So I raced cross today and the course finally this season was a mudfest and on top of all the mud there was some quite deep pools of water and of course i happened to ride through them!

Anyhow after the race i went to my usual local garage who have the best pressure washer ever and cleaned down my two more or less identical cross bikes, now both bikes have the same 50mm deep rims, now i have washed these down via this method on a few occasions and what am about to say has never happened before

All four wheels have somehow managed to get what sounds like quite a bit of water in them and i don’t know how to remove the water(Tubs)!!! There are no holes for the water to drain except where the spokes are attached but even those are not letting the water drain!

Im at a loss as to what to do with the removal of this water and i don’t want to remove the tires so any help would be appreciated??!!

Leave it, it will come out eventually. Leave them valve side down if you want

Would blowing them out with an air hose work?

Using the air hose on each individual spoke hole if there is no other way in.

I haven’t got a clue about tubs though.

Take the valve cores out and leave them next to the radiator (I’ve never used tubs, are the valves the same)? Don’t use pressure washers, there is no need.

Valve hole is the largest hole in the rim right? Take off any valve extenders and retaining nuts, put valve hole down stacked up on top of a radiator (drop the pressure to <80psi) and leave em for a few days, it’ll come out eventually

Take out the valve and insert a thin tube down the hole then suck?

(I don’t know much about tubular tyre valves)

afterwards lube all your nipples with Gt85 or a penetrating oil like PlusGas to prevent seizing

Am not sure how easy the valve extenders will be to remove but i will have ago tomorrow now as the wheels are locked away with the bikes for the night.

As for pressure washing i try not to but sometimes i have no other choice as time very precious or just no time to clean some weeks to the standard that i like to do due to all sorts of reasons and far to many to mention!!!

Will see how i go tomorrow and post how i get on!! once agin thanks for all your input!

Dont jet wash them?. Just leave them in a warmish room or airing cupboard but not over the wifes clean washing and let them dry out slowly- or man up and ride them as they are, its going to be wet till sometime next July!

Drill a hole to empty. Silicone to fill hole when drained. Fixed.

Don’t use pressure washers, there is no need

Not ridden much cross I guess? 🙂

Whatever you do, don’t spray anything lube-like into the rim as you’ll end up knackering the bond of the glue holding the tub on. Having said that if you’ve got water inside the rim that’ll knacker the bond anyway as it’ll take forever to drain naturally. Probably best to take the tubs off, drain and re-glue. How long till the next race? It’ll take a few days to sort out.

All the gear…

Very kind words from you there cynic-al but surly we all have to learn somewhere of things to do or not to do?! Or where you born a know it all??!!

You used a pressure washer?… Why?

What Al is saying, with all that gear maybe you should know better?

Are all your bearings shot too? Not many things on a bike can withstand high pressure water. Point it at your face and see how it feels?

Small hole drilled in the carbon fairing is the only answer. My carbon faired wheels have the same problem in the rain (not jetwashing). I wanted to run them tubeless but remove the tires to drain them now. The hole is the solution.

Jetwashing is not really the problem, it is the very small spoke holes in the carbon. Why would the bearings be shot? The water will take ages to come out by evaporation, trust me. Also the swishing sound makes a sound just like worn bearings!

ChunkyMTB are you telling me you have never used a pressure washer to clean your bike when it’s pitted up to the eyeballs??!! And i’ll tell you what, i have been pressure washing bikes for years and if done from a safe distance like i do then you have no issues IMO, what do you think am doing standing there close range and blasting my bearings to bits, get a grip!!

If you had read my post you would have read that on yesterdays course there was lots of deep pools of water which is more than likely how the wheels came to have water in the rims not from the pressure washer which yes could have added a few drops.

And as for blasting a pressure washer at my face, like am going to do that you Muppet!!

Away out for the day but will no doubt return to your bollocks comments that are as much use as nothing!!

To everyone else who has tried to help me with this matter, thanks for your comments and nice to see everyone on here is not a muppet like a certain few!!!

Yep I’d be worried especially as carbon rusts so easily

Ignore the clueless and just make sure you get that water away from the glue, otherwise you’ll roll the tyres at the first corner of the next race.

[/quote]there was lots of deep pools of water which is more than likely how the wheels came to have water in the rims not from the pressure washer which yes could have added a few drops

So zero pressure puddles introduced more water than a high pressure hose 😆

hose pipe + bike cleaner + sponge + elbow grease = clean bike + happy bike + empty rims

Drill a small hole in the brake track to drain the water. Some carbon rims have this done from the factory for just this reason. As others have said, you want to get the water out and dry them out as quickly as possible or the base tape will rot.

Find a large syringe, add some flexible hose (think the service kit from TF tuned has exactly these) and suck majority out via the valve hole?

Buy a load of silica gel*, empty into box, put wheels in box overnight. Sorted.

*Warning, Do Not Eat!

OK so if i go for the drilling a hole option then what size hole do we think? i actually have some Mavic Carbone cosmics that have the hole pre drilled but that hole is around 5mm if memory serves me correct and also any particular drill bit that needs to be used on carbon?

Really silica gel, will that work really?? much rather do that than drill into rims…

bones i’ll give you a ton for a pair, leave the water in if you want 😉

I’m with al; ATGNI.

It’s quite funny but right now they are in the Bathroom with a dehumidifier on the go, they have been there for past 5 hours and it seems to be working, well at least two of the wheels sound like they are drying out!!

Also just been told to place them into a cardboard box with some bar carbonate soda and that will also pull the water out…How much fun is this??!! and you learn something everyday in more ways than one!

Karnali they are yours after the season has finished and i have no doubt wrecked them!! Are you doing much racing these days?! been a while since a seen you?!

doing very little, bit of running and gentle biking, waiting for a hip op in new year.

crikey, if your with cynic-al then that would make a pair of A-HOLES

Whole lot better place to be than drying deep sections in the bath.

If you’re going to use tubs, you must accept that they involve an amount of fannying about.

Drying in the bath?

You Go for it, Niels. ..

afterwards lube all your nipples with Gt85 or a penetrating oil like PlusGas to prevent seizing

I wouldn’t put any solvents near the spoke holes on a composite rim as the composite there is constantly under load so if any temporary softening happens then it is more likely to result to damage and the spoke holes is drilled so has potentially higher permeability to say the lacquered surface of the rest of the rim.

A 4mm hole with a sharp drill bit. I’d drill one on each side 180 degree separation. Disclaimer – I haven’t drilled mine yet but the siren call of tubeless is strong 😉 . I don’t ride them in the rain for just this reason.

It’s quite funny but right now they are in the Bathroom with a dehumidifier on the go, they have been there for past 5 hours and it seems to be working, well at least two of the wheels sound like they are drying out!!

Seriously, stop messing around – get the tubs off, dry them out (this is more important than draining the rims which will take no time at all once the valve stem is out) and get them re-glued properly. They’re your teeth, and those of the guy behind you when you bin it.

LS I took your advice and removed the tires and all water now removed, thanks for that.

I have now re glued the tires for the first time and all seems to have gone OK but guess the proof will be in when i race again this weekend!

On the downside though i have managed to get a little glue on the outside edge of the tire and wondered if you(LS) or anyone else could recommend a solvent that would help in the removal of the glue from the outside edge of the tire? I have used Vittoria Mastik one glue and it talks about using a solvent in the instructions but dosen’t mention which one or type….Thanks

All sorted with this latest question…thanks