ENVE wheels/valve stems: normal to be this hard to seal?

Tech Tech Help
1

Hi gang,

So I just bought my first ENVE SES wheelset and overall I’m really happy—but the wheels are sooooo hard to seal with the included stems.

From what I’ve seen online, I’m not the only one running into this. To get mine to seal properly, I basically have to press the rubber base firmly into the rim bed with a tire lever (or some other flat tool) while tightening the valve nut from the other side—handtightening but with quite a bit of force. Almost feels like anyone with less hand strength might struggle to get these sealed at all.

If I don’t really crank it down, the stems don’t seal and I can hear air hissing from the wheel.

Is this a feature or a bug? Any reassuring words or tips?

2

Maybe it’s a tape issue?

3

I can’t rule it out, but it doesn’t seem likely to me. Both wheels are affected, and on one of them even after replacing the rim tape. I’m no pro, but I don’t think I’d be doing something that wrong. It seems more likely to me that the rubber stem base and the channel just don’t get along very well.