Staun bead lock tests

It's pretty hard for me to get my head around air pressure versus nuts and bolts: i. e. Staun pneumatic internal bead locks versus mechanical bead locks. How can air do the same or better job than a metal "vice"? These and previous tests provide the answer to that question.

Late last year, Blaine Johnson helped perform our first Staun dual, internal bead locks tests. He was so impressed with the toughness and trail results of the product, that he approached Cody Waggoner (www.teamwaggonerracing.com/) to try them. We got the go-ahead last month and performed the following tests on July 2^nd.

CREDITS

As with the initial tests, master fabrication genius Blaine Johnson helped install the Cody bead locks and came up with a way to add lead shot to Staun bead locked tires.

Justifiably conservative Cody deserves credit for even considering us! Remember, this guy has taken first place in his last four unlimited class events, so why mess with success? Our tests convinced him to give them a “real” test at the W. E. ROCK competition coming up on July 15 to 17 in Goldendale, WA (www.we-rock.cc/).

My ever-present life partner, Jenna, helped immeasurably with the tests and got a chance behind the wheel.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

The Staun dual, internal bead lock divides the tire’s air chamber into two compartments. Through independent valve stems, you run the bead lock at 48 PSI and the tire at whatever pressure you want, as long as it is at least 2 PSI below the bead lock. See more details here . See installation details here.

TEST VENUE

Our tests were performed at Cougar Buttes, CA, the location of many past championship events. The advantage was that Cody was intimately familiar with the area. He knew his and other’s performances literally rock by rock. Besides, it was only an hour and a half from home. Competitors and spectators will recognize some of the obstacles.

TEST OBJECTIVES

Our objectives were simple: 1) How do the Staun bead locks hold up and, 2) how do they perform?

TEST PARAMETERS

We tracked pressure, traction, temperature, and tire, bead lock and rim use/abuse survival.

Pressure was important for three reasons: 1) to check for leaks, 2) to follow pressure build-up due to temperature (Nitrogen), and 3) for obvious performance reasons.

Our traction tests were subjective and measured by two means: 1) Point A to B movement capability, ease and difficulty, and 2) did we leave rubber after we completed a difficult maneuver.

Tire temperature change was measured with a point and shoot pyrometer. We wanted to track pressure build up and the impact of severe temperature change on the internal bead locks. At burn-in, we saw tire temperatures over 175° sustained for 1 or 2 minutes. This is to be expected.

Use/abuse testing was where I held my breath. Each aspect of that is detailed below, but the pictures do a better job at telling the story than my words.

PRESSURE RESULTS

Nothing leaked. A bead lock leak is easily detected by a drop in the bead lock pressure itself, or an undue increase in tire pressure. Leaking bead lock air has only one place to go: into the tire chamber. An undue increase here indicates a leaky bead lock. Again, nothing leaked.

Regarding tire pressure, to somewhat protect Cody’s competitive edge, I’ll only say that reduced pressure significantly increased tire stick and made it easier for him to crawl what had required momentum in the past.

TRACTION RESULTS

As already stated, traction measurement was subjective, so I’ll let a couple of pictures tell the story. According to Cody, at this incline (left), “Everyone has to use momentum to get up this one.” Do you recognize it? At lower than normal pressure, he walked it; but with conventional pressure, he used conventional techniques (momentum)! Right shows no tracks up and over another challenge.

ABUSE RESULTS

Again, pictures tell the story best. We looked at total wheel abuse. We stressed the tires, bead locks and rims, including rim to tire rotation. Each tire was V-notched at the tire valve stem for rotation reference.

With both valve stems safely mounted inboard, there were no broken stem issues anticipated, and the tests proved that to be the case. There was not so much as even a mark near any.

Right shows tire and rim stress. Here, we were looking to see if the non-mechanically bead locked rims could take it. We viciously scraped them with no observed structural damage to either the tires or rims.

The right front tire showed about 3/8" rotation after that exercise. However, we finished the day with that being the only detectable rotation on all four tires.

Below shows our sidewall stress tests. At his last competition, Cody had burped air several times, presumably on the inside bead of his mechanically bead locked setup. Do Staun internal, pneumatic bead locks hold low pressure tires on the rims and prevent air burping on both sides? Tire pressure measurements proved that there were no tire chamber air leaks. Both the tires and bead locks survived unscathed. And remember that the right front inside (left photo below) is as equally stressed as in the center and left photos.

Comparison of the center and right photos shows the bead securely against the rim regardless of tire pressure.

Inside to outside tire displacement is shown in this photo. Figure that the inside is equally displaced, yet the tire neither came off the rim nor lost air. Maybe next time I’ll bring some mirrors so I can photograph both sides at the same time.

Severe tire to rim compression was also tested (below). These photos show how we stressed the Staun bead locks in both a flat and sharp manner.

CONCLUSION

The internally bead locked low pressure revolution is here! Staun bead locks improve traction, take abuse and gives the competitor, trail rider or daily driver low tire pressure choice and piece of mind like never before.

Buy Staun bead locks.