[tnevaneb]

Im kind of on a budget and want to eventually convert over to tubeless. I buy cheap tires because I ride 8miles to get to the trails on pavement, so they wear out fast. I noticed that UST tires are much more expensive than regular tires. For example, I can get Conti Mountain King for around $25, but the UST is over $60.

Would it work to run a regular tire with no sealant tubeless in a UST rim? Would Slime work as a sealant if one is needed?

Thanks.

 

[tnevaneb]

On a side note, I am looking at Mavic Crossride (not tubeless, but bladed spokes) (http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/18977-365_MAVCS9-3-Parts-75-Wheelsets/Mavic-Crossride-Disc-2010.htm) and Maddus CrossPro (tubeless, but round spokes) (http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/18...x-Cross-Pro-UST-Disc-MX400-Wheelset-White.htm)

I switched to bladed spokes on my road bike and they made a world of difference. I was originally looking for a wheelset that was tubeless and bladed, but that is out of my budget.

The reason I want to switch wheels is my bike currently weights 30lbs (2003 Specialized Hardrock Pro). My rear wheel assembly weighs 7lbs, thats 23% of the bikes weight. I figure if I can get the weight down a good bit on the front and rear wheels, I could drastically lighten the load. I am also getting a lighter bar, stem and fork.

I figure I could drop a few pounds to get it under 25, hopefully closer to 20.

Should I go for the bladed spokes and put really light tubes or go for the UST and put a cheap tire that I try to run tubeless?
Side note: I dont get pinch flats at 30psi

Thanks for the help

 

[AlexRandall]

Tubeless tyres hold air due to a membrane on the inside, non tubeless tyres don't need this, hence they are lighter and cheaper. If you air up a non-tubeless tyre the sidewall will leak all that air, so you need an air-proofing agent (stan's, or latex mold builder from a craft shop).
This still is quite puncturable by thorns etc, so adding a slime to the latex will make it able to fix thorn and small glass flats better.
You also need to seal the spoke holes with tape. You can get cheap tape with threads running lengthwise (packaging tape) but results with this vary, and often the adhesive sticks poorly to the rim surface or the sealant breaks it down and you get leakage. Stans do a yellow tape that is designed for this purpose, and I have had good success with all 7 or so wheelsets I've applied it too (non-stans rims too).

 

[tnevaneb]

I think I will go with regular tube tires and rims. The mavics are more bang for my buck, and with lighter tubes, I think I should be ok. The tubes I have now are very thick to prevent punctures, and very very heavy.

Thanks for the insight. I guess in some time, they will have the tubeless more refined and user friendly.

 

[ireland57]

I am considering changing to tubeless in the near future also using "tubed type" tyres and standard Mavic 117 rims. The cost of changing to full a tubeless system seems ridiculous to me.

The cost of just Stans "goop/tape, etc" here is $155. If I want to change tyres which we often do it means more time, money and gooping I guess. So it'll have to wait.

I used to run heavy thorn resistant tubes and stock tyres (e.g. Larsen TT, Kenda Kimodo/Kinetics) on my sons and my bikes. I took them off purely for weight and cycling effort considerations.


At the moment (and for the last 12 months) I've run tyre liners (rubber strips that fit inside the tyre between tyre and tube), standard French valve tubes and our normal tyres.

We've had one pinch flat in that time (son wanted to run low pressure).
We usually run around 24-26 psi front and 26-28 rear.

We ride mostly on sharp, rocky hills. I still see others pinch flatting with tubeless and now I'm not sure if I want to make the change.

 

[eatdrinkride]

I guess in some time, they will have the tubeless more refined and user friendly

They have. It's called UST.
1) Purchase UST wheels (mavic 819 for example).
2) Purchase UST tires
3) Mount and inflate.
Done. No fuss, no muss. Run sealant if you're terrain subjects your tires to thorns. I'm not recommending tubeless one way or the other, I'm just trying to clarify that tubeless has been made stupid simple already.

If you want to run ghetto style tubeless be prepared to make a career out of it. At least at first.

 

[twowheelsdown2002]

If you want to run ghetto style tubeless be prepared to make a career out of it. At least at first.

Ghetto tubeless is not exactly rocket science. Anyone with a small amount of mechanical skills can easily do it.

1. Drill out the Crossride valve stem hole so a schrader tube fits.
2. Get a cheapy $3 Pyramid 20"x2.0 schrader valve tube.
3. Cover the spoke holes with a standard rim strip, rim tape, or a couple layers of strapping tape.
4. Inflate the 20" tube slightly, insert the valve stem and evenly stretch the tube around the rim.
5. Using EMT scissors cut the tube all the way around, splitting it down the middle. (Pyramid tubes have a nice little seam to follow)
6. Use a wet rag to wipe off all the talcum powder that was inside the tube.
7. Make sure the tube is evenly flapped over the sides of the rim, all the way around.
8. Install one bead of the tire all the way on, using your hands. Avoid tire levers.
9. Install the other bead most of the way, then add 2 scoops of Stan's sealant.
10. Finish installing the last part of the bead(by hand if possible, most tires can be)
11. Make sure tire is on good and inflate to 35psi.
12. Hold the wheel at the 3oclock, and 9oclock spots and shake the tire side to side splashing the sealant up the sidewall of the tire. Rotate one spoke hole and shake. Do this all the way around the tire, giving a second or two for the sealant to go to the bottom between shakes.
13. Carefully pull the excess tube outwards and trim all the way around with an exacto knife. Don't worry about getting real close, a little bit of rubber sticking past the rim does not hurt a thing.
14. Set your pressure and ride. I run 25psi in a Geax DHEA front tire, which is a big 2.3 tire, more like a 2.5. I run 27psi in my Minion DHF on the back. It is 2.3, but more like a 2.2. This is on very rocky Arizona trails. Here, sealant dries out in a couple months in the hot summer, but in your neck of the woods will probably last till the tire is toast.

Couple tips. Kenda tires can be hard to seal, and some say that sealant degrades them. Avoid them for your learning. If you ride lots of rocks, don't go with paper thin sidewalls. If a tire is high volume, and light, guess where the weight savings came from? Probably the sidewall. Tires I have had good success with the sidewalls in rocks are Geax tires, Maxxis Minions, Panaracer Rampages, and even wire bead Velociraptors. Don't waste money on CaffeLatex, Stan's works just as well and cheaper. I am making my own sealant with mold builder/auto slime/antifreeze/water. It works well too and is the cheapest of all. After a couple times it will take you all of 10 minutes to do a tire. Good luck.

 

[eatdrinkride]

Ghetto tubeless is not exactly rocket science. Anyone with a small amount of mechanical skills can easily do it.

Of course.

There will be a learning curve though to achieve the set-up...and certain tire/rim combo's work well, and some not so well. From the OP's expression of how complicated tubeless seems even in the simplest form, I'm assuming ghetto tubeless is either to complicated for him to attempt or to time consuming for him to care about even trying.
Hence the UST suggestion.

 

[twowheelsdown2002]

Of course.

There will be a learning curve though to achieve the set-up...and certain tire/rim combo's work well, and some not so well. From the OP's expression of how complicated tubeless seems even in the simplest form, I'm assuming ghetto tubeless is either to complicated for him to attempt or to time consuming for him to care about even trying.
Hence the UST suggestion.

UST is the easiest(not always without it's own problems) but also more expensive. The OP mentioned he wanted to be able to use cheaper tires. That's why I suggest "ghetto". I have even used Velociraptor wire bead rear tires that I picked up on sale for $10.

I set up my first set of "ghetto" using a Stan's strip almost 5 years ago with no problems at all. I have not had a tire in those 5 years that I could not get set up. I did have a couple sidewall tears with thin tires, and I had one Specialized tire that always lost air, to the point that I canned it.

I actually feel that the 20" split tube method is easier than a Stan's strip. If he follows my guide above I bet he nails it the first time.:thumbsup: