Open tubular failures on ENVE wheels:

[akaspin]

As I see on enve site 4.5 rims is significantly differs from others (3.4, 5.6 ...). Has anyone compared them?

[CrankAddictsRich]

digging up this thread.... saw this first hand this weekend.

My neighbor has Enve SES wheels (got them last September). He has had Vittoria Corsa G+ on since he got them. When this safety advisory came out, I told him about it and he said he'd keep an eye on the tires. This past weekend we went for a ride and just as we were beginning to go up a climb, I noticed that he was falling off the pace a little and we both looked down at his rear wheel... sure enough, it was going flat. We stopped to change it and I spun the tire to see if I could find the puncture location... sure enough there was a small chunk of glass stuck in the tread. I popped it out and inspected it and the tire seemed ok other wise. As I unmounted the tire to put a new tube in, I found a slice in the sidewall right at the bead location that was roughly 1cm to 1/2" in length. It looked as if a knife had cut the casing, right at the crease where the tire bead meets the rim. He eneded up calling an Uber XL that brought him to our LBS to put on some new tires. I wish I had taken some pics.

[Nefarious86]

Did he inspect the rim where the cut was? Was there a sharp edge?

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[biwa]

Yes, would love to see some pics of the edges of your neighbours Enve rim so we have an idea of how much sharpness will cause such failure, be in Enve or not/

[CrankAddictsRich]

Did he inspect the rim where the cut was? Was there a sharp edge?

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Yes, we both inspected it. There was definitely a sharp edge.... not sharp enough that it would slice your finger if you tounched it, but it definitely looked sharper than the edge I've ever seen on any other wheels... imagine looking at a knife that you find on a kitchen counter.. it appears sharp, but then when you go to slice some vegentables, it doesn't slide right through, you have to put some effort in. I imagine that over time and many km's, that edge will easily wear through the cotton sidewall. I'd imagine it would cut through rubber sidewalls as well, eventually... but rubber tires probably fail in other places before that happens.

[RossLB]

I'm resurrecting this thread to see if there is any update.

Enve appear to have gone silent on the issue. I have sent them an email but have had no response.

I really wanted to know whether the problem they identified affects the newer Vittoria Corsa 2.0 tires, and also the older Open Paves.

[TobinHatesYou]

I have brand new ENVE rims and there are definitely still sharp edges on the bead hooks. One of my rims has an "open void" on the bead hook, but that's nothing new and I've had that on older rims. I don't run open tubulars though...closest thing is Corsa G2.0 tubeless, which have a thin rubber coating over the cotton casing.

[Alexandrumarian]

A bit of rubber will not stop a sharp edge for long...

[mattr]

Hopefully long enough to wear out the tread!

Wonder how the trend for larger tyres, with lower pressures is affecting the failure rate?

[RossLB]

The original warning from Enve singled out the Vittoria Corsa tire. Since then they have released the Corsa 2.0, whose sidewall is nearly double the thickness. I wonder whether this has resolved the problem.

Continental and Schwalbe tires were considered fine with Enve rims according to the Enve release. Comparing the Corsa 2.0 to the GP5000 and the Schwalbe One V-Guard, the Corsa 2.0 has a sidewall thickness of 0.9mm compared with 0.5mm for the Schwalbe and 0.55 for the GP5000 and the first version of the Corsa (source: Bicycle Rolling Resistance). BRR also rate the Corsa 2.0 a 5 for sidewall puncture resistance, with the GP5000 and Schwalbe rating a 4.

Does this suggest that the Vittoria Corsa 2.0 is now a safer bet with these rims than, say the Continential GP5000?

[TonyM]

Just wondering why Enve still have some shrap edges on their rims?
Why don't they get rid of them? That would be the best solution.
Especially when taking into consideration that the ENve wheels are quite $$$$$

[CrankAddictsRich]

I don't beleive it has anything to do with thickness, but rather material.... the Vittoria is a cotton casing, not rubber like the other tires you've listed.

[Calnago]

I would guess that changing the manufacturing process is not quite that simple, otherwise I’m sure they would have done so. And they weren’t singling out just one tire, they really kind of implied that “Open Tubulars” in general were subject to tearing on their rims. In essence they were saying “Don’t run the best clinchers on our rims or they might rip open”. In most other industries that may be cause for a recall. But maybe they’re taking the “Ok, we’ve issued a warning to mitigate our liability should someone get seriously hurt, but let’s just be quiet now and hope that doesn’t happen”. Fingers crossed till it all blows away. They’ll fix it going forward, maybe.

[RossLB]

It is strange that the original press release is no longer available and Enve have gone completely silent. You're probably right that they are hoping it will all blow over before they get sued.

My Schwalbe Ones have just arrived so I hope they ride as well as the Vittorias without causing a terminal blowout.

[RossLB]

No longer relevant