Tubeless on the Paragon

For several years I have considered it and now, just a couple weeks before the Mohican 100, I have done it... no more tubes in the Paragon.  At lunch I went over to the shop and picked up Bontrager rim strips for my Mustang rims, Bontrager valve stems, and a bottle of Stan's NoTubes sealant.  Oh yeah, I splurged on an injector too.  Ryan had told me about the benefits of being able to inject sealant without breaking the bead on the tire.  He made a good sales pitch.

Ready to go tubeless.

I thought about taking some pictures of the process, but once I got started I just kept going to get it done.  I stripped my tires and tubes off the wheels and got to work stretching on the rim strip.  This took some effort but it went on solid.  And then... where are the valve stems?  Notice they are not in the picture above.  After looking everywhere I convinced myself I left them on my desk at work.  Doh, no finishing this project tonight.

Next day.

Walk into work, walk up to desk... no stems.  I decided they had to be in pants pocket from the previous day, even though I checked last night.  The suspense was killing me so I ran home for lunch, found the stems in the bottom, folded over tip of my pants pocket, and finished the job.

The beads on my Maxxis Ardent tires have always been tough to seat.  I used multiple application of dish soap water, my air compressor, and 70psi of force before having the bead fully seated all the way around.  "Ping!" as the bead seated.

Soap bubbles were popping around the whole circumference of the rim and maybe a little through the sidewall.  Was this really a good idea?  Per Stan's video instructions on the web site, I rotated and sloshed the tire.  I left each one sitting horizontally before going back to work.

Home from work, I found a couple places the beads were still not seated.  More soapy water, air out and air back in... "ping!"  Fully seated.  It also seemed no more air was leaking.  Tomorrow will be the first ride, hopefully they hold pressure over night!

Rack Attached

KT and the kids are gone for an overnight, so with the place to myself I got to work attaching the new roof rack system.

All the pieces and part laid out.

Attachment was very easy thanks to the factory mounting points on the roof of my Mazda 3.  Set the cross bars with Landing Pads loosely attached onto the roof, adjust for proper width and even bar stick out on both ends, then bolt it down.  It's solid.

Tightening the cross bars.

As previously mentioned in another post, I found a great seller on Craigslist.  He really took care of everything and included all the pieces, parts, and manuals.  In addition he gave me some advice about waxing the roof before installing the parts.  On his car this prevented any unwanted marks when the rack was removed.  I took his advice and laid down a coat of Meguiars NXT wax before installation.  You can see a reflection of the garage door opener on the ceiling in the pic above!

Of course I had to test it out with a bike carrier, so I threw one up there and lifted my bike into place.  The load and unload is very easy but may be challenging on top of my car unless you are 6' or taller.  Daniel is going to need to grow a little before throwing his bike up there.

Bike on the upper level.

Hydrapak = Excellent Customer Service

Recently I noticed a small issue developing with my Hydrapak hydration pack.  The small loop inside the pack from which the hydration bladder hangs was beginning to detach.  I've figured that one of these days I would open the pack after a ride and find the loop had given way.

I sent the folks at Hydrapak an email with an image of the frayed loop attached.  Within 24 hours I had a reply stating the loop must not have been sewed properly.  They asked for my address to send a new pack.  Wow, prompt and very fair service.

 My replacement Hydrapak Flume.

About 7 to 10 days later a package was sitting on the front porch.  I had wondered if they would send just the pack itself or a complete pack, bladder and drinking tube.  After opening the mailing envelope I was excited to find the whole deal, including what appears to be a newer version 45 degree bite valve than my 90 degree bite valve.  Nice!

I give Hydrapak customer service very high marks.  Nobody wants to have a problem with a product but we all know mistakes happen and the important thing is the service you receive if the problem happens to you.  Very well done Hydrapak!

Also, I should point out the Hydrapak system is best in its category in my opinion.  Check out their web site (www.hydrapak.com) and study up on the ease of use and cleaning of their bladder.