Tubeless (but not UST) XC tyres

dixonpj

I'm in the market for some light weight XC tyres which can be run reliably without tubes. Because 'UST' and 'light weight' are, for the most part, mutually exclusive, I'm thinking of converting some light weight non-tubeless tyres, either the Continental Speedking Supersonics (f+r), or the new, improved for 2008 Schwalbe Nobby Nic (f) and Racing Ralph (r). The key issue is whether the non-UST versions perform reliably when run tubeless, both in terms of robustness and air retention. Also, if my rims are tubeless ready (Bontrager Race Lites), does converting non-tubeless tyres to tubeless simply involve using a sealant, or is there more to it than this?

Cheers,

Paul

Splasher

Obviously you need valves for your rims but presumably your wheels came with these. Other than that you have only two challenges to overcome - seating the tyre and sealing the tyre.

Seating the tyre just requires a huge in-rush of air and some soapy water on the beads (to make them slippy). A compressor with a receiver can provide the volume needed, or a CO2 cartridge. Personally, I can get UST tyres on with a track pump but have never managed conventional tyres but you never know as every rim, tyre and pump combination is different.

Sealing the tyre is just a case of shaking the tyre to distribute the sealant around the tyre. Stan's video http://www.notubes.com/movieinstall.php is worth a watch. It shows how to install his rim strip which you can ignore, but also how to mount and seal a standard tyre.

artillerydave

I wouldn't recommend the speed kings to be ran tubeless as they are such a lightweight tyre you would be asking for trouble, paper thin sidewalls etc. Having looked into it a fair bit, the reason UST tyres are heavier is because the sidewalls do not have the added support of an innertube to assist in holding the tyre in shape and also the air retaining butyle lining, some of the UST tyres are coming in around 750-800g now so are fairly light considering no rim strip, tube or sealant required.

Andy

artillerydave wrote:

I wouldn't recommend the speed kings to be ran tubeless as they are such a lightweight tyre you would be asking for trouble, paper thin sidewalls etc. Having looked into it a fair bit, the reason UST tyres are heavier is because the sidewalls do not have the added support of an innertube to assist in holding the tyre in shape and also the air retaining butyle lining, some of the UST tyres are coming in around 750-800g now so are fairly light considering no rim strip, tube or sealant required.

But when you consider a standard fairly light tire and tube combo can come in around 600g, you can see the desire to run normal tires tubeless.

dixonpj

It's a balancing act, and unless anyone can vouch for the tubeless performance of either the Supersonics (about which I'm also skeptical) or the Schwalbes, perhaps my current set up - Bontrager Jones XR TLR tubeless front and rear (615g) - is close to the limits of what's possible without defeating the whole object of the exercise.

It's a pity more tyre manufacturers haven't followed Bontrager down the 'tubeless ready' route: a sort of half-way house between tubeless and conventional tyres.

Splasher

Stan (as in no tubes) does a tyre that's tubeless ready and weighs 400g. Wouldn't want to use it on anything other than dry, flat terrain personally, but it's available.

For what it's worth, I use Ignitor LUSTs which are 650g in 2.1 and 800g in 2.35 and are competitive in weight with equivalently tough non-UST tyres.

S_J_P

Just a note which may help someone...

I have a Joe's kit ready for installing a pair of Bonty Mud X's in Tubeless Ready guise. Joe's Technical Support have told me not to use a CO2 inflater to inflate the tyre as it will destroy the sealant!

It looks like I'll need some soap-suds and elbow grease instead!

Splasher

S_J_P wrote:

Just a note which may help someone...

I have a Joe's kit ready for installing a pair of Bonty Mud X's in Tubeless Ready guise. Joe's Technical Support have told me not to use a CO2 inflater to inflate the tyre as it will destroy the sealant!

It looks like I'll need some soap-suds and elbow grease instead!

It's always best to seat the tyre with a track pump, even if only because it saves the cost of a CO2 cartridge. However, sometimes I haven't been able to and so I've seated the tyre with the cartridge but without any sealant in. Then deflated the tyre (it stays seated), removed the valve core, added sealant, and reinflated with a track pump to the correct pressure.

I use UST tyres so I only add sealant for thorn protection, whereas if you use tubeless ready tyres you'll have to seal the tyre at this point.

S_J_P

Now there's an idea!

I've always got my CO2 cannisters in boxes of 30, so they're pretty cheap anyhow, but it's good to have the option of the inflate/seat/deflate/seal method!!