Tubeless Conversion Advice

Rick1234

Hi All

First post here looking for some advice about my struggle to convert to tubeless on my Cube Ltd Pro 29er.

Have a Joe's rim conversion kit which claims to convert any rims to tubeless with any tyres (yeah, right!!). The bike is a 2012 model with OEM Alexrims and Schwalbe Rapid Rob tyres with a kevlar bead which I assume should be convertible (correct me if I am wrong here!). Have followed the instructions to the letter but the tyres won't inflate for love nor money no matter how much soapy water I rub on the beads. I initially tried with my track pump and after several hernia's gave up as it was a bit like trying to fill a sieve with a water using a teaspoon :evil: . Next I asked the (less than friendly) bloke at my LBS to try and inflate it with his compressor which also did nothing. Next I tried to tape the tyres to the rims with duct tape, also to no avail. Finally I tried a trick I saw on an internet video where you carefully seat each bead onto the rim with a tyre leaver before inflating - again - epic fail, there was no way the tyre would stay on the 'seat'.

I am coming to the conclusion that the tyres are not tight enough on the rims and that I should give up and try again when it comes to the time to buy new tyres. I have had them on and off a few times and they are fairly loose. Has anyone got any further advice or tips? Also if I do park it until I get the new tyres am I best getting UST. tubeless ready or tube tyres?

Any help very much appreciated.

Rick

dusk

I have tried tubelese ready tyres - these went up with a track pump but were noticeably tighter than non tubeless ready tyres (make sure to use removeable valve cores)

I have also tried folding non tubeless ready tyres - these are clearly looser on the rim than tubeless ready tyres but one set I've used have still gone up with a track pump (I have found seating one side of the bead with a tube can help), another set I've used still wouldn't work with a track pump so I used a CO2 cartridge which did the trick.

Long story short, some combinations work better than others. It might be your tyres but it could also be your rims. I would recommend trying tubeless ready tyres (UST would be a waste of time)

russyh

Do the tyres say tubeless ready? To be honest i always struggled with Schwable Tubeless ready tyres let alone the non flavour. I found the secret was to make my own pop bottle compressor as this inflated the tyre straight away. but given you have tried a proper compressor i doubt my home made job would inflate any quicker.

In the end i gave up and bought some Specialize Purgotory 2.3's 2bliss and with my pop bottle compressor they inflated and stayed inflated instantly. bit of a shake of the sealant to fill the holes in the rim and bosh, job done!

Rick1234

Thanks dusk. I did remove the valve cores - this is in the instructions - was thinking of trying the C02 thing but reluctant to shell out 20 quid on a wing and a prayer.

How would I know if the rims are compatible or not they seem like a fairly standard design to me (i'm defo no expert!). Will try the tubeless ready when I replace as you advise - I assume these can also be run with a tube if I also fail with those!

I do have some wire bead 700 x 42 slicks I used to use for commuting which are a tight fit - would it be wort tryinh these just to see if the rim is compatible?

Wormishere1

I think people forget the concept of how tubeless tyres work. You first need to make a seal between the tyre and the rim bed of the wheel so that when you blow air into the tyre it begins to inflate onto the bead of the rim.

If the tyre is not holding the air get some rimtape or cut some gaffa tape to the right width of your rim and build up the height of the rim bed (where the spoke holes are). Then put the strip in that came with your kit with the valve on and then put the tyre on. It may take a while to get it correct but this has happened to me on several sets of wheels when converting them and it has always worked.

The soapy water is just to help the bead of the tyre seat correctly.

dusk

I'm running Schwalbe Hans Dampf tubeless ready and they seated no problem with a track pump, much tighter fitting than Maxxis folding bead non tubeless ready tyres.

Couldn't really comment on solving problems with rims as both my sets are UST