Why not take the bike to the local bike shop and let one of the lads who does tubeless conversions 10 times a day sort it for £30. I've been running tubeless on my mtb's (analogue and e) with no issues at all. I carry stans sealant and Co2 for any top up needed on the rides out. Pre going tubeless I had loads of puncture issues but get pretty much none these days.
Tubeless conversion
- Thread starter spm0912
- Start date
My experience and therefore my recommendation is - stick with tubes
I cycle more than 10,000 kms a year and on most of my bikes, at some time or another, I have tried tubeless. In each case, a freshly set up system seems to worked OK, being sprayed occasionally with white sealant solution was preferable to replacing a tube. However in the long term it will fail, either because the hole in the tyre is too large to seal or the system gives up (because either the sealing tape fails and the air/sealant leaks away through spoke holes or in the winter the sealant is a frozen blob on one side of the tyre). The problem is when it does fail, its a horrible mess to work around, removing valve seats to insert a tube whilst being covered in rubber sealant is not fun. its also pretty difficult to re-re-seat a tubeless tyre on the side of the road with a mini pump.
On my mountain bike, the failure to seal on one occasion, meant mud, grit and sealant solution wrecked the emergency tube within 5km, resulting in a long walk and train ride home.
So inevitably I have always reverted to a tube set-up. Since the weight of sealant is much the same as a tube and the need to carry a spare tube for emergencies, I see a limited long term advantage. I am also not convinced by the rolling properties being different either, to that of a good light tube. My GP5000 tyres with latex tubes have just reached 4,800km since Christmas with only 2 punctures and roll just as well as my Vitoria tubeless set-up which they replaced. The added benefit is that I can fit and remove the tyres without a wrestling match on the side of the road. Also, the sealant fluid has a limited shelf life, in most cases less than 1 year.
If you do try it out, I wish you a better experience than I had.
I cycle more than 10,000 kms a year and on most of my bikes, at some time or another, I have tried tubeless. In each case, a freshly set up system seems to worked OK, being sprayed occasionally with white sealant solution was preferable to replacing a tube. However in the long term it will fail, either because the hole in the tyre is too large to seal or the system gives up (because either the sealing tape fails and the air/sealant leaks away through spoke holes or in the winter the sealant is a frozen blob on one side of the tyre). The problem is when it does fail, its a horrible mess to work around, removing valve seats to insert a tube whilst being covered in rubber sealant is not fun. its also pretty difficult to re-re-seat a tubeless tyre on the side of the road with a mini pump.
On my mountain bike, the failure to seal on one occasion, meant mud, grit and sealant solution wrecked the emergency tube within 5km, resulting in a long walk and train ride home.
So inevitably I have always reverted to a tube set-up. Since the weight of sealant is much the same as a tube and the need to carry a spare tube for emergencies, I see a limited long term advantage. I am also not convinced by the rolling properties being different either, to that of a good light tube. My GP5000 tyres with latex tubes have just reached 4,800km since Christmas with only 2 punctures and roll just as well as my Vitoria tubeless set-up which they replaced. The added benefit is that I can fit and remove the tyres without a wrestling match on the side of the road. Also, the sealant fluid has a limited shelf life, in most cases less than 1 year.
If you do try it out, I wish you a better experience than I had.
Deleted account 220319001
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I've had a couple of poor experiences with tubeless and agree what a PITA it can be, particularly if you haven't brought a spare tube
when when doing PROPER mountain biking, tubeless is deffo the way.
And most decent ebikes come with carbon frames
I bow to your knowledge and experience, I'll amend my thoughts forthwith.
Some interesting comments on tubeless, I commute daily (Or at least I did until recently) and ride mtb all year round.
I run 4 mtbs, all until the beginning of last year with tubes. I’ve had more than my fair share of punctures with tubes, once 3/4 through the Wiggle Up and Down mtb, where changing the tube nearly had me throwing the wheel down the hill, esp pumping up a large volume tyre with a mini HV pump, which isn’t funny when you’re feked.
Decided after a ride in the surrey hills, where I got three punctures, ran out of spare tubes, couldn’t get the patch to take and had an hours walk back to the car that tubeless was the way forward. Haven’t looked back since.
You can use non tubeless tyres and rims, if you’re patient and seat the tyre overnight with a tube first. If you’ve got tubeless ready rims and tyres then I’d advocate tubeless every time. Can’t imagine any eBike now being supplied without tubeless ready rims.
Been running my Scott FS with tubeless since I got it last year, no issues and surprisingly no loss of air in between rides. I’ve also got my Cannondale, el Guapo And Cotic bFe, wife’s Cube eBike all tubeless with no issues, either getting them setup and riding them.
Sealant - I always use Stans no tubes, works for me every time.
Valves - I’ve used muc off valves (handy as they have the valve core removal tool built in) and Schwalbe and Stans. The muc off were the best of the 3.
Rim tape - either gorilla tape, or I got some of this on advice on STW which has been pretty good https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162354590164 and if you order the right width no need to cut it down.
And lastly unless you’ve got a compressor get yourself a tubeless track pump, makes the whole exercise a doddle. I’ve got this from chain Reaction Cycles
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/lifeline-airblast-tubeless-tyre-track-pump/rp-prod155451
Running tubeless means you can run tyre pressures really low, down to 19 psi, probably lower.
I’ll never go back to tubes, utter bloody pain in the arse.
I run 4 mtbs, all until the beginning of last year with tubes. I’ve had more than my fair share of punctures with tubes, once 3/4 through the Wiggle Up and Down mtb, where changing the tube nearly had me throwing the wheel down the hill, esp pumping up a large volume tyre with a mini HV pump, which isn’t funny when you’re feked.
Decided after a ride in the surrey hills, where I got three punctures, ran out of spare tubes, couldn’t get the patch to take and had an hours walk back to the car that tubeless was the way forward. Haven’t looked back since.
You can use non tubeless tyres and rims, if you’re patient and seat the tyre overnight with a tube first. If you’ve got tubeless ready rims and tyres then I’d advocate tubeless every time. Can’t imagine any eBike now being supplied without tubeless ready rims.
Been running my Scott FS with tubeless since I got it last year, no issues and surprisingly no loss of air in between rides. I’ve also got my Cannondale, el Guapo And Cotic bFe, wife’s Cube eBike all tubeless with no issues, either getting them setup and riding them.
Sealant - I always use Stans no tubes, works for me every time.
Valves - I’ve used muc off valves (handy as they have the valve core removal tool built in) and Schwalbe and Stans. The muc off were the best of the 3.
Rim tape - either gorilla tape, or I got some of this on advice on STW which has been pretty good https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162354590164 and if you order the right width no need to cut it down.
And lastly unless you’ve got a compressor get yourself a tubeless track pump, makes the whole exercise a doddle. I’ve got this from chain Reaction Cycles
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/lifeline-airblast-tubeless-tyre-track-pump/rp-prod155451
Running tubeless means you can run tyre pressures really low, down to 19 psi, probably lower.
I’ll never go back to tubes, utter bloody pain in the arse.
I’ve read that some sealants aren’t compatible with CO2, for a road bike I would always use a CO2 inflator in place of a mini pump. What’s the experience of the collective?
I was told by the bike shop who fitted my tubeless kit NOT to use CO2 canister thingies on them. I know no different and therefore haven’t. Not been a problem so far.
I can see the appeal of using them to help seal the tyre to the rim but guess it could blow all the fluid out at the same time. Or dislodge the rim tape?
# Fuckedifiknow. 
IainMac
Registered user
I've converted about 8 or so pushbike wheels to tubeless over the past few years maybe a few more with tyre swaps mixed in to that number. A couple of key things to consider is getting the rim clean, making sure the bead location on the rim is smooth/free of marring as blemishes can make a good seal difficult. Older none tubeless ready rims usually need a couple of layers of tape as they wont have tubeless tolerances and as such its probably best using gaffer/gorilla tape as the sealing tape including covering the bead area. On a tubeless ready rim you may get a good tyre seal with tape only covering the spoke holes , the last set of rims I converted were like this and the tyre /rim bead area seal was very tight without any tape , these were a PITA breaking the tyre bead seal when swapping to different tyres & required a plumbers wrench to get enough grip and leverage on the tyre wall to pull it away from the rim. Rush prep such as cleaning and not checking for burs in sealing area, will usually result in a leaky rim , I have been guilty of this & it means doing the job twice. I've also had no issues with using CO2 cartridges to seat the beads though I tend to replace the CO2 with normal pump air not long after fitting. I've also had issues with cheap valves that didn't seal the valve hole and required better/more expensive ones off the LBS rather than cheap shiet off ebay) . As to sealing fluid normal Stans seems to work more as a tyre bead lube than a good sealer, the more expensive Stans race version is allegedly better with more clagging bits, I'm currently using a mix of normal 2/3rd stans and 1/3 gloop which has worked ok in the last set done .
I think I’ll just get some self sealing tubes, or that gumpf to covert mine to self sealing. The fucker weighs enough anyway, so I doubt I’ll notice any difference, plus I’m not going to enter any enduros on it anytime soon.
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