Written By George Kapitz
Photos By Kari Lewis Scheppman
I ran a new set of race wheels on the Beargrease at the Red Eye Rondezvous in Wausau. Friday night I went through the routine of setting up the new Northpaw rims and Knard tires tubeless. With the help of Dave Powell, Jimmy K, and “Busch Diets” I got my new wheels set up and race ready. Or so I thought… Come, Saturday morning the tires were flat… Frustrated.. I began to set them up again without the help of my buddies. I seated the tire to the rim and began to add air. Too much air… Boom! My face and shop were covered with Stan’s fluid. Not cool. I only had a few hours now to get them setup and get to Wausau for the pre-ride. Dave came in and we managed to get them setup again. On the way there the front wheel went flat, but the rear held. I said ‘screw-it’ and tubed the front one. Good enough… Lets race!
Come race day I stuck to my plan on racing smart. I warmed up, hydrated, and kept a good pace. The most exciting part of the race was the fight for the finish between myself, Dwight Ingalls and Ken Naef. Not being an experienced racer I didn’t understand this slow cat mouse game they were playing ahead of me.
I charged in front of them saying ‘let’s go’ and entered the last stretch of single track. I didn’t shake them and coming out of the single track, I was gassed, with only a short double track sprint to the finish. It was a dog-fight and I didn’t have enough to capture that 4th place spot. Major shout out to Butch, Shane, Nathan, Marcus, Dwight, and Ken. You dudes are fast and I’m looking forward to racing more fat WORS with you.
Results
1 - Butch Welke, Lake Geneva WI
2 - Nathan Long, Eau Claire WI
3 - Shane Veldhuizen, Green Bay WI
4 - Ken Neaf, Green Bay WI
5 - Dwight Ingalls, Oconomowoc WI
6 - George Kapitz, Manitowoc WI
7 - Marcus Steele, De Pere WI
Nice write up! I was wondering what technique you used to set up those wheels tubeless and how it is working out. Have you gotten the front to hold air yet? I have the same rims and was wondering the best way to go about tubeless conversion with them. Thanks for any info you can share.
The Knards have a bit looser bead than some of the other fat tires so you may have to build up the bead area with an extra layer of gorilla tape. Buy the extra wide gorilla tape and cut it down to the right width with a utility knife. Wrap the inside of the rim, overlapping the tape at the valve stem area by a couple inches. I used a hot soldering iron to poke the hole for the valve stem, which makes a clean and smooth hold, but you can use an xacto knife and carefully cut it instead. Install tire and tube and air up to seat both beads of the tire. Unseat one side of the bead, remove the tube, install a tubeless valve stem with core removed, add 2 scoops of Stans, and use an air compressor to air up the tire and get the loose bead to seat. Once seated, install the valve stem core and air up the tire to proper pressure. Do the Stans dance with the tire to get the fluid coated on the inside of the rim and tire and check for any leaks. Minor bubbling around the bead area will usually seal up with the Stans and tires should maintain pressure if sealed succesfully.
george ,
nice write up !! keep up the great work ….prety soon everbody will know how kool it is to be fatt !!!!!