Are skinny road bike tyres usually BRUTAL?
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"Matrix" was Trek's house brand rims and were OEM on most Trek bicycles before they started to used the Bontrager name. Having owned a couple and worked on several more Treks with Matrix rims I never found them particularly difficult to install and remove tires. Some tires were a struggle and others fit fairly easily but that's true of all the other make rims I've dealt with.
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"Matrix" was Trek's house brand rims and were OEM on most Trek bicycles before they started to used the Bontrager name. Having owned a couple and worked on several more Treks with Matrix rims I never found them particularly difficult to install and remove tires. Some tires were a struggle and others fit fairly easily but that's true of all the other make rims I've dealt with.
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Yes, and no. Both are private label brands owned and used by Trek. But Trek doesn't make rims, they just label rims that other make. And there's no reason to assume they have the same profiles or are even made in the same factory. In fact there's no reason to assume that a Bontrager rim made in 2014 will be made by the same factory as one made in the past.
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Yes, and no. Both are private label brands owned and used by Trek. But Trek doesn't make rims, they just label rims that other make. And there's no reason to assume they have the same profiles or are even made in the same factory. In fact there's no reason to assume that a Bontrager rim made in 2014 will be made by the same factory as one made in the past.
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I don't know about the early years, but today's Treks are mainly made in the Orient. They don't make rims in the USA, and ship them to Taiwan or China to be built into wheels and put on bikes.
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Read my earlier post, I gave you website that sells those steel levers except those are encased in plastic to protect soft aluminum rims.
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You must have Puncture resistants like armadillo they are usually tough but do it a few times and they become pliable
#33
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To all: Yeah, these are US made Matrix rims, probably stock to the bike - which is a 91 Trek 1200. The alu framed, bright yellow one with the grey looking "static" effect...or however one can describe it.
I did all the usual tricks - inflating the tube, using a small tube, etc. but this was unusually hard. These Conti tyres are the brown walls but they're pretty worn so it's time to replace them. Hoping money evens out soon - it's been a pretty brutal winter - so I've got a few in mind. Yellow walls to match the frame sounds like a nice idea. Just need to get a yellow and black saddle to replace the brick-red and black scrounging special I've got on it now.
I hadn't thought about lubing the tyre or expanding it in the dryer. I suppose I can give that a shot at least next time.
M.
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Last edited by JohnDThompson; 02-22-14 at 01:56 PM.
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Unless their the wire beaded ones and then they don't go on so well their entire life. That's the only reason I have a VAR is because I use to buy those tires when I lived in goathead city and no combination of tire or liner or tube worked real well except the Armadillos All Condition tires
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When I was at Trek in the early-mid 80's, "Matrix" rims were made in Waterloo, not in the main factory, but in the original old red barn downtown where Trek first started. The extrusions were made to spec by another company (don't remember which, exactly) and shipped to Waterloo as straight stock, where they were rolled, pinned and drilled. Some models were sent off-site again for anodizing and/or heat treatment, then returned to Waterloo to be built into wheels. The Waterloo production should have a "Made in USA" label:
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I have two sets of Matrix ISO11's here. My son rides one set . They are the toughest rim to mount tires on, tougher than any other rim in my experience. I would rather glue a tubular. This is a rim where you take three tire irons with you to go ride as there is a good chance you might bust one, that's if you can get it between the rim tape and bead to lift it over the edge of the rim. They are on my upgrade list for sure!.
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I don't for the simple reason that tires that need to be jacked on a bear to remove. I'm very selective about tire/rim combinations since I consider the ability to fix a flat in the dark and cold (and probably rain) with cold half numb fingers a prerequisite.
OTOH, I've come upon people stranded and struggling, and ended up bending or breaking tire levers trying to get tires off.
There's zero technical benefit to tires and rims that make mounting that hard, but as long as people accept it, we'll only see more.
OTOH, I've come upon people stranded and struggling, and ended up bending or breaking tire levers trying to get tires off.
There's zero technical benefit to tires and rims that make mounting that hard, but as long as people accept it, we'll only see more.
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However the answer depends on where and how one rides. If riding far (beyond bus/taxi.friend pickup range) from home you have to weight the risk of getting stranded by a flat. As I said, I've seen people so stranded because the tire was so tight they couldn't slide a tire lever under it out on the road.
The real answer lies in not accepting this nonsense in the first place. Dealers know which rims and tires are always tight, and should complain to their suppliers, especially to bike companies using them OEM. They need to score them negatively when purchasing, and let the vendors know that it's an issue that could cost sales. Tipping the financial scales from stuff that doesn't work to stuff that does eventually will get better, more serviceable product out there.
Consumers can start the ball rolling by simply refusing to buy tight tires, and or returning some of the grief of tight rims to dealers by complaining clearly and consistently until the message is heard.
I ride tubulars on the road, so the only wired-on ties I buy are mtn tires, but when a dealer friend suggests a tire I know to be tight, I pass and tell him why.
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I know what you say is true, but what is there to do? You have the wheels. You have the tires. Are you going to chuck it all and go in search of an easy mounting combination? I share the frustration and have since the early '80s when the Specialized Turbo tires first came out (THAT was a tough tire to mount). It doesn't seem to be getting better. If anything it is just getting worse. So shouldn't all of us in this fix know how to deal with it and avail ourselves of the solution? I know I sound like a broken record, but having the VAR tool (I'm on my third one; the first one wore out and half of the second one got left on the road side - my bad.) since way back when has allowed me to get every tire on and every tire off, every time without fail and without damaging the rims, tires or tubes. I don't know about dark, rain and cold. I'm sure those conditions HAVE been included, I just can't remember when. All I can say is that as long as hard to mount and dismount tires/rims are going to be the rule, I'm carrying the VAR.
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