I’ve just bought a new bike. It’s on Hope Hoops/Stans Flows/Rubber Queens. Is there anyway to tell if it’s been set up tubeless without taking the tyre off and getting messy? I’ve asked the previous owner, but they haven’t responded.

Cheers

Take the wheel out and rock it back and forth. if it sloshes, then it’s probably tubeless.

Valve stem? although may have been ghetto’d so not a sure fire answer

Spin the wheel then let some air out. If its got goo some will spray out, if it hasn’t its either tubed or the goo has dried in which case you might want to pop some in. 🙂

It will always have a nut that clamps the valve in to the rim. However, some normal tubed valves have this too…

Take the front wheel out and give it a shake?

if you listen to the evangelists, you’ll be able to tell because the wheels will be so light they’re only held down on the earth by the bike, and the tyres will have so little rolling resistance that the bike will roll uphill by itself.

or, just give the wheels a good shake, you might hear the sealant sploshing around.

maybe let a little air out of the valve? – look for a little squirt of jizz?

Dab the valve with your finger and see if some sealant comes out?
Shake the wheels and listen for some sloshing?
Does the valve have a nut with a rubber o-ring under?

Rubber o-ring under the valve nut if it’s tubeless.

If you are feeling brave stick a dart in the tyre and see what happens 😉 Otherwise what everyone else suggested.

Thanks all. I am a tubeless newbie (as opposed to a clueless newbie) so didn’t realise there would be enough goo in there to actually hear it slosh. I will check all of the above.

As long as you’ve got a track pump, you can let the air out and push a bit of one tyre bead down into the central well to have a look inside.

Tyres that have already been seated should pop back into place with only moderately psychotic pumping. Probably.