# Tubular wheel hop



## 196nautique (Sep 23, 2005)

My first solo effort as gluing a tubular last night didn't go so well. The tire has a hop. It doesn't appear to be a raised spot at the valve hole, but instead a low spot 1/4 of the wheel wheel away from the valve hole. On the truing stand, my best guess is 3mm of difference. I haven't ridden it yet (planning on letting it dry for a couple of days first), but I wonder if I should just pull it off and try it again?

Is it my glue/ seating job?
Is it a tire problem?
I checked the rim before gluing, and it is round.

Reglue it? Live with it? I will feel the hop when speed picks up right?

Thanks.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Uneven tension*



196nautique said:


> My first solo effort as gluing a tubular last night didn't go so well. The tire has a hop. It doesn't appear to be a raised spot at the valve hole, but instead a low spot 1/4 of the wheel wheel away from the valve hole. On the truing stand, my best guess is 3mm of difference. I haven't ridden it yet (planning on letting it dry for a couple of days first), but I wonder if I should just pull it off and try it again?
> 
> Is it my glue/ seating job?
> Is it a tire problem?
> ...


It sounds like you put uneven tension on the tire during the install such that it's stretched pretty hard in the "low spot" section. Depending on how good your glue holds, this may sort itself out if the tire can creep a little. Me, I would have pulled the tire and remounted it as soon as I noticed the issue. That much variation is going to be felt on the road. It takes some practice, but after a while you get a sense for how hard to lean on the tire as you mount it so that it gets even tension all the way around.

Of course this all assumes that the tire is not defective. If it is, then there's not much you will be able to do about it.


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## 196nautique (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks. I kind of figured this was the problem. I will pull it off and try it again.


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## ergott (Feb 26, 2006)

Tires should be well stretched on a spare rim before mounting. This helps a lot. I stretch tires for at least a week at full pressure. When I'm putting fresh tires on a new set of wheels, the tires are stretching before I even build the wheels. If my tires are wearing out, same thing. I don't wait until the tire is completely dead before I order new ones. If I flat, I have old tires that are plenty broken in for spares.

You didn't mention which tire you used, but some are lumpy. 

-Eric


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## 196nautique (Sep 23, 2005)

It's a Vittoria corsa that was round when I pulled it off, but something was ticking (404 wheel). Wasn't the valve stem, thought maybe it was the glue job.


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## jwp3476 (Jun 22, 2010)

The valve stem or extension does have a tendency to tick in deep rims. You can wrap some electrical tape around the stem before mounting to reduce the tick. After mounting you can take an inch or so of electrical tape, punch a small hole in it, and stretch it over the valve stem and stick it to the wheel. That too sometimes helps.


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## xcbarny (Apr 20, 2011)

I've recently noticed a similar issue, but instead of a low spot, its a high spot in one point in the tire of about 3mm - the wheels are round, got it on my front and rear.

My thinking was that this was caused by the base tape overlapping on the inside of the tubular.
The tubs have been mounted for about 6 months, but I've only just started racing on them, so hadn't experienced them at speed before, although I always knew that the hop was there.

The unbalanced feeling the hop creates is very unsettling when riding in the bunch over 50kph.

I was wondering if it was ok to trim off the overlapping bit of base tape?
Tires are Continental sprinters.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

the continental sprinters i have on my wheels currently do not have a hop in them at all. you sure that's it? i kinda doubt it...


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## xcbarny (Apr 20, 2011)

cxwrench said:


> the continental sprinters i have on my wheels currently do not have a hop in them at all. you sure that's it? i kinda doubt it...


Thats good that you were able to fit your tubs without hop.

I checked mine again last night, and I even removed the front tub, and put it back on the rim without glue, so to eliminate uneven stretching.

I then put it on the wheel jig, which confirmed that the hop was directly at the tape overlap. I don't see that it could be caused by anything else.


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## ncsu (Dec 28, 2008)

I've got some tubular wheel hop too. *Is there a solution other than running 80 PSI or re-mounting?*

I did have an un-balanced wheel for a while (built up chinese carbon rims). Both front and back were heavy at the valve. I attached a few lead fishing sinkers to the opposite spokes, and that balanced the wheel...but I still have wheel (tire) hop. 

Joshua


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## EMB145 Driver (Aug 17, 2006)

ergott said:


> Tires should be well stretched on a spare rim before mounting. This helps a lot. I stretch tires for at least a week at full pressure. When I'm putting fresh tires on a new set of wheels, the tires are stretching before I even build the wheels. If my tires are wearing out, same thing. I don't wait until the tire is completely dead before I order new ones. If I flat, I have old tires that are plenty broken in for spares.
> 
> You didn't mention which tire you used, but some are lumpy.
> 
> -Eric



What Eric said will go a long way towards an easy mounting of the tires. I glued up my race wheels last week to get ready for the upcoming road season. They are Vittoria Corsa CX and had been on the wheels in the basement without glue for a little over month. I occasionally pumped them up, but mostly they just sat on the wheel. When I went to mount them, they went right on the tire, perfectly round, and needed very little positioning to get them true. The moral of the story is to have a wheel to stretch them on, and let them stay on it awhile. Try to put them on as evenly as possible and give them a little stretch. Be careful taking it off so you don't damage the tape on the tire, or you'll need to get it re-taped.


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