Felt Bicycle - The Wheels and Tires

48
The wheels and tires
The wheel (a) consists of the hub, the spokes and the rim. The tire is mounted onto
the rim so that it encases the tube. There is a rim tape running around the trough
of the rim to protect the sensitive tube against the spoke nipples and the edges of
the rim trough, which are often sharp.
The wheels are subject to considerable stress through the weight of the rider and
any carried baggage as well as through bumpy road surfaces and terrain. Although
wheels are manufactured with great care and delivered accurately trued, this does
not prevent the spokes and nipples from losing a little tension on the first kilome-
tres. Ask your FELT dealer to true up the wheels after you have bedded them in
over around 100 to 300 kilometres.
Check the wheels regularly, especially after bedding them in. It will rarely be neces-
sary to tighten the spokes.
If you mount a wheel set with carbon rims onto your road or triathlon bike,
bear in mind that you might have to mount special brake pads as well.
Typical brake pads for aluminium rims probably will not perform at the
level needed for a safe ride! Take note of the wheel set manufacturer’s
user manual.
If you mount a wheel set with tubular tires onto your FELT bike, you should
be familiar with the handling of this particular type of tire. Read the user
manual of the wheel/tire manufacturer. Take note that the rim diameter
is a little bigger than that of clincher tires which has to be considered
when adjusting the position of the brake pads.The information given in
the following only refers to wired-on and clincher tires which are used
most commonly.
a a a a