Repairing Vuma Quad
Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:54 am
Hi everybody. I own a 180mm Vuma Quad for around three years and i´m a little bit dissapointed and not surprised that zipp stop making them, nor do I totally believe the explanations they give us about: (Please note Zipp has discontinued this item to focus on our core product lines of wheels, bars, stems and seatposts) .
Anyways, i still think that they are light, stiff and beautiful. My complain is that they are no resistant enough. The first problem was with a chainring thread; it dies and i had to made a bigger hole to put a regular chainring bolt. Anyways, not a big deal.
But some months ago, i feel some play in BB. At first i think that the bearings had some kind of movement in the BB, but when i dismounted it i find that was the aluminium axel that had looseness with the carbon rod. It already was a big deal .
And here i show the proces i did to repair it:
The first thing I had to do was a tool to remove the left crank nut...
DSC02992 por monchito3000, en Flickr
... and a tool to separate the axel from de crank.
DSC02990 por monchito3000, en Flickr
Here are some weights:
DSC02984 por monchito3000, en Flickr
I thought in lightening the axis, but finally it seems to me a litle bit dangerous.
DSC02986 por monchito3000, en Flickr
then I needed a device to glue the rods perfectly aligned.
utillaje por monchito3000, en Flickr
and a centered substitutes for pedal axles.
centrajes biela por monchito3000, en Flickr
before glue the cranks I realized that the left crank nut would not tighten against carbon fiber, so I had to fill it with epoxy putty. This particular case is inexcusable and I think it's because of a poor design. The nut should not have been just a embellisher.
DSC02994 por monchito3000, en Flickr
and finally i could glue the cranks:
DSC03139 por monchito3000, en Flickr
DSC03140 por monchito3000, en Flickr
DSC03114 por monchito3000, en Flickr
as glue i used a mix of epoxy and these little pieces of carbon fiber
DSC03095 por monchito3000, en Flickr
And here the cranks completed.
vuma quad repaired por monchito3000, en Flickr
I hope to use the cranks for a few years more. May be i´m too naïf, but I think a +1000€ cranks should not have given me any problem, at less, not so soon. Anyways, it still seems a happy ending.
Anyways, i still think that they are light, stiff and beautiful. My complain is that they are no resistant enough. The first problem was with a chainring thread; it dies and i had to made a bigger hole to put a regular chainring bolt. Anyways, not a big deal.
But some months ago, i feel some play in BB. At first i think that the bearings had some kind of movement in the BB, but when i dismounted it i find that was the aluminium axel that had looseness with the carbon rod. It already was a big deal .
And here i show the proces i did to repair it:
The first thing I had to do was a tool to remove the left crank nut...
DSC02992 por monchito3000, en Flickr
... and a tool to separate the axel from de crank.
DSC02990 por monchito3000, en Flickr
Here are some weights:
DSC02984 por monchito3000, en Flickr
I thought in lightening the axis, but finally it seems to me a litle bit dangerous.
DSC02986 por monchito3000, en Flickr
then I needed a device to glue the rods perfectly aligned.
utillaje por monchito3000, en Flickr
and a centered substitutes for pedal axles.
centrajes biela por monchito3000, en Flickr
before glue the cranks I realized that the left crank nut would not tighten against carbon fiber, so I had to fill it with epoxy putty. This particular case is inexcusable and I think it's because of a poor design. The nut should not have been just a embellisher.
DSC02994 por monchito3000, en Flickr
and finally i could glue the cranks:
DSC03139 por monchito3000, en Flickr
DSC03140 por monchito3000, en Flickr
DSC03114 por monchito3000, en Flickr
as glue i used a mix of epoxy and these little pieces of carbon fiber
DSC03095 por monchito3000, en Flickr
And here the cranks completed.
vuma quad repaired por monchito3000, en Flickr
I hope to use the cranks for a few years more. May be i´m too naïf, but I think a +1000€ cranks should not have given me any problem, at less, not so soon. Anyways, it still seems a happy ending.