Don’t attempt this without the Bontrager specific rim strip.. Just don’t….

Why? Mine are fine on Stan’s with yellow tape and DT with gorilla tape. Been up for over a year with no issues at all.

I predict user error

Really? Mine went on first go with Stan’s.

These wheels had Schwalbe rim strips, and Bonty tyres. Without the strip to fill the gulley in the rim these bonty tyres were so slack even CO2 just leaked straight out.

I’ve had years of experience with Stans, changed loads of tyres, never had this happen. Ended up using a second rim strip on one, but the valve is leaking too badly.

How bizzare, never used more than a track pump with minimal effort on mine

Mine also fine on Stan’s rims with yellow tape.

mine are fine on Xt wheelset .

What tyres? These are Bontrager something teammissue, the bead is so slack I could get a finger under it..

My 29-1’s went on a pair of crests fine, inflated with a track pump… Just one wrap of stans yellow tape.

Yes, they will go on Stans rims, they are made larger to facilitate it. Tyres on Stans rims always go up with a track pump.

4th winter coming up for my Mud-Xs. DT rims with yellow tape. Up first time using a pop bottle.
Are you drunk, Sir?

Which rims are you using?

I will take a picture

No problems with mine, ever.
User error?

A lot of the team issue ones arent actually tubeless ready, sure yours are…? Normally the tighter side of ok!

XR1 and XR2 team issue user here – always inflate with a footpump.

I think that the OP is talking about Bontrager wheels not particularly Bontrager tyres? Bontrager tyres like MudX work brilliantly on my Crest. Bontrager wheels and tubeless ready rim strips – waste of time!

If it’s about the tyres I have some sympathy. Took a lot of swearing to get an XR3 up (superstar rim taped, no rim strip).

Never had any bother with the rims and rimstrips. Got 4 pairs of wheels built with Bonty Duster rims which I stockpiled when I heard they were being discontinued.

I’ve got a fairly old Bontrager tubeless-ready rim, and as Molgrips says, you end up with a massive gap between the tyre (tubeless-ready Racing Ralph in my case) and the rim due to the depth of the rim bed. No amount of soapy water would ever fill it, but an extra layer of gaffer tape has done the trick.

(Somewhere I’ve still got the rimstrip but it was a horrible thing).

Never had a problem with Bontrager tubeless-ready tyres. I would say that they are the most reliable of all tyre to inflate, thay always go up with a track pump.

bet they’re 650b 😉

I’ve got 4 different mud x tyres – inflated first
Time on ust shimano and Easton rims and stans crest 26 and arch 29

One of the easiest brands! On with fingers and up with track pump

As soon as I looked at them I could tell they were not going up. There was a huge gap for all the air to come out of. Because the bead was in the well in the middle of the rim, which is much smaller than where the hook is. Presumably the correct rim strip fills this up.

If you have a way to get the bead into the hook I’d love to know.

And stop going on about how easy it is with Stans rims. I know, I have some.

Mine are on bonty rims with just some gorilla tape.

That was never happening here. For whatever reason.

Managed to get the rear up now by putting a second strip on, and it went up with just a pump (a better one). However the valves leak like hell. Most of the air is coming out of the valve.

Why would you not use the Bontrager rim strip given that it’s what makes the wheel tubeless ready? 😐

Why would you not use the Bontrager rim strip given that it’s what makes the wheel tubeless ready?

Bontrager rim strips (the ones I’ve seen anyway) are specific to Bonty rims – they’re not just a rubber strips like the Stans ones, they’re like a hard plastic and an exact width and profile. So if you want to run a Bonty TLR tyre on another rim, you probably can’t use the strip.

I’m currently running a Bonty TLR tyre on a Stan’s Crest, never had a problem with it (apart from last Thursday when I punctured it for the first time in three years, I think it’s probably just worn out).

Tyres I’ve got are 29-4 tlr, 29-3 tlr, 29-2 tlr and Mud X TLR

Funnily enough, I’ve just been fitting tubeless tyres last night. The maxxis tyres I previously had on my bontrager tlr rims took some effort to get up on one of the stans rims. As you experienced, the bead tended to sit in the well and was then too loose.

The solution is to use tyre levers to pull the bead to the outsides of the rim. You don’t have to do it the whole way around, just enough to make the bead tight ime. FWIW I have some cheap metal core levers from crc that do the job really well.

However the valves leak like hell. Most of the air is coming out of the valve.

Sometimes, this means the air is escaping somewhere else entirely and is just coming out of the valve hole as that’s where the biggest gap is 🙁

Why would you not use the Bontrager rim strip given that it’s what makes the wheel tubeless ready

I don’t have the strip… They are currently inflated, but I don’t think I trust them enough to ride. Will have to order the strip and install next weekend.

Ton problems getting team issue xr1’s to inflate on american Classic rims, stans rims or Roval rims with yellow tape and a track pimp.

So are they bonty rims or not?

Yes, I’m sure I said that. Rhythm elite tlr

Right. So you’re moaning because it doesn’t work when you don’t have one of the components? 😉

Stick the rims trip in and it’ll work a treat. It’s a required part of the “system”.

I much prefer it over the tape approach of other brands – takes the guesswork out. Good bead retaining ridges moulded into them to cut down on the chances of burping.

Yes that’s right 🙂 really an observation that not all rim strips are the same…

I used Stans strips on everything else.

OK then I’ll confirm that you do need the bonty rim strip. Bonty rims don’t have anything to hold the tyre bead. That’s on the rim strip. They do work really well though.

Actually you probably don’t have 2 of the components because the Bonty tubeless valves are designed to work with their own tubeless strips . OP could have saved everybody some trouble by stating that he was using Bontrager rims . FWIW the Bonty rims , strips and valves work brilliantly but you can still get them to work with tubeless tape , as has been mentioned you need to pull the bead of the tyre out of the well in the middle of the rim which makes the tyres a tight fit.

Lets re -cap
You bought a TLR wheelset and didint buy the manufacturer approved sealing system .
You then tried to use a genereic aftermarket system that is designed to work for most wheel designs OK but maybe not brilliantly.
The selotape system will probably be fine for 8 out of 10 cats wheels , but didnt work so well with the Bontys.

So rather than say OK , I will use something called Google and see if there are any reveiws on The Bontrgaer TLR rimstrips its all abig hoo haaa all on STW.

Just do what I did , spend a few ££ and buy the correct rimstrip. When they arrive you will look at them and think ….’They cost how much for a strip of hard plastic’, you might even post on the stw about how crap they are.
If you get round to fitting them you will probably think ‘ these will never seal , they arent rubbery enough to be air tight ‘

Then you will be pleasantly surprised
The Bonty rimstrips are thick and chunky with grooves specifically shaped for the spoke bed. They stretch round just enough and pop into the slot with a snap.
Even annoying Schwalbes pop up and seal with a trackpump , although 60 – 70 psi is sometimes needed to ping the bead .

As we once got in a entire box of Christmas Crackers , every single joke was ” It is often better economy to but better quality”