Tubeless - What do I Need?

The Northern Monkey

So... I have tubeless ready XT rims and the valves to go with them and finally have a set of tyres that I'm happy to kep on for 90% of my riding so am considering trying out tubeless.

1) I assume all I need is some tubeless fluid...
Which one do you lot recommend, and how much do you put in each tyre? (they seem to come in 125mm, 500mm and 1l bottles).

2) my tyres are Continental Mountain King MK2 Black Chilli Protection (non UST version), should these go up ok without tubes?

3) Should I be able to get the bead seated without goo? I've tried before (with different tyres) and a small compressor with no luck, I really can't get my head round how to get over this bit. I watched the pinkbike guide, but it skips over the actual bead seating!
My tyres always seem to be too "baggy" around the rim!

Cheers for any tips...

stubs

Put a couple of turns of yellow rim tape on the wheel, it builds up the well on the rim and it helps seal the beads on a baggy tyre enough so you can get the initial inflation to seat the beads.

Make sure the tyre is warm so it is nice and flexible if using a new tyre put on rim and a well pumped up tube in it overnight to get any kinks in the bead out.

Make sure everything is spotlessly clean, grit will defeat the excercise.

Use plenty of soapy water to lubricate the bead and borrow a friend to do the pumping. Tell him its good cardio excercise.

Before putting liquid in I just pump tyre up without valve core in to seat the beads with no valve core in the air has a better flow and the beads should pop in and stay in when you let air out.

I am having another go at tubeless after a complete pain attempt using the ghetto method. I have a pair of Superstar Sentinel 29er rims, the back tyre a Maxxis Aspen went on so easy with 1 layer of yellow tape 3 or 4 strokes of the track pump and pop pop the tyre seated. The front tyre an On One Smorgasbord was a complete custard I ended up putting 4 layers of yellow tape on and pumping till I nearly puked. Though the On One tyre didnt bleed through the sidewalls like the Maxxis. The Maxxis took an hour and about three or four shaking sessions to seal completely with no bubbles.

I used Superstar yellow tape and Stans liquid found a good price on ebay for a 16 US oz bottle. The previous time I had a go I used a bottle of some Italian stuff the name has gone out of my head but it was so sticky you ended up sticking to everything in the shed.

The Northern Monkey

Ahh I assumed I wouldnt need the yellow tape as the rims are tubeless ready? Ie no spoke holes on the inside..

Need to find out if the valve core can be removed on the xt valve, never done that before!

mattv

Once the tyre is fitted on the rim, put a drop of sealant on the joint where the bead touches the rim. It will run round the whole circumference by capillary action. Sometimes it will need 3 or 4 drops around the wheel to get full coverage. This makes the tyre literally stick to the rim, filling any minute gaps created by a non-ust tyre. Some conti tyres have very thin, porous sidewalls so be ready for using more fluid than it says on the bottle to get it sealed.

russyh

Use a proper compressor or a home made ghetto version. In my opinion it's the only way to be sure of a stress free process

stubs

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Ahh I assumed I wouldnt need the yellow tape as the rims are tubeless ready? Ie no spoke holes on the inside..

Need to find out if the valve core can be removed on the xt valve, never done that before!

Yellow tape isnt to seal your rim in this case but to bulk out the rim bed for a baggy tyre. You could probably use insulating tape or any smooth plastic tape that sticks well.

dusk

I have XT wheels, I got my Maxxis Ardent (non ust/tlr) to inflate easily with a track pump.

Firstly I bought some Superstar valves as the Shimano one didn't have a removable core but used the Shimano lockring as it is better quality and has the extra o ring.

Soapy water on the beads and if that doesn't work then use a tube to seat one side of the tyre then it should inflate no problem as you've only got one side to do

Dick Scruttock

Initially I would not bother with tape. Just put the valve in, remove the valve core, put the the tyre on and then run some soapy water around both sides of the tyre and see if it goes up using a track pump or compressor. Work from there and if you need some tape or something then do that.

warrerj

If you're really struggling to get the bead to seat all around the rim try neat washing up liquid on the bead instead of the soapy water.

pilch

Russyh wrote:

Use a proper compressor or a home made ghetto version. In my opinion it's the only way to be sure of a stress free process

This, you may be lucky & get a good seal right away then be able to just use a track pump, but in my experience banging them up quickly makes things a lot easier.

Also I find it helps to grab the tyre at the valve and kind of 'squash' it over the rim each side, this makes sure you have a good seal where the air is going in, sometimes it can blow straight out under the bead if its not a brilliant seal.