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29er Tubeless Tire Question

887 Views 7 Replies 8 Participants Last post by rshughes, Jun 15, 2009

bike supremacist

Discussion Starter · Jun 15, 2009

One quick disclaimer, I thought about posting in my 29er tire question in the tires forum but it seems to me that 29er tubeless has been prone to its own unique complication, so I chose the 29er forum.

That being said, I'm running 29er Velocity Blunts with a Stan's freeride strip on a full rigid 29er. I tried setting up Maxxis Ignitors on the rims but they wouldn't take regardless of how many rim strips I had on it. So I ordered a Specialized Captain 2.2 for the front and a Fast Trak 2.0 for the rear, both were "2bliss." They set up beautifully. On the first ride today the Captain got a rip in the middle of the tread and at the bead. Suffice to say, that tire was pretty much dead. I hit it with C02 and limped it to the bike shop. There I set up a Schwalbe Little Albert (claimed to be a 2.1 but it is certainly not that big, just FYI) which promptly blew off the rim. After it blew off the rim it refused to set up tubeless.

So that's my story. My question now is, what tires or brands of tires have people had good luck with in terms of puncture resistance and bead strength? Geax, Kenda, etc.? Any pointers would be great. Thank you in advance for your responses.

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mtnbiker72

· #2 · Jun 15, 2009

I've run three tires Ghetto Tubeless (split tube method) and here are my results:
-Kenda Nevegal wire bead (OEM) worked perfectly, seated quickly with compressor and held air very good with my sealant brew.
-IRC Mythos II wire bead was a little harder to seat, and one blew off the rim at a little past 40psi. Once remounted and seated (not exceeding 40 psi to seat) the tires never burped. The sidewalls continually "weeped" a little sealant but seemed to hold air good.
-Stans Raven tubeless ready mounted up quickly and sealed up with no issues. Only got one ride (not a good tire for rocky areas) so far but great tire for hardpack and loamy trails.

I ride mainly on loamy trails that have much more root and log crossings than rocks so I'm not very hard on tires.

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BruceBrown

· #3 · Jun 15, 2009

bike supremacist said:
One quick disclaimer, I thought about posting in my 29er tire question in the tires forum but it seems to me that 29er tubeless has been prone to its own unique complication, so I chose the 29er forum.

That being said, I'm running 29er Velocity Blunts with a Stan's freeride strip on a full rigid 29er. I tried setting up Maxxis Ignitors on the rims but they wouldn't take regardless of how many rim strips I had on it. So I ordered a Specialized Captain 2.2 for the front and a Fast Trak 2.0 for the rear, both were "2bliss." They set up beautifully. On the first ride today the Captain got a rip in the middle of the tread and at the bead. Suffice to say, that tire was pretty much dead. I hit it with C02 and limped it to the bike shop. There I set up a Schwalbe Little Albert (claimed to be a 2.1 but it is certainly not that big, just FYI) which promptly blew off the rim. After it blew off the rim it refused to set up tubeless.

So that's my story. My question now is, what tires or brands of tires have people had good luck with in terms of puncture resistance and bead strength? Geax, Kenda, etc.? Any pointers would be great. Thank you in advance for your responses.

Ouch, Supremacist. That's some unfortunate experiences to date. Sounds like the Captain and the Fast Trak were okay until you got a rip. Yes, once you blow a tire off the rim - forget about it. Best to just trash it and move on. How high of psi did you go when mounting the Little Albert? I would not go over 35 - 40 psi on any tire during the initial installation. I usually stop at about 30 - 34 psi on initial inflation. That's plenty since I run my tires below 30 psi.

I have not tried any of the tires you list: Ignitors, Little Alberts, Fast Traks, Captains - on any of my wheels/bikes, but that does not mean others have not had successful conversions of those tires. What have I successfully converted on my Blunts with the Freeride strips (or ghetto) with no issues? Currently, I have a Kenda Karma 1.9 on the front and a Crow on the rear which is a lightening fast set of rubber ideal for full out XC racing. Prior to that, I had Nanoraptors front and rear (kevlar bead). Prior to that, I had Fire XC Pro's, Kenda Small Block 8's, Bontrager XR 2.25 fronts (ran them front and rear), Racing Ralphs, Crows front and rear, and Karma 1.9's front and rear. I swap all of these out from time to time depending on my mood, upcoming rides/races and the moon. No burps. No blow offs. No rips. No tears. No problems with those combinations on my Blunts.

Do you have Frost King in the center channel? Do you have an air compressor? Are you soaping the beads when inflating? Would the Ignitors simply not air up? Crows, Karmas, Ravens are golden to air up with their tight beads. Small Block 8's as well. Fire XC Pros are floor pump material. Nanoraptors are my all time favorite tire for where I ride, but they do take an air compressor and soap on the Blunts.

BB

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Guitar Ted

· #4 · Jun 15, 2009

I just got a pair of the new Blunts and am trying to use a Rhythm rim strip, but so far, it hasn't been going real well. Still working on that...(Yes BB, I have a compressor now!

)

Anyway, you might try GEAX Saguaros or Barro Race tires in the TNT flavor. Tighter beads than most and should work great. (My next attempt with my Blunts will be with the Saguaros.)

Bontarger TLR tires should be good. The Specialized Captain with the Control casing, (Is that the model you tried?) works great too, as do all the 2Bliss tires I have tried from Specialized.

Hutchinson makes Pythons and a knobby Toro model that may work, but they both are a bit skinny.

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marxuser

· #5 · Jun 15, 2009

I posted over on the wheels forum about a similar problem, and from my experience stay clear of continental vapors. On the initial inflation I blew the tire off the rim just above 40psi using the Stans kit on DT TK 7.1's. I took the strips out and threw tubes in and have been riding on the vapors ever since (3 months) with no problems.

I think the wire beads are the way to go, but I'm still experimenting. I'm about ready to shuck the Stans and go ghetto - seems like others have better luck with the split tubes than the rimstrips. Good luck.

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ridenfish39

· #6 · Jun 15, 2009

I have Stan's rims on my ss and Bonty Race Xlites on my Dos Niner. I am running an Ignitor front and a Crossmark rear on the Dos, and a Bonty front and a Specialized Captain rear on the ss. They set up tubeless just fine, but I had to use a compressor to get them to seat. I use a little bit of Armorall on the beads to get them slippery, and 3 scoops of Stans in the tire. None of these tires are tubeless ready. I have had sidewall problems with Kenda tires, so I gave up on them. The Ignitor/Crossmark combo is the best tire combo I have tried yet.

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yeaitsdave

· #7 · Jun 15, 2009

I've run both Maxxis Crossmarks and Ardents tubless on my Easton XC Ones, three scoops of Stan's and yellow rim strips and no problems, the lost 5 psi from the original 50 I put in since setting them up. I also set up MKs on Laserdiscs the same way, it was much more of a ***** and I had to keep airing them up but it worked in the end.

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rshughes

· #8 · Jun 15, 2009

I ran Panaracer Rampages tubeless for about a year on my MCR and give them high marks. They are a very durable, high volume tire (2.35) with excellent traction. That does come at the cost of weight and rolling resistance.

Am currently running an Ignitor up front and crossmark on the rear of my Jet9. I had a crossmark up front originally but sliced the sidewall on a rock.

I setup some Racing Ralph's for a friend a few months ago. For the first few weeks the tires would have to be pumped up during the ride and for at least a month they would go flat between rides - all due to air escaping through the sidewall - but now they seem fine. He seems very happy with them but I do have concerns about the durability because of the thin sidewalls.

All of the above tires were mounted up on Stan's rims - 355 or Arch.

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