I've just picked up some Speed King 2.1 Supersonics and I'm planning on trying ghetto tubeless using duct tape and a bottle of sludge which I bought at the same time. Am I going to have any success? Rims are Mavic 717s.

Dan, Dave'll be able to help…. he's the ghetto expert…..

I've got some spare Stan's "Milk" if you need it…… you can have it Weds night if you want..

Text me if you want..

Speed Kings SSs are very very inconsistent, some are a nice tight fit on the rim with few holes in the sidewalls, some are really 'baggy' and extremely porous.

A very poor tyre to use ghetto tubeless IMO, although it'll be alright once it's inflated/sealed.

Sludge type sealants are much too viscous IME, you want something with a similar viscosity to water, like any of the latex sealants, I think Stan's is the best.

Well I've been out in the shed and I've scrubbed the tyres with soapy water. They were new today and I've read that there can be a chemical present on the black chili versions which can stop sealent from adhering well. So far I've pulled the original rim tape from the 717 rim and cleaned the rim, then applied 2 layers of black insulating tape and taped in a presta valve. I soaped the bead and mounted on the rim (it mounted by hand very easily). Now trying with a track pump I can't get any air to stay in the tyre at all. It's literally escaping as fast as it goes in. What have I missed?

the tyre needs to be a tight fit. should have left the rim tape on to bulk it out a bit.

once the tye is nice and tight use lots of soap (tiny bi of water) you need to be able to whip peaks into it like a good meringue mix (ask yer mum!) this helps the tyre slide about and seal any gaps.

Whats with the 'Ghetto' word? 🙂

0091paddy? I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying you are not aware of the term 'Ghetto Tubeless'?

I feel dirty for using it, it's as annoying as 'darkside'.

As I said originally, some Speed Kings can be very loose, you need the tyre to be a really tight fit on the rim, another few turns of tape will help. 717s are not a particularly tight rim, which won't help either.

Basically you've chosen a difficult combination to work with!

I'll try using some draft excluder tape and another loop of insulating tape to push the tyre up onto the rim better.

I pent 3 days trying to get speed king ss to hold air before giving up. my problem was the very porous side walls, some people brush PVA glue on the side walls prior to fitting and filling with stans.

Why bother doing that? For the weight added you could just save some money and buy the non-SS version, which is less porous anyway!

I tried going tubeless with pair of non-tubless Mountain Kings on UST Rims – very, very messy way to discover how porous MKs really are!