Safety Instructions

Improper installation, usage, and service can cause severe damage to the wheels and pose a hazardous condition for the rider. To ensure a reliable riding experience with XTONE products, please read and follow these instructions. Even if you have been riding or building wheels for years, the instructions and suggestions are specific to XTONE carbon products and you should be mindful of them before your first ride or wheel building. 

1. Special tools and basic knowledge of handling the bicycle and wheels are required for installation and maintenance. If in doubt, please consult a reliable wheel builder or get in touch with us.

2. The rim/wheelset must be compatible with other parts of the bicycle including the tires, fork, axles, and cassette. Incompatibility can cause poor performance and potentially damage the wheels or frame/fork.

3. We design and test your wheels for specific riding purposes. Unfit usage can shorten the product’s life and even cause a wheel to crack, causing injuries to the rider. Be sure that you’ve purchased the correct product for the job.

4. Use your hands to install the tires if you can. Re-insert the tire into the deepest part of the rim over and over again to create enough slack. If you must use a tire lever, use plastic. DO NOT use a metal tire lever as it will permanently damage the rim.

5. Be watchful of the hazards in riding (potholes, debris, railway tracks, etc). These can cause a big crash resulting in severe injuries.

6. After an excessive impact or crash, there may not be an immediate sign of failure. Please wipe down the rim, and even remove the tire for inspection, and report any potentially severe damage back to us.

7. Rim brake customers – Check your rim brake pads regularly for pollutants like metal flakes and stones that can ruin the brake track. DO NOT use pads with significant wear.

8. DO NOT overheat the wheels. High temperatures can occur in bike transport when a wheel is placed next to the exhaust fumes from an automobile. Overheating of the rims will void the warranty as it damages the composite structure.

9. Regularly inspect the wheels and watch out for any signs of cracks, scratches, dents, delaminations, or discoloration which could indicate that the wheels may need to be replaced or serviced. If in doubt, please contact us.

Four important notes to make your wheel building easier

(1) Make sure your new rim(s) are built by a certified or experienced carbon wheel builder.

A professional carbon wheel builder will use a tension meter and ensure that the wheels are built with very even tension and with stress properly relieved.

(2) Follow the spoke direction shown on a small arrow sticker.

The rims have angled nipple holes that alternate left/right/left. Please lace spokes in the correct direction to avoid hole damage. The arrow sticker is attached near the valve hole.

(3) On asymmetric wheel building.

For asymmetric rims, you need to distinguish their shorter and longer arcs. When viewing from the rim channel, it’s easiest to find the shorter side and longer side by looking at the valve hole in relation to the nipple holes. Another way to decide is via the serial number label. Place the rim sideways vertically in front of you, locate the serial number label, and flip the rim if needed to put the label right side up. View the rim from the center channel: the upper part is the shorter arc, and the lower part is the longer.

Please make sure the rim is in the correct orientation – different for front and rear wheels!

Front Wheels: the shorter arc for the drive side, the longer arc for the non-drive (disc) side

Rear Wheels: the longer arc for the drive side, the shorter arc for the non-drive (disc) side

(4) Build the wheelset with proper spoke tensions.

Bring the spokes to an even tension with a maximum tolerance of 5% for all drive and all non-drive sides. For the recommended spoke tensions.

*It is better to make sure the max spoke tension is less than 135kgf in wheel building