Road tubeless - an update
maddog 2
Posts: 8,114
After much chin stroking and staring into the interweb abyss I decided to give tubeless a go on the roadie.
Here are some thoughts and comments:
wheel setup; 32h Open Pro ceramics. According to Stan the OP is one rim which can have problems with burping so I was a little apprehensive in how to run them - whether to use the tape or run a rimstrip, or even go ghetto tubeless :shock: Others have truggled to get it to hold air, due to the double eyelets leaking.
Anyway, I decided to give his 21mm tape a go to seal the rim as it's lighter and cheaper than a Stans 700c rimstrip. Wiggle has the tape.
1. Sanded the bare rim down, making sure not only that the rim bed was sanded but also up the sides, so the tape could make a good seal. Cleaned with brake cleaner to remove any residue, as Stan the man does on the vid. Cleaned under the rim bead too
2. Fitted the 21mm tape. Bit fiddly but not too bad. Stretched it nice and tight and stuck down with a clean cloth and a firm hand. Did two layers. Ran cloth round afterwards to get a good seal and squash any air bubbles.
3. Carefully cut a cross in the tape at the valve hole and with a pen end worked it into a circle.
3. Fitted a normal tyre and tube and inflated to 120psi and left it for an hour to stick the tape down good and proper. Had brew and listened to the Garden State soundtrack.
4. Fitted 44m Stans valve. Nice and tight and snug.
5. Fitted Hutchinson Fusion2 tubeless tyre. Tyre weighed 297g on my scales. Used a bit of soap and water suds to get the last part on the rim. 50:50 mix of washing up liquid and hot water. Didn't use any levers, as I never do to fit tyres. Went on fine - bit tighter than a normal tyre but no problem.
6. Put suds all around the tyre bead on both sides.
7. Inflated with compressor. Pat down tyre to ensure the tyre bead is seated nicely. Make sure the tyre is slotted down next to the valve and not sitting up on it. Went straight up no problem.
8. Deflate and remove vlave core and squirt in some sealant. I used about 40ml I think. Stans little red jug is 60ml. Replace valve core and reinlflate. I put it up to 90psi.
9. Slosh sealant about in professional way. Spin wheel about expertly. Run a few more suds around tyre-rim joint to see if there's any bubbling
10. Repeat for other wheel. Didn't do steps 8&9 though - I just poured the sealant into the tyre directly, before I fitted it to the rim.
Tyre hadn't lost any pressure overnight. Rode to work today and initially they are very impressive. I need to do a back to back with the normal tyres to really be sure but they felt very supple and comfy. Haven't tested the out-and-out grip yet. They didn't burp or lose pressure at all so I'm happy with that and quietly confident.
I'll report back when I've done some more miles.
costs:
Fusion2 tyres £36 each from wiggle, although I had a voucher so I got them cheaper
2 x 44mm values @ £6 each
1 roll of 21mm tape at a whopping £9
some Stans sealant, which I already had as i run tubeless on the mtb
Here are some thoughts and comments:
wheel setup; 32h Open Pro ceramics. According to Stan the OP is one rim which can have problems with burping so I was a little apprehensive in how to run them - whether to use the tape or run a rimstrip, or even go ghetto tubeless :shock: Others have truggled to get it to hold air, due to the double eyelets leaking.
Anyway, I decided to give his 21mm tape a go to seal the rim as it's lighter and cheaper than a Stans 700c rimstrip. Wiggle has the tape.
1. Sanded the bare rim down, making sure not only that the rim bed was sanded but also up the sides, so the tape could make a good seal. Cleaned with brake cleaner to remove any residue, as Stan the man does on the vid. Cleaned under the rim bead too
2. Fitted the 21mm tape. Bit fiddly but not too bad. Stretched it nice and tight and stuck down with a clean cloth and a firm hand. Did two layers. Ran cloth round afterwards to get a good seal and squash any air bubbles.
3. Carefully cut a cross in the tape at the valve hole and with a pen end worked it into a circle.
3. Fitted a normal tyre and tube and inflated to 120psi and left it for an hour to stick the tape down good and proper. Had brew and listened to the Garden State soundtrack.
4. Fitted 44m Stans valve. Nice and tight and snug.
5. Fitted Hutchinson Fusion2 tubeless tyre. Tyre weighed 297g on my scales. Used a bit of soap and water suds to get the last part on the rim. 50:50 mix of washing up liquid and hot water. Didn't use any levers, as I never do to fit tyres. Went on fine - bit tighter than a normal tyre but no problem.
6. Put suds all around the tyre bead on both sides.
7. Inflated with compressor. Pat down tyre to ensure the tyre bead is seated nicely. Make sure the tyre is slotted down next to the valve and not sitting up on it. Went straight up no problem.
8. Deflate and remove vlave core and squirt in some sealant. I used about 40ml I think. Stans little red jug is 60ml. Replace valve core and reinlflate. I put it up to 90psi.
9. Slosh sealant about in professional way. Spin wheel about expertly. Run a few more suds around tyre-rim joint to see if there's any bubbling
10. Repeat for other wheel. Didn't do steps 8&9 though - I just poured the sealant into the tyre directly, before I fitted it to the rim.
Tyre hadn't lost any pressure overnight. Rode to work today and initially they are very impressive. I need to do a back to back with the normal tyres to really be sure but they felt very supple and comfy. Haven't tested the out-and-out grip yet. They didn't burp or lose pressure at all so I'm happy with that and quietly confident.
I'll report back when I've done some more miles.
costs:
Fusion2 tyres £36 each from wiggle, although I had a voucher so I got them cheaper
2 x 44mm values @ £6 each
1 roll of 21mm tape at a whopping £9
some Stans sealant, which I already had as i run tubeless on the mtb
Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true! - Homer
0
Comments
-
Very informative, maddog.
I would be interested to know if they inflate with a track pump when first mounted, not having a compressor or fancying a trip to the garage to use their airline.0 -
I could try it tonight
Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true! - Homer0 -
yeah good to see someone's taken the plunge, I'm planning to wait until I can get some decent new wheels and hopefully there's more tyre choice out there.0
-
Okay, I've now done about 80 miles on them, on various surfaces from smooth right through to plain rough and breaking up (thanks to Lancaster Councils hands-off approach to road maintenance)
And I'm officially impresssed. The tyres are great. Very smooth, supple, loads of dry grip and very secure in fast corners - due to the lower pressures and supple sidewall. I'm running them at 90psi but they roll well, certainly not slow. Haven't done a direct back-to-back yet (with normal tyres) but from memory they are just as quick but much better ride quality. No air loss at all either. They're staying on!Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true! - Homer0 -
I've long been a tubeless convert on my MTBs. As I need some new tyres for m,y road bike I'm quite tempted to give it a go.
I'm using oldish Kysrium SL wheels which have no spoke holes in the rim well, so I guess the tubeless tyres will go stright on with no tape/rimstrip needed? I assume sealant is advisable, but not necessary too?
Be interested to know if they go up with a track pump. I can get proper UST tyres to inflate easily enough with a tp, but struggle if it's a Stans-ed up setup using normal non tubeless tyres.
Cheers!0 -
Interesting. Did you go tubeless just for the feel and lower pressures? I ask because that setup is no lighter than a typical race tyre/tube combination, heavier actually.
Do you know how they compare to tubs feel-wise? (not that I've ever ridden them)
Matthew0 -
I'm using oldish Kysrium SL wheels which have no spoke holes in the rim well, so I guess the tubeless tyres will go stright on with no tape/rimstrip needed? I assume sealant is advisable, but not necessary too?
You'll just need the tyres, the valve and some sealant. I've seen reports saying that you don't need sealant so they may be fine without it, but I only put about 35ml in anyway, so it's not a lot.
I haven't tried inflating them with a trackpump but they went up pretty easily on the compressor - in fact easier than mtb tyres usually do - so I'd say you'd have a good chance. Just use plenty of suds between the tyre and the rim bead.
As for why. I like low pressures basically. I like the feel of them and more importantly I think a 90psi tyre has much better grip than a 120psi tyre, as it's more supple. So I usually run my normal tyre&tubes at around 90 (front) and 100 psi (rear) anyway but then they are perhaps a tad slow, and I do occassionally get pinch punctures, mainly when riding in a group and not seeing a pothole.
This seemed an opportunity to get low pressures/good grip but also good RR.
Weight-wise they are perhaps a tad heavy - a ProRace3 is 200g and a Conti Race Light or Mich Ultralight tube is about 75g - Total = 275g whereas the Fusions are 300g plus whatever the valve weighs (I didn't weigh it). But they don't ride heavy at all. If you race then the Fusions aren't a strong argument I admit - the Atoms are 275g and a better bet. But for training/sportiving they're spot on.Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true! - Homer0
