So here’s the deal, recently bought some new wheels: Lovely DT Swiss 240 hubs on Stand Olymic rims, with maxxis highroller type r exception tyre. (Btw, thanks to mboy and snowpaul and others for all the advice on hubs & rims!)

The wheels are extremely lighta and fast, but the tyres (being race tyres) are quite narrow and (although very good for their width & the little rolling resistence) aren’t as grippy as I’d like.

So… as I’m off to Spain in a couple of weeks, I’d like to change them asap. However, being totally new to this whole tubeless malarky, I’m unsure of what the best option is…

I really like the Kenda blue groove/nevegal tyre set up and have a standard (non-tubeless) set up on my old wheels so..

What I’m wondering is; can I fit the old non-tubeless set I have already?

(How difficult would it be to put those non-tubeless tyres onto the Stans rims?)

Is it not worth the hassle or should I just bite the bullet and buy the tubeless versions?

What are the pros and cons?

Obviously the tubeless versions are heavier and slightly wider (2.1) than I need (my non-tubeless ones are 2.0 and 1.95) but will take the added weight, if people think it’s really worth it.

So what do you reckon?

All advice, as ever, extremely welcomed! (As I’m sure you can tell, I’m pretty clueless about the whole tubeless thing!)

Cheers!

Kendas work on tubeless, stick plenty of donkey jizz in the tyres and they’ll be fine.

No reason at all why your original tyres won’t fit straight on to the olympic rims, thats the beauty of Stan’s rims. You will need 80-100mls ish of sealant in there too though after you have got the beads seated.

Put plenty of washing up liquid around the bead and remove the valve core when pumping up. Once the tire beads have popped on, take off the track pump and with the valve core still out, stick in your chosen sealant with a 50p syringe from Ebay. Put valve core back in, inflate, then do the fandango dance with the wheel to slosh the sealant all around the inside of the tire.

See the Stan’s website for detailed instruction.

I’d stick some UST Minions on.

Thanks Mark and Anthony. That’s good to know. Are non-tubeless any weaker do you reckon? Or is the only downside the hassle in fitting?

If so, I think it’ll definitely be worth it as it’ll save me £40!

I’ll check out the Stans website too.

Cheers!

The only advantage of USD tyres is that they tend to be a bit sturdier esp. in the sidewalls. You still need to run sealant if you want puncture protection.

Not a problem for me as I’m only 65kg.

Not had one puncture since I fitted them and I know of several times when the latex has sealed thorns. Never burped even though I always run at 20psi.

You can always experiment without the sealant to see how well it works. They will last maybe an hour or so.

Are you running tubes atm? If you so will need to fit the yellow tape and the olympic tubeless valve.

Thanks Anthony, that’s good to know. I wouldn’t normally worry about punctures – I only weight 45kg and have never had a falt on my mtb – but we’re off to Spain in a few weeks where they’ll be LOTS of thorns and I’ll probably be riding harder than normal.

Considering that, and the fact that the wheels are currently only set up for tubeless, do you reckon it might be worth spending the extra £40 and making sure the holiday isn’t spoilt by punctures?!

buy cheap buy twice, Spain by all accounts can be hard on tyres, I’d go for some proper jobs if I were you.

OK, thanks MrNutt, after thinking about it I think it might be better to aire on the side of caution… Better to have heavier tyres and spent a few more quid than to be stuck in the middle of nowhere ruining a ride I guess! Oh but, I’m presuming you were joking about the minions though?!

I don’t really see the point in buying ust tyres- the whole point of Stan’s is to bypass the need for expensive heavy tyres to go tubeless. It makes no difference whether you’ve got 1 or 100 thorns in your tyres, the latex just works. You won’t get any flats due to thorn punctures. Just get some non-ust tyres of your favourite flavour, and use the rest for sangria.

Stan’s is not a bodge, and suggesting that you need ust tyres to make it work, or that it will work better with ust tyres is not true.

Just follow the video for fitting, though I reckon using nearly neat washing up liquid, and putting in th esealant before inflating are the way to go.

because UST tyres are built up with different sidewalls etc, I’d prefer to ride on tyres that wern’t relying on the latex to hold them together, UST is fine without sealant in most cases, adding something like Hutchinson Protect’air is just belt and braces.

i would definately not use ust on stans. adding extra weight defeats the point of having ultra light rims on. the wheels are set up at min using strips as ive not had much joy with the yellow tape method. your so light too that will help the tyres. Just rub soapy water on rims bang on tyres. Maxxis are only ones ive found not to need the help of a compressor to seat. then fire in some sealant. Then best method ive found of sealing properly is go for a ride rather than shaking around. Ive tried a few ways of tubeless and stans is easiest ive found. Ive got to ghetto some xm321 next week that should be fun lol 🙂 enjoy mm. Oh pardon the lack of punctuation im on my phone and cant work it lol

Thanks Vinney and Firestarter for your comments – you’ve actually changed my mind back again! Firestarter, I didn’t realise the current tyres weren’t tubeless…

Based on what you guys say I reckon I might try and fit the tyres off my old wheels then, I really like them and they’re not too heavy (although they are compared to the current weenies!). I might whoose out on the fitting though and just take them up to my lbs where they have a compressor I can use!

(I’ll still take a spare set of tyres to Spain though, just incase of sidewall issues!)

Thanks again guys

Oh btw, MrNutt – there’s nothing to say I won’t change my mind back by tomorrow – I am pretty indecisive… and easily led at times!