Going tubeless with standard tube tyre on tubeless rim?

ryanincontrol

Hi!

Just recently got my hands on a new pair of Shimano M785 wheels. I always run standard tube tyres on both my bikes. However, I found the walls of the M785 are really deep (since they are tubeless ready) and fitting or removing a tyre is unbelievably difficult. Took me about half an hour and lots of swearing to fit a tyre and roughly the same time to remove it. I would like to run them with tube tyres as I have a collection of different tyres but because of this issue I think I'd rather go tubeless. Anyway, it will go on my commuter bike which will only be ridden along bridleways, fire roads and paved roads. I dont mind repairing a puncture when Im out on the trails but just hate it when I get a puncture on the way to or coming home from work so I think it's time for me to try tubeless.

I'd like to ask about its reliability if only ridden lightly? If not a good idea then I might just get some proper tubeless tyres although it would be nice if I dont have to spend more with my growing collection of tyres (all standard) such as racing ralphs, rocket rons, nobby nics and smart sams.

Looking forward for your advice.

davewalsh

I've been running tubeless for a while now and find it more reliable than tubes. The only issue I've had is a Panaracer Fire tyre burping air, however they aren't recommended to be used tubeless as the beads are very slack. I've used a few standard Maxxis tyres with Stans sealant without any issues.

There's a list of approved tyres on the Stans website here:
http://www.notubes.com/RecommendedTires.aspx

As Schwalbe tyres are on the list you shouldn't have any issues using them on your UST rims with Stans sealant. I also wouldn't worry about riding lightly, tyres with sealant are generally more puncture resistant than tyres with tubes.

ryanincontrol

Dave, very helpful advice.
Big thanks!

jairaj

That list only applies to Stan's rims. They use a different technology to Shimano Wheels which are UST compatible.

Any UST tyre should be 100% compatible with the rims. Any Tubeless Ready tyre should work fine but you may need some sealant to help it to seal.

Normal tyres may work but results are unknown and reliability maybe poor.


Stan's rims have a different bead hook that is designed specifically to work with normal tyres too. The UST standard is not designed specifically to work with normal tyres.

Northwind

Most quality standard tyres will work fine... You're right enough that the list is for Stans, but the things that make Panaracer Fires suck for Stans also make them suck on other rims.

Contis will mostly take forever to seal, if they ever do. Most lightweight racey tyres will have pretty thin sidewalls which makes them harder to seal, and more likely to cut.

I don't use any UST tyres- I did, but didn't get any benefit from it. I've got a mix of standard and tubeless ready tyres now but the tubeless ready tyres are chosen just because they're good- I'd be using specialized's excellent Eskar even if i used tubes.

Frosticles

I use panaracer fire xc pro folding tyres with Stans and found them dead easy to convert and no problems whatsoever in use.

ryanincontrol

Just an update, I'am now running tubeless with my M785 wheels and standard Schwalbe Hurricane tyres. I'm so pleased with it I converted my other bike to tubeless. I used ghetto tubeless conversion for my Fulcrum Red Metal 5 with standard Nobby Nic And Racing Ralph tyres. No fuss with sealing and I just used my track pump.
At one time had a glass puncture on my Red Metal. I was worried as the puncture was long about a couple of cm in length and lost a lot of pressure but after rotating where the puncture was at bottom the sealant came in contact with it and sealed the puncture after that I said to myself I will never use tubes again although I still carry a couple just in case.

Thanks for all the input guys!