Starting to regret going tubeless...

[DOSS]

I'm going to give tubeless a try. The biggest reason I haven't yet is I don't have an air compressor in my garage. Guess it's time to buy one. So any suggestions? What do all you tubeless guys do to inflate your tubeless tires? An know a good deal on a compressor?

Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

If all you are doing is airing tires I would go with something like this http://www.amazon.com/Campbell-Hausf...air+compressor

oddly all this talk of tubless is making me want to give them a try.. picked up a roll of gorrilla tape yesterday and a bottle or Stans :)... Oh and I suck on the Mt bike but corner canyon is calling me :)

[neilether]

I'm going to give tubeless a try. The biggest reason I haven't yet is I don't have an air compressor in my garage. Guess it's time to buy one. So any suggestions? What do all you tubeless guys do to inflate your tubeless tires? An know a good deal on a compressor?

Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

The first time trying to set up tubeless is where you are more likely to get frustrated. Fight through it until you figure out the technique.

What rims/tires are you going to use?

Anyway, I have had reasonable success just using a floor pump. This will totally depend on the rim/tire combination. And I mean your specific items. It doesn't work to assume that since I run a Continental Mountain King tire (for example) and you use the same one that you will be able to seat it with a floor pump. Manufacturing variance can be important during this step.

0. Make sure that you have some tape to seal the spoke holes in the center of the rim. If I recall, you have Stan's rims. A quick glance should reveal some yellow rim tape in the bottom of the rim bed. If so, proceed.
1. Put on one complete bead of the tire like you normally would. Optional: it can help greatly to put some soap suds all along each of the beads prior to mounting. Don't be shy.
2. Make sure the tubeless valve stem is snug (don't have to kill the compression nut here)
3. Seat the other bead (don't worry about sealant yet)
4. Attempt to pump up tire with floor pump using your super rapid pumping skeels. It helps to remove the valve core prior to this step for increased airflow into the tube. If it works, pump it to ~50 psi. The beads will lock in place with a very loud, kind of scary, popping noise. That is a good noise. If the floor pump doesn't work, CO2 can be used. If that doesn't work, a compressor may be needed. I just have a cheap-o one from Harbor Freight. I use the little blower nozzle that just barely fits inside the Presta valve with the valve core removed.
5. Now that both beads are locked into place, remove the pump and all the air will flow out of the open valve stem.
6. Take your handy dandy little Stans 2 oz refill bottle and squeeze it into the open valve. Alternatively, you can unseat one of the beads and pour the sealant directly into the open tire. For a 29er wheel, depending on what tires you will be using and what volume they are, I would use 6 oz of Stans to start with. This should be sufficient to seal the side walls and have some leftover for puncture sealing.
7. Re insert the valve core
8. Pump it back up to ~50psi.
9. grab the wheel, hold it vertically in front of you and shake side to side to slosh the sealant up and down the entire tire. Rotate the wheel 30 degree or so and repeat until you gotten all the way around the tire.
10. Lay the wheel horizontally on one side (over a bucket or something so it's level) and let it sit for for a few minutes. Flip it over and let the other side sit for a few minutes.
11. Check the tire in a few hours to see if it is holding air. There is a decent chance it will be losing a significant amount. Add another 2 oz of stans at that point and repeat the sloshing process. (this is only needed the very first time you mount up brand new tires. After that, you won't have to do it again until you buy new tires.)
12. Voila.

The haters will say, "OM-Holy-G" that is 12 steps. That's so much worse than putting a tube in." I won't argue that the first time takes longer, but it's the difference between 7 minutes and 20 minutes. Once you get the technique down and the tires sealed, it's not a big deal.

Let me know if you have any questions. This is the technique recommended by Stans, @ notubes.com . There is a lot more information and videos on their site about how to do this.

[Iceaxe]

I have Stan rims with Continental XC King tires. There is no tape in my rims.


Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

[tallsteve]

I set mine up pretty much like Neil does. I usually get 2 loud popping noises per tire (in the garage it sounds like a .22 going off). They'll 'pop' when the psi in the tire hits about 40. If you don't get the popping noise, the tire isn't seated and you'll lose air quickly. I leave my tires at about 50 psi overnight, or until I ride next, then deflate to the pressure you want to ride at.
I have better luck seating brand new tires if I put an inflated tube in the tire overnight (doesn't need to be mounted to a rim) to shape them. Laying them on your driveway in full sun when it's hot also helps.
I try NOT to use soapy water if I can get away with it. I've seen too much soapy water react with the Stan's sealant, creating a big ball of hardened latex in the tire. If you do have to use the soap solution, only coat the bead/rim edge with the foamy bubbles.

[neilether]

I have Stan rims with Continental XC King tires. There is no tape in my rims.


Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

You will need to get a roll of Stans yellow tape, or a roll of Gorilla tape to seal off the spoke holes from the inside. I know the Stans tape is very easy. I have heard good things about Gorilla Tape but have never used it. Watch the youtube videos on their site, they help a lot.

I try NOT to use soapy water if I can get away with it. I've seen too much soapy water react with the Stan's sealant, creating a big ball of hardened latex in the tire. If you do have to use the soap solution, only coat the bead/rim edge with the foamy bubbles.

I should have clarified, I actually don't use soap either to lubricate the beads. Mainly because I am too lazy to do it and haven't felt the need. I didn't think about it reacting with the Stans; good point. I have heard that if you are having particular trouble getting the bead to seat properly, the soapy suds can help but I have never been forced to do it yet.

[neilether]

Proper Installation of the Rim Tape


Tire installation/sealing

[nelsonccc]

Last month when riding Navajo Loop I watched as my buddy got a flat in his tubeless (not all the way flat, just real low). We looked and there was a huge gash down one side. Probably 2" long, looked like a root or stick had gone in and then tore out. We jiggled it and moved it to the bottom and watched as the sealant sealed up the hole. Pumped some air in and it was golden. That tire held air the reast of the weekdn with Bunker descent and a blown out (rain/flash flood ruined) Thunder mtn ride. Pretty impressive. I run tubes at 38-40PSI and have never had an issue with pinch flats. Occasionally i get flats from cactus or stickers but I always have a spare tube.

[RedSpecialized]

So I decided to give this tubeless a go for reals since I already had the set up for it on new bike. I purchased orange seal (they say it is better than Stan's) they claim orange seal doesn't dry out. Took my current tubeless tire off and spent 20 min. cleaning all the old Stan's crap off the tire so it would seat properly. Dumped about 4oz of sealant in the tire and was very careful mounting the tire to not spill the sealant out. Then I gave the tire a quick shot with the air compressor. The tire seemed to not be mounted good because there was bubbles coming out all along the bead. So I gave it another wick shot of air from the compressor. I can't believe what happened next. The tire blew of the rim. Scared the crap right out of me. Sounded like some c4 went off. My next door neighbor runs over and thinks I was shot and was going to find me dead. My ears are ringing so loud I can't hear anything. I have orange goo all over me and my garage. My $67 dollar tire is ruined and come to find out later it bent my rim. So this experiment trying to go tubeless ended up costing me about $100. After replacing the tire and getting my rim trued and buying the sealant. Tubes for me from now on. I do think I will put some of that sealant junk in my tubes though. Should keep me from getting flats.


Sent from my SPH-L900

[Iceaxe]

Hmmm... on second thought maybe I'll just leave my tubes in. They are never a problem.

Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

[Sombeech]

Hmmm... on second thought maybe I'll just leave my tubes in. They are never a problem.

THIS^^^

It's cool if you want to experiment, and if tubeless works for you, awesome. But man I just can't bring myself to go tubeless. Then again I rarely even lube my chain or wash my bike. I like to take my bike down, hop on and ride with ZERO prep, and hang it back up without even the slightest notion of topping off the air pressure.

My tube valves haven't touched the nozzle of a pump for literally months and I'm riding every week.

[neilether]

So I decided to give this tubeless a go for reals since I already had the set up for it on new bike. I purchased orange seal (they say it is better than Stan's) they claim orange seal doesn't dry out. Took my current tubeless tire off and spent 20 min. cleaning all the old Stan's crap off the tire so it would seat properly. Dumped about 4oz of sealant in the tire and was very careful mounting the tire to not spill the sealant out. Then I gave the tire a quick shot with the air compressor. The tire seemed to not be mounted good because there was bubbles coming out all along the bead. So I gave it another wick shot of air from the compressor. I can't believe what happened next. The tire blew of the rim. Scared the crap right out of me. Sounded like some c4 went off. My next door neighbor runs over and thinks I was shot and was going to find me dead. My ears are ringing so loud I can't hear anything. I have orange goo all over me and my garage. My $67 dollar tire is ruined and come to find out later it bent my rim. So this experiment trying to go tubeless ended up costing me about $100. After replacing the tire and getting my rim trued and buying the sealant. Tubes for me from now on. I do think I will put some of that sealant junk in my tubes though. Should keep me from getting flats.


Sent from my SPH-L900

I realize I should just let this die, but it is the interwebz afterall so I have to keep it going. Plus, this is as close as this sub-forum has ever gotten to the canyoneering arguments. So......

To be fair, I have had this same thing happen with a tubed setup as well. If you don't get the beads properly and evenly inside the rim before you inflate, kaboom. This is exacerbated when using an air compressor because the inflation occurs so quickly. With a floor pump you can often see that the tire isn't evenly seated and deal with the issue before you get enough air pressure in there to cause a problem.

I know, I know, you've mounted countless tires and you're not a tire mounting rookie. I'm not insinuating that you are by any means. This happened to me on my wife's bike (tubed) last summer. I just wasn't paying close enough attention and didn't get the bead down inside the channel far enough. I saw it bulging out about 1/4 second before it exploded in my face. I've witnessed a wrench monkey doing the same thing with a tubed setup in a bike shop. Sometimes the fates conspire against you in this regard.

[REDFOX]

I need to get out and ride more. I would enjoy watching people inflating their tubeless tires. I did a national downhill race with 4psi in the front tire with a tube and I never got a flat despite race pictures of the tire wrapped over rocks. This picture was originally posted on the uutah forum somewhere.

[accadacca]

I finally read this entire thread. Good info and conversation!

IMO, tubeless are hard to figure out and maintain for some. Of course once you get the system down, they work great. However many riders never get to this point before frustration sets in. The installation is no doubt more complicated than a tube.

[Tystevens]

Wow, lots of issues with tubeless! On other forums, ie MTBR, if you don't run tubeless, you are nothing!

FWIW, I'm reasonably happy with my tubeless setup, but it really isn't a big deal either way. My bike (Spesh Enduro Expert) came tubeless ready, and I thought I'd give it a try because it only cost me a bottle of Stans. Works fine -- no puncture flats in 2 years, doesn't seem like I have to pump the tires up any more often than I did, and my sealant seems to last just fine -- I add a shot every 3 months or so, it takes less than 5 minutes. But I don't run super low pressures -- 30 front and 35 rear at 240#, and I did have to fix a tire on the trail once due to tearing out a sidewall -- the sealant couldn't keep up with the 1" gash in the tire, so that was that.

I think part of the problem people have w/ tubeless is trying to run at very low psi, which leads to burping and air loss. I don't like the squirmy feel of a low psi tire, anyway, but I only had one burp, and no other issues.

Like I said, not the greatest thing in the world IMO -- I'm glad I didn't spend any $$ to go tubeless -- but I'll stick with it.

Re: compressors, I just have a cheap one from Harbor Freight. Although I've only had to use it on my tubeless tires once; I can get them to seal up fine with a few brisk pumps from the floor pump. I run Specialized 2Bliss ready tires and the stock Traverse rims that came taped.

[ahansen60]

I had a couple months with few problems, but the leaking returns again! I've been changing rim tape, valve stems and Stan's. It's still leaking! I don't know, maybe the tire or rim has a bad seal. Either way I've gotta do something different. I'm either going back to tubes or going to "true tubeless". Anybody know how much that will cost me if I choose the latter?

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[neilether]

Public Service Announcement:


Check your sealant more often than once a decade. Double flat yesterday after years on my high horse telling people I never get flats running tubeless. A couple of tiny holes thru the tread surface of both tires did me in.


Added Stans back in the garage and sealed right up.

[neilether]

Let's resurrect this thread. Has anybody converted to tubeless lately? Just thought about this thread as I'm doing a Ghetto tubeless (split tube) conversion on a bike I'm building for my son. I've never done the ghetto version, so we will see how it works out.

[double moo]

Check out Fatty Strippers. Designed for Fat tire bikes... same concept would work for standard rims...

http://fattystripper.com/index.html

Watch the install videos and it will make sense.

Planning to do me fat bike rims before the weather turns..

[mxerhale]

Let's resurrect this thread. Has anybody converted to tubeless lately? Just thought about this thread as I'm doing a Ghetto tubeless (split tube) conversion on a bike I'm building for my son. I've never done the ghetto version, so we will see how it works out.

I used Gorilla tape on my last bike and on my son's current wheels and they are still good after nearly 2 years. I've had 2 flats in the last 6 or 7 years since going tubeless and I would never go back.