Tubeless Conversion...your thoughts please

Mccraque
Mccraque Posts: 819
edited July 2010 in MTB general
Just got my new Boardman HT and am thinking of ditching the tubes and going ghetto tubeless as am pleased with the UST tyres on my other bike. However...a few questions

1 - Am thinking of trying ghetto first....so going to stick a 24" innertube in, line the wheel inner and trim. Foresee any problems with this? Os should I just buy a proper kit to do it?

2 - thinking of using tubeless ready tyres as they require less side sealing that more porous standards.

So....has anyone done this?

What is the ride like after? Is there any danger that the tyre will slip off the rim or burp majorly without a tube in it?

I know the benefits of tubeless but specifically I am looking at how easy and how safe is a tubeless conversion.

Thanks

Comments

  • xraymtb
    xraymtb Posts: 121
    I've done it - worked fine for me once I got the tyres up (needed to use a compressor).

    I would use 20" tubes instead of 24" though, they are much tighter fitting on the rim.

    The downside of using tubeless tyres is going to be the weight - if you are happy with the current tyres I would try them first.
    exercise.png
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    I've got one wheel running tubeless on my Boardman.

    Used a Stans kit, worked alright with MAxxis Advantages, but the Racing Ralphs I put on for the summer were a nightmare. The front wasn't too bad but the back was impossible to get working, so it's now back to being tubed, and frankly I haven't noticed the difference in 2-3 months of riding :wink:
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • Mccraque
    Mccraque Posts: 819
    Thanks chaps.

    So what was the problem with the Schwalbe? Would it just not sit on the rim?

    How much of the tube do you need to cut away? Leave it to top of rim? Or does the bead of the tyre sit against the metal of the rim?

    XrayMtb - are you using UST tyres on non UST rim?
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    The Schwalbe was incredibly leaky and wouldn't stop leaking air. To be fair, I used so much sealant trying to get the sidewalls to seal that I had to get some more from the LBS. All they had was Bontrager superjuice which seemed to do as much as filling my tyres with shampoo, it had the same effect! The front had stans sealant and worked, the back had Bonty stuff and it just kept leaking and leaking and leaking....I went away for the weekend and came home to a flat tyre and a pool of sealant on the floor :roll:

    The stans stuff seemed rubbery and sticky, like watered down PVA, and it stuck the front tyre to the rim/rimstrip. Whereas the Bonty superjuice felt soapy and slippery and didn't seal anything!

    I should point out that the front is still fine. I just got fed up and couldn't face another weekend of wasting expensive sealant and almost breaking my track pump, so just put a tube in the rear tyre.
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • Mccraque
    Mccraque Posts: 819
    I have just switched to Stans from Bonty juice....although have to say that the former did do a pretty good job at sealing the rims on UST...you have to snap them off! There was one on trail incident whereby I suffered a non sealed hole though.

    Have sent the missus into Evans near where she works to pick up a 20" tube...
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    I did tubeless with a BMX tube for a little while, went back to tubes, it just didn't work especially well. A fair amount of hassle to do and though it never punctured, it did burp air fairly constantly so the result was actually just as annoying. Oh, and it was heavier than my inner tubes.

    Before someone says it was the tyres, the exact same tyres then went onto my Traversees and sealed up flawlessly first time- proper tubeless is superb. "ghetto" can work well but there's no guarantees.
    Uncompromising extremist

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