The engineer who designed these should be forced to mount tires for every pour soul that tries to bead the tire to these poorly designed aluminum pieces of garbage. The quality control guy should get his eyes checked and the bike companies that spec this garbage should have to foot the bill to replace the wheelset with a better made product. rant over.
absolutely HATE raceface ar30 rims
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Nosdeho
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I have had to mount tires to these on multiple sets. From Maxxis to Schwalbe and some Continentals. I have used forced air, a air can connected to a floor pump, and prepped the tires to mount easier. I am a mounting fool. These rims cannot seat to the bead, in fact the tire mounted RIGHT AWAY putting it on an I9 rim following this fiasco. People who say they have had no problem probibbly took it to a bike shop. EVERY bike mechanic I know HATES these rims but they still seem to get them on.One said they just need extra effort. I was not lacing them to a hub just mounting a stupid tire that should have taken a minute that turned into a mental feat of frustration.
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Best to type that as "bike mechanic" if this is the case because (to put it bluntly) they don't know wtf they're doing. I recently swapped on a Conti X-King on mine for summer with my bare hands and a floor pump. Good luck on that shoe tying thing.
The RF ARC's are the only rims I keep in my shop, and regularly use the 25 and the 30 for a lot of gravel or MTB wheel builds. The offset spoke bed allows for wheels with even or almost even left-to-right spoke tension. They do seem to have a hop at the weld but I haven't found that to be unique to RF rims. The spoke access holes on the back of the rim can extend pretty far towards the bead seat, far enough that on rims with used rim tape where the air pressure had dimpled the tape, they can really be tough to get tires to seat.
Overall though, tubeless mounting issues aren't unique to RF rims - issues with tires being nearly impossible to seat are just part of the current tubeless tire market. Sometimes they mount right up, sometimes it can take an hour. Rims with flat bead seat areas (as opposed to those with retainer "humps") are pretty bad in general, and non-offset rims can be easier but build weaker wheels.
I'd guess that tighter industry standards for tires & rim seat diameters would help with this, but that would require the industry to cooperate with itself -- doesn't currently seem to be a strong suit. The only thing that seems to be happening with rims is the move to "hookless" which seems to serve no benefit other than allowing carbon rims to be made more cheaply at the expense of rider safety.
Overall though, tubeless mounting issues aren't unique to RF rims - issues with tires being nearly impossible to seat are just part of the current tubeless tire market. Sometimes they mount right up, sometimes it can take an hour. Rims with flat bead seat areas (as opposed to those with retainer "humps") are pretty bad in general, and non-offset rims can be easier but build weaker wheels.
I'd guess that tighter industry standards for tires & rim seat diameters would help with this, but that would require the industry to cooperate with itself -- doesn't currently seem to be a strong suit. The only thing that seems to be happening with rims is the move to "hookless" which seems to serve no benefit other than allowing carbon rims to be made more cheaply at the expense of rider safety.
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Too much obviously
I don't have a tension meter. It did not feel much different than the others.
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24,227 Posts
Too much obviously
I don't have a tension meter. It did to feel much different than the others.
I've built several sets to ~120 kgf and no problems. Also no problems mounting tires on them.
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4,741 Posts
Mine will inflate with a mini pump. Tires are are loose enough I can rotate them. I don't get any dimples on the spoke holes, perhaps you are using a poor quality tubeless tape. I have nukeproof tape on the ar30's and the tires have been remounted and re-inflated several times. When I first built them up, I mounted the tires, and inflated them with the mini pump with no sealant and left them to sit for several months as the bike was missing other parts. They held air fine just like that.
So maybe bad tape/taping job.
Every tire I've ever had goes on with the floor pump, and many go on with a mini pump easily. This whole needing a compressor thing is telling you your tape job or technique is bad and should be addressed first.
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My AR30 wheel after it had had a tire on it inflated for months with no sealant.
This is the wheelset on the mmmbop right now with 2.8 nobby nics.
![Image]()
This is the wheelset on the mmmbop right now with 2.8 nobby nics.
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7,189 Posts
What tape is that? Stans will dimple.
This is the real issue, a total lack of standards between tire manufacturers and rim manufacturers. Overall though there is no tire that cannot be easily mounted if you use the right tricks. An extra layer of tape, soapy water, removing the valve core and a high pressure compressor will seat even the most stubborn rim and tire combination. My compressor goes to 175psi and can seat just about anything. Before that I had an 80psi Harbor Freight compressor and it struggled to seat many tires. If you absolutely cannot get a tire to seat, put a tube in and fill it up. Then unseat one side to remove the tube. That way one bead is locked and you can easily seat the other bead.
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24,227 Posts
PSI don't matter so much, it's volume that seats tires. Just need a big tank.
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It's volumetric flow rate, which is ultimately determined by pressure given that the hose, nozzle and stem are fixed areas. You wouldn't even need a tank if you had a pump with enough power to keep up.
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I'm no scientist. Just saying that if you have a big tank @30psi it's plenty and you don't need a motor.
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I currently have a set that came on a new bike - initially had my doubts about them but was surprised when the maxxis tires (brand new minions) went on tubeless with very little effort of drama. They will eventually be replaced only because I am not a fan of the overall system weight - but that's a me problem, not a major flaw of the rim.
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If you need a compressor, 30 psi isn't going to be enough because a lot of air is escaping around the bead before it seats. The benefit of the compressor is delivering enough air to push the bead into place even with the large air loss around the rim. The tank pressure at 30 psi does not mean the tire will have 30 psi in it as soon as you blow air into the tire.
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11,227 Posts
Speaking of Race Face, I'm dealing with a unique scenario. I installed a RF Turbine crank and a RF 30mm BB as well. My BBinfinite ceramic BB showed up yesterday and I installed it. Now my crank spindle is way too long! I don't get it. It's an external BB! Everything is the same width.
I will need to measure the total length of the BB to figure out this spindle issue.
I will need to measure the total length of the BB to figure out this spindle issue.
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8,890 Posts
I have to run a couple 1mm spindle shims (NDS) on a frame or two with Atlas cranks. Easy, peasy..
edit: if it's more than a few mm... check the spindle length, RF makes multiples and they're interchangeable.
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8,253 Posts
Jeremy spoke in class today....
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