After a year on the standard wheels on my Spesh XC comp the free wheel hub has finally given up the go (60km + a week) Have been thinking about new wheel builds for the last few months and have pretty much decided on Hope Pro II hubs on XC719 rims build by Alistair Gow at wheel craft. Been tinking of also going tubeless to try keep rolling resistance and weight down as the bike is fairly heavy as standard (another few new toys have been/will be added to help this as well)

The main question is what I need to do, will the build I am looking at suit (can you get tubeless 719 rims), what tubeless tyres do you recomend for the winter and which for the summer (natural trails and various trail centres, as well as my first puffer next Jan). Is there anything I need to be aware of, do I even concider this option?? Budget for spend is hopefully this side of £300 for wheels (£250~) and winter tyres although could maybe stretch a bit further.

Loads of questions I know but any help would be appreciated.

You can get Mavic 819 if you want 'proper' tubeless, but I'd recommend Stand rims – means you can run lighter tyres, and the rims weigh less. You can get them on Hope Hoops from Roger Musson….

60km+ per week… 😯 🙄 is that after takin the wrong turns??

819's and maxxis HR's (the LUST ones), maybe some hutch protect'air

Another recommendation for 819, you can get them built up with which hubs you want. Although they're a bit of a PITA to build. Still much much easier than arsing about with rim strips though. I pretty much run tubless Nobby Nics this time of year, then a Racing Ralph on the back when it gets drier in the spring.

I've 819's, but TBH just buy Hope Hoops with Stans 355's, give or take £250 all in.

UST, tubeless ready (Bontrager Mud X) or normal tyres will all tubeless up fine.

Stans liquid and some yellow rim tape, plus you may need a compressor just to seat the tyres first time around.

you can get hope hoops from the group buy thread on here, just do a search, you will probably still have £50 change from your budget to spend on tyres too. if you are looking at 719's id go for the stans ztr 355. personally i really like the flows which arent too heavy but are nice and wide and strong enough for my clumsiness.

Thanks All. I've have a wrd with Alistair about the Stands/Hope Hoop combo and get a price for it.

What are the difference with the Pro II and the Hoops? Pros and Cons of both.

Wont need a hugly strong rim as I only weigh c.12 stone and dont really do big, big jumps.

With being tubless I am assuming you still get punctures. how easy are these too fix? I am also assuming these are less common due to not getting pinch flats.

You're best to fill them with Stans liquid (about 50ml per tyre), and this will 'fill' most holes, but always take a tube (just in case).

I've only had 2 punctures/problems in the last year, and both were 'user error'; forgot my pump and let the latex dry out and hadn't refilled it.

IMO Tubeless is about messing in the garage and riding the trails, whereas tubes take little effort in the garage but take time while on the trails.

I'm totally converted to tubeless. No flats. I used to pinch flat all the time, now I literally ride tyres from new til they wear out with no flats in between.

I put this site up to spread the word: http://www.tubelesswheels.com/. People write to me all the time and say "thanks", it really does work. 🙂

I recommend CO2 for initial inflation.

Cheers, al.

I'm considering tubeless too, but still can't really see any benefits over regular tubed tyres.

I'm running 2.35" BG's and Nevas and in 3 years I have 'NEVER' had a flat, the sides split when I ran them 'VERY' low, but the tyres were 2&1/2 YO by then, and should have been replaced yonks ago.

Even with sub 20PSI pressures, a 16st bloke hammering over rocks didn't result in any punctures.

Apart from reduced rolling resistance and lower pressures, what's the point? I think it's just a gimmick dreamt up by Stan TBH, the Stans marketing team have grasped that MTBer's are willing to fork out big bucks on gimmicks that might result in a small benefit, when skill and technique could be developed to provide a better result.

They say you don't get punctures but recommend taking a tube with you? Then get yourself covered in latex.

I'll stick to tubes I think, the very little benefits don't seem to outweigh the potential occurence of punctures and minimal rolling resistance.

I'm considering tubeless too, but still can't really see any benefits over regular tubed tyres.

Don't bother then!

You NEED to understand the advantages to make it worth your while… Going tubeless, even UST, is inevitably more of a faff than running inner tubes (even if it's only cos of less tyre choice, or harder to fit tyres on the rims), so you NEED to get an instant benefit otherwise you won't see the point.

For me tubeless brought loads of benefits. I used to pinch puncture all the time, even at 35psi in a 2.3" tyre at my modest 11 and a bit stone. So tubeless got rid of that! Also, as I run sealant in my tyres, thorn punctures are a thing of the past.

the Stans marketing team have grasped that MTBer's are willing to fork out big bucks on gimmicks that might result in a small benefit

Errr… Yes/No/Maybe (delete as appropriate). I personally prefer a proper UST rim with a tubeless tyre (with a bit of sealant in), but the Stans kit is an effective way of achieving the same results (albeit quite expensive for what it is). If you don't see the point to tubeless, fair enough, I won't try and convert you. Tubeless is a Marmite (love/hate) thing, you either evangelise about it all the time, or you smirk at people that bother to do anything other than fit an inner tube in their tyres.

Proof is in the pudding for me anyway… Not had a puncture in about 6 years of running tubeless (mainly UST rims, brief foray with DT/Eclipse strips, and one bike set up ghetto), which is kinda cool! Got a new bike earlier this year, didn't have time to convert it to tubeless before I took it on its first ride (ended up ghetto-ing it which works bloody well actually), and guess what happened… You guessed it… I got a bloody puncture!

😉

Lord Felcham the III – don't bother then. No need to troll threads asking for practical advice with your views on whether tubeless is a good idea or not, when you've no experience of it.

@alankelly – that's a good site – I used that on a ghetto setup and it worked a treat

If you're running 20psi and not getting pinch flats then you're not riding properly. You may think you're rad, but you're not. Sorry.

I just tubelessed some Mavic 719tn (the 29er version of the 719 rim) using some bog standard electrical tape to cover the spokes. Some of THIS STUFF to make a better seal, some old Bontrager valves and using Bontrager ACX TR (tubeless ready) tyres – went up first time with a track pump – go me!

If I was in your shoes I'd prolly go for 819s which give you the option to run UST (ie "proper" tubeless) rather than just ghetto/stans sealant route.

YEp if I was starting from fresh I'd go 819's, Stans 355 or Flow rims on hope hoops. I'm currently running rim strips in XC717's and have noticed a big reduction in punctures and an improvement with grip and I was verrrry sceptical

Sorry, did I step on your latex covered toes?

New wheels and tyres are bought. Went for XC819 rims, and Hope proII hubs. Went for Panaracer Fire XC Pro UST's. They are going to set all the tubeless stuff up for me and show me what to do so that I can just fit them and start riding. Get them the end of the week so I'll update how I find them. Thanks all again for your advice.