Veloplug brown touser moment... heads up....

[shadwell]

Had a very near miss on training ride yesterday...
Rear wheel blow out caused by a veloplug blowing through the rim (into the rim cavity)...

In summary the perimeter of top face as you look at a veloplug when installed folded upward under the pressure of the air in the inner tube pushing down on it.
With the veloplug displaced, obviously the inner tube expanded into the inner rim cavity and blew through...

No big deal save for i was doing over 60kmh at the time on a winding coarse chip descent... did a nice off road detour whilst riding rodeo speed wobbles.. ....managed to stop the bike about a meter from a barb wire fence... Hoogerland and Lance flashbacks ......

I guess the take away is, occasionally inspect your veloplugs for seating location, deformation, damage.
Also closely check them when new that a moulding defect is not present... overly thin, mis-shaped etc.. Also of course do not fit the smaller veloplug in the larger rim hole.....Hard for me to know what state mine ws in as being forced through the rim manged the thing... as did fishing it back out with long nose pliars....

As backgroud the rim was 2011 HED ardennes SL, plugs were yellow, inner tube Conti Race, tyre Conti GP4000s 23mm , pressure 110psi.... the descent was "Mystery Road" off Tamborine Mountain on the Gold Coast for anyone that may know it...

[fitty4]

Happy to hear you escaped the incident the way you did that could have ended up really nasty.

I use electrical tape over mine for 2 reasons, if I have a puncture I won't loose one of them and the second reason is that I have seen some of the plugs being a bit more loose and they can turn a bit and I'm afraid that they could pinch the tube a bit, it probably won't happen but this way I'm safe. I also put an extra piece over the valve hole because I have had a puncture caused by the sharp edges from the valve hole

[BeeSeeBee]

Thanks for the heads up, just threw some electrical tape over my plugs.

[Stolichnaya]

Just out of curiosity, what is the new weight of the plugs and electrical tape?
Seems like it might be counterproductive compared to standard Velox rim tape alone or some other light brand of rim tape/strip.
Let us know.

[euan]

As backgroud the rim was 2011 HED ardennes SL, plugs were yellow, inner tube Conti Race, tyre Conti GP4000s 23mm , pressure 110psi

out of interest why were you running wider rims with the pressure so high?

[theremery]

Veloplugz and 1 layer of Rox ultralite would be a nice firm combo that would still be WELL UNDER any standard strip (Maybe 9g/wheel average??). 1 layer of ROX ultralite is not recommended by most weenies with serious durability goals.....so I'm considering this option.

[sugarkane]

Stan's tubeless tape comes in at 5g per wheel.. And a $10 roll will do 5 wheels...
Don't know why you'd bother with plugs..?

[Gearjunkie]

I use electrical tape over my veloplugs, just to hold them in place so that light weight tubes can't get under them and pinch flat.

I haven't weighed it, but the electrical tape is minimal, with veloplugs still way under standard rim tape.

Cheers

GJ

[ergott]

Stan's tubeless tape comes in at 5g per wheel.. And a $10 roll will do 5 wheels...
Don't know why you'd bother with plugs..?

I know for tubeless road, they recommend using two layers of yellow. Have you been using one layer with tubes? No issues?

[sugarkane]

Stan's tubeless tape comes in at 5g per wheel.. And a $10 roll will do 5 wheels...
Don't know why you'd bother with plugs..?

I know for tubeless road, they recommend using two layers of yellow. Have you been using one layer with tubes? No issues?

Yea one layer has always worked for me real well. Your not trying to seal the rim so you don't need two.
I've cooked all sorts of heavier rim tape too as I like to brake very heavy and late causing it to pull away from the sides of the rim usually causing deflation shortly afterwards and I've never had the Stan's fail on me.
I saying that I'm all about tubulars now

[ergott]

Yea one layer has always worked for me real well. Your not trying to seal the rim so you don't need two.
I've cooked all sorts of heavier rim tape too as I like to brake very heavy and late causing it to pull away from the sides of the rim usually causing deflation shortly afterwards and I've never had the Stan's fail on me.
I saying that I'm all about tubulars now

I build with several clincher rims that Veloplugs don't fit. This is a great option as it's light and doesn't add much to the circumference of the wheel making for easy tire mounts.

Thanks!

[shadwell]

@ Euan, reason i run those pressure is cos i an 80kgs in kit, and that pessure is the inflation at 10 pm the night before.
When i pump again after 24hrs its normally dropped 5 to 10 psi, so i reckon on 5psi drop over night off that during the ride, and likely a few psi when the pump head comes off..... so around 95-100 fr and 100- 105 rear at start of ride, after 5 hrs expect a few more to have gone.......
Used to run 110 fr 115 rear on standard rim so this is cose to 10% lower for the HED's.....

I also tried going lower, rear was Ok but i thought i was flatting when i wasn't, annoying as it plays on your mind, the front however became vague in faster tighter corners downhill... likley when i was in the drops slighly more mass forward and loading the front tipping into a corner.....

Additionally at leat 5 more psi comes off in the wet..... front and rear, lwer speeds don't manifest the handling characteistics i mention above.....

Still, not dead, got away with it, so happy days.....