A cautionary tale - along with some bad customer service

[jkbrwn]

Originally Posted by johnniecakes

So now it we have established that their rims are of questionable quality, how are their forks? I may be having a steel frameset built for me over the winter and one of the options is an Enve fork. Should I insist on someone other than Enve if i decide to go with a carbon fork? If course steel is an option, but want to know more about the carbon options

Nothing to worry about there.

[vespasianus]

Originally Posted by Clancy

I don’t understand all this talk about the warranty - who cares?

I don’t see where that’s important at all.

A very expensive (which also shouldn’t matter) carbon bicycle wheel completely disintegrated under normal tire pressure.

Regardless of warranties how can this not be seen as anything other than a major manufacturing defect that should be immediately replaced? How can any product that fails this way be considered anything else other than a poorly manufactured product?

I don’t believe at all in our litigious society but it seems that we’ve gotten to where manufacturers hide behind all kinds of legal language rather than simply doing what should be ethically and morally right.

Shame on Enve

Yeah, this. ENVE has a poor reputation in the MTB world and honestly, now I personally have very little interest in any product from this company.

[charliedid]

Wow had no idea this was a thing. What are these blow off valves and are they intended for all carbon tubeless rims?

That's just nuts.

[peanutgallery]

MTB and gravel tubeless works pretty well and you gain a lot from it. Road tubeless just isn't worth the hassle and the gains are fewer

Enve? Just read the interwebs, all you need to know has already been written

[eddief]

no issue with OP telling the story but that photo is a mind blower, no pun intended. this gets around the net and me thinks Enve will be sorry they did not nip this in the bud. that appears a truly catastrophic failure and regardless of fault i think a respectable company would handle this better no matter what.

[sonicCows]

*

[54ny77]

customer service issues with enve aside, is the technical issue here that a tubeless carbon rim is supposed to be a sealed "system," and therefore only capable of holding in [x] psi?

if so, i never knew that. how is that even possible if drilling a rim for spoke holes?

[rustychisel]

deep rim, enclosed bed with rib below the brake track, I'd assume.

[rwsaunders]

I don’t know the year that your wheels were built and it sounds like Colby, or whoever prepped his rim, didn’t properly install the tape. However, ENVE’s web site instructions regarding the setup of a tubeless road tire, have specifically addressed this issue (improper tape installation and pressure relief) since at least February 2019. The image on the site even shows the infamous red tape. Be glad that you weren’t hurt.

https://www.enve.com/en/journal/how-...ess-road-tire/

[Pinned]

I've ridden 3.4ARs for quite a long time, no issues on my own wheels. They do have the pressure relief nut (which came with them).

Tubeless tape, in general is a poor solution and causes tons of problems. It's too easy for sealant to get past it, it can easily get wrinkled when removing or installing new tires, etc. It's crazy to me that it's the industry standard, even allowing for something like this to be possible. Tubeless standards should be updated to force the rim beds to be sealed off from the spokes / fairing / cavity / etc.

[mcteague]

Maybe a result of the damage or perhaps the cause but I see a large and long void in the outermost layer of carbon. If there before the failure it clearly was the weak point.

Tim

[vincenz]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

Funny, they will likely lose more $$ from posts like this than had they just given you a free replacement wheel.

I've seen many posts about enve rim failures/cracks over the years, more than other big companies. Enough that even though they usually seemed good about warranty, I always steered clear. Even if warranty service -is- good, I'd rather not have to deal with it in the first place.
Knock on wood, 20+ years of using various HED wheels, I've never had to deal with a warranty issue..

Yep this.

I would never buy used Enve wheels. Before their new lifetime warranty, I would never consider new ones either.

But in any case, I’ve seen and heard too much about their QC and fiasco with tire compatibility to care anyway.

[djdj]

Originally Posted by rwsaunders

I don’t know the year that your wheels were built and it sounds like Colby, or whoever prepped his rim, didn’t properly install the tape. However, ENVE’s web site instructions regarding the setup of a tubeless road tire, have specifically addressed this issue (improper tape installation and pressure relief) since at least February 2019. The image on the site even shows the infamous red tape. Be glad that you weren’t hurt.

https://www.enve.com/en/journal/how-...ess-road-tire/

It seems the OP did not have the pressure relief valve installed. Perhaps the ENVE rims are more fragile than others, but it seems installation error is at least partially the cause. I'm no fan of ENVE, but the web instructions are pretty clear about the risk of failure if the tape is not fully sealing and the valve is not installed.

[tuscanyswe]

Originally Posted by djdj

It seems the OP did not have the pressure relief valve installed. Perhaps the ENVE rims are more fragile than others, but it seems installation error is at least partially the cause. I'm no fan of ENVE, but the web instructions are pretty clear about the risk of failure if the tape is not fully sealing and the valve is not installed.

Sure but how would u know if tape is not fully sealing? The leak may be miniscule but preassure would still build right? Then its better to say no tubeless tires at all perhaps.

I think enve did a misstake here but i have had some very good support from enve in the past. They sent me a new fork without question that i bought 2nd hand even. Granted this was back when enve was smaller but i think sometimes threads like this get to much attention. They have been selling a great deal of wheels and stuff lately and most have likely been hassle free and with happy customers. It would seems their qc have not been up to same speed as in the business have grown. Unfortunate.

And no im not a big enve fan or even buy their parts all that often (apart from forks which i do) but they have made a lot of nice stuff for a lot of happy ppl over the years.

[jtakeda]

Originally Posted by djdj

It seems the OP did not have the pressure relief valve installed. Perhaps the ENVE rims are more fragile than others, but it seems installation error is at least partially the cause. I'm no fan of ENVE, but the web instructions are pretty clear about the risk of failure if the tape is not fully sealing and the valve is not installed.

I somewhat agree but I think it all comes down to the messaging and how hard did enve try to get this information out there. The outcomes from an exploding rim can be devastating so I guess the real question in my mind is for the long time enve owners--Ideally original owners.

After you registered your product with enve, did they contact you after the sale via email or mail to mention this potential product failure?

If the answer is no, theres a problem.