Tubeless newbie

bobbydigital

Howdy,

I have some xm319 rims that came with the tubeless tape already installed, so bought the tubeless valves and bought some cheap tubeless tyres, mavic quest 650b x 2.4 which are actually 2.2 :roll:

Anyway, are the xm319 tubeless comptiable? I wasn't sure if the rim wall was different with tubeless ready rims for the bead to clip it nicely.

I have tried to inflate them, no luck.
I put in some 26" inner tubes and pumped them up to 50 psi, still no "click" from the bead.

I just have cheap beto track pump, no sealant yet, but I remove the core from the presta valves but I couldn't attach to the track pump to the presta stem, is there some sort of adapter needed?

billycool

Having had a quick Google, I see no reference to the XM319 being tubeless ready.

Are you sure you don't just have rim tape on the wheels rather than tubeless specific tape? Have they been run tubeless before? How new/old are they?

The 19mm inner sizing suggests `recommended tyre widths: 1.50 to 2.30`

I know you say your tyres are 2.4 but really 2.2. When you use the tube is the tyre bedding in okay without the popping? (i.e - you can ride the bike?) It might be it's such a wide tyre that it's a bit loose/floppy on the rim and not snapping into place.

Sealant does help, but I'm not sure if you are actually set up for tubeless properly.

I can never get a tubeless tyre to inflate with a track pump, even if I've used a tube to be the bead in the right place. I always use a compressor (no need to take valve core out).

I think you're on the right track - just not sure everything is set up correctly.

Photo of the rim/tape might help.

larkim

If you bought the rims with tubeless tape, why are you questioning whether they are tubeless compatible? (And are you sure its tubeless tape?)

FWIW, I've got tubeless running fine on non-tubeless rims (decathlon stock rims that came with my bike), so whilst the tag tubeless-ready / tubeless compatible might be desirable I don't believe it is essential.

It took me a while to get my wheels up and running at first. Things that made a difference for me:-
- soapy water sprayed liberally around the tyre wall / rim to smooth progress
- valve core removed to allow maximum inward airflow
- ghetto tubeless inflator made with coke bottle etc to give a good shot of air

Is the tyre inflating anywhere near to a degree that you'd expect it to be able to hold air, or are you simply pumping and pumping with air seeping out all around the rim? I think the soapy water really helped me in the first instance to encourage the air to stay in the tyre long enough to force it outwards into the rim, but getting past that stage where there's a gaping hole between tyre and rim which just lets the air out at the same speed that you're putting it in was the tricky bit for me. The sudden flood of air from the coke bottle inflator was essential for me.

Attaching the pump to the valve-free presta valve should be identical to attaching it with the valve core in place as the pump should seal around the main stem of the valve in both cases, no?

HTH! It is worth the effort, the huge reductions in punctures for our fleet of bikes has been particularly significant.

steve_sordy

Is the rim tape secure?
If it looks a bit loose, then bin it and replace with Gorilla tape. You can get some one-inch wide tape in a black carbon fibre finish that looks really cool (although no-one but you will ever see it).

I discovered on a brand new bike, that even new rim tape can be so faulty as to prevent tubeless inflation. It looked OK, but the only give away was sealant leaking through the pin hole on the rim between the spoke holes! That was a messy clean up job.

I too have never managed to inflate a new tyre tubeless on to a rim with just a track pump, even with sealant in and the valve core removed. I can w4nk away at the track pump until I am on the verge of a heart attack, but I cannot shift enough air. I have also tried the 20p a go compressors found outside petrol stations. But they do not shift enough air either. In desperation, I once took a wheel into my LBS. It was laid flat as it already had a load of sealant in it. The tyre was a brand new tubeless tyre, the rims were tubeless, the valve core was out. The LBS compressor inflated it in a flash. I went and bought an Airshot tyre tubeless tyre inflator. Brilliant bit of kit, first time, every time, never failed me yet.

Not all compressors are the same, some are for high volume low pressure, some are high pressure low volume.

If your tyre inflator of choice will not close onto the Presta valve stem, then either it is faulty or worn. But you can buy an adaptor that screws onto the outside, so that a Schrader-sized inflator will clamp onto it (like a foot pump for car tyres). But most track pumps should have a reversible head Presta or Schrader.

bobbydigital

I have pumped it up with an inner tube to 60psi and the tyre does sit nicely on the rim, "true" so the tyre isn't further into the rim at any point.

Because I didn't know if tubeless only rims from the factory had any differences where the tyre bead interacts with the rim, like deeper channel for example.

The rim tape looks decent, time will tell when the sealant turns up.

I was looking at the air shot plus beto do something similar.

02gf74

steve_sordy wrote:

I too have never managed to inflate a new tyre tubeless on to a rim with just a track pump, even with sealant in and the valve core removed. I can w4nk away at the track pump until I am on the verge of a heart attack, but I cannot shift enough air.

You are not trying hard enough but I know what you mean about the heart attack.

I managed it last Sunday, the trick is to splash water with bit of washing up liquid at the tyre bead/rim interface both sides and pump away.

One day I'll make an air charger out of aluminium drinks bottle, should make it a lot easier.

larkim

I did the fire extinguisher mod. Not quite as portable as an airshot or alu drinks bottle, but guaranteed to handle the pressures OK! Works very well!

On a couple of occasions I have got a tyre back up using a track pump only (and a relatively low capacity one at that) but that's been when the tyre has previously had sealant in it so broadly is well sealed anyway.

Gorilla tape FTW for me too btw. Cheap rims, gorilla tape, stans, stans valves and a ghetto inflator was what I needed in the first instance to get it to work.

At least once you've got sealant in you can see if air is escaping through spoke holes or by the valve etc. But broadly if that was your problem you'd have had to have got the tyre inflated already. And I don't think you've got that far have you?

larkim

Are you certain that that is tubeless rim tape by the way?

bobbydigital

From looking at it, it looks like the stans no tube tape but I am not sure as I have never ran tubeless.

It's a thic, smooth plastic tape.

No I didn't get that far, I could hear air escaping as I pumped, so the tyre had a lot of gaps and there wasn't enough air with my method to over come that.

steve_sordy

This didn't work for me, but it has worked for others. Tie some string around the whole circumference of the tyre, nice and tight so that it pulls the beads down onto the rim. Then inflate.

You'll try anything to get he ##@! tyre inflated, yes?

gomezz

I have had some success with a garden pump up sprayer, take the spray head off and nip the hose, pump to max then jam it on the valve " core out " and let the hose go. As was said soap the beads first to aid seating, I do sometimes have to fit and remove a tube carefully to seat one side! before it works.

bobbydigital

I bought some OKO magic milk, put that in the tyre, opened the presta valve, pumped up with track pump and it was extremely easy, didn't even need to pump fast, all too easy so fingers crossed.

jamski

Pretty sure those rims aren't tubeless ready, you'll need to add your own tape.

swod1

I'm sure you have to double tape some wheels before the tyre will get a good seal on the wheel. Maybe there isn't enough tubeless tape on the wheel?

I never had any problem but I've got ust tubeless mavic wheels so tyres just pop straight on.

bobbydigital

Tyre stayed up to pressure all night, rear was a bit more difficult to inflate but just had to pump a bit quicker.

I did read you should do an extra layer of tape if the tyre(s) are baggy and very easy to fit but time will tell, ill carry some 26" inner tubes.

steve_sordy

swod1 wrote:

I'm sure you have to double tape some wheels before the tyre will get a good seal on the wheel. Maybe there isn't enough tubeless tape on the wheel?

I never had any problem but I've got ust tubeless mavic wheels so tyres just pop straight on.

I used to have Mavic UST tubeless wheels and also never had a problem inflating tubeless tyres on them. However, I've had all sorts of rims since than and have put all sorts of tyres on them too. I've had one or two problems with old rim tape and one with brand new rim tape that was either faulty or baldy applied. I once used one layer of Gorilla tape to seal a rim and it worked first time, but I should have used two layers because the air pressure was pressing the tape into the spoke holes and may have failed at some point. (I discovered that when I removed the tyres to sell the wheels six months or so after first application.

But I have never found that the tape I applied was anywhere near the rim edges where the tyre beads engaged. I have never believed that tape right up to the rim edge was required to get a good seal. Or have I just been lucky so far?