation to retape when you ship a bike to an event? What if Enve ships new wheels in the winter? Why did my Enve tape on Enve 5.6 wheels NOT fail after riding month after month in 90+ degree heat of summer, and then within hours it was 60 degrees? That seems like more heat cycling than shipping UPS by truck in January (Utah to NorCal, straight shot down I-80).

i assume that josh is referring to enve stating that their tapejobs wouldn’t hold up during shipping/storage when not being acted upon by outside pressure (in the form of air pressure in a tubeless setup or from a tube pressing against it).

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