Who has done this and had success?

I'm talking normal tyres, normal rims, bmx tubes for rim strips and some sealant. I had a go and one has sealed and kept its pressure, the other one I gave up on after 3 attempts. It just wouldn't seal properly.

Used lots of soap?

Built up the rim bed with insulation tape?

What tyre and rim?

If all else fails ask a local tyre fitting establishment nicely if you can use their airline.

All three bikes of mine are running tubeless using the ghetto method – i blow them up with a compressor though. Had loads of problems with tyres especially specialized and panaracer tyres and 100% sucess with maxxis.

Had loads of problems with tyres especially panaracer tyres and 100% success with maxxis.

Edited but +1

I keep wanting to try this but haven't yet, I want to try it on a 24" and 20" wheel.

yep done it. need a constant stream air compressor really. old style petrol station type (the digital ones are FEKKKKIN' annoying!)

I didn't have a problem inflating them – the one that sealed was done using my track pump. The other one I also tried with a compressor but it was the same – it just wouldn't stop bubbling in a few places and lost all its air overnight. After 3 attempts I had run out of bmx tubes so gave up.

I didn't use any insulation tape on the rim.

Rims are XM317s and tyres are Kenda Telonix 2.2

Just add a bit more sealent then and give it a really good shake and bounce around, or better still go and ride it. Pumping up to 50psi helps seat the bead properly as well.

Used “Ghetto”, “Semi-Ghetto” (Proper tubeless tyre on a Ghetto modded rim) and Proper UST here; all configurations working fine and dandy …

Even did it with a 24” tyre on a jump bike a Couple of years ago, worked quite well…

Compressors do make life much easier though…

Did lots of shaking, bouncing and riding! I pumped it up to 60psi, then checked it every couple of hours and topped up the pressure. Maybe I gave up too soon with the second one, but the first one sealed pretty quickly (a couple of hours of bubbling at the edges then it stopped).

I want to get it to work because the overall weight saving (compared to using Continental Light tubes with Slime in) was 1lb!

My tyres are still frothing 3 days after fitting but they're holding good pressure now.

Hmmm I'll try again then! Not sure how I'm going to keep the pressure topped up over several days though. It went down completely overnight when I left it. Will have to take the wheel and my track pump to work, bed etc.

Is this as simple (in theory!) as BMX tube with the outside edge cut off, stretched around the rim, tyre milk stuff put in the tyre and inflated?

Will have to take the wheel and my track pump to work, bed etc.

😆

I'd go with –

3-4 layers of insulation tape ideally under or over the rim tape, this should make the tyre a bitch to fit.

Make sure the ghetto rim strip isn't creased or wrinkled and keep it nice and straight.

Add more sealent than you think you need, most of what you put in at first will be lost, bounce shake and spin like a maniac on and off for as long as possible.

Next day put another 20-30ml of goop in, pump up and go ride, keep it local if you're not too confident about it lol.

Yup, one X717, one X618, two part worn WTB exiwolfs, std cloth rim tape, two 20" innertubes, some stans latex and two C02 carts. Bingo. Experimental sucess.

Next day put another 20-30ml of goop in

This was my problem though. To put more sealant in meant letting the air out, which meant the bead came away from the rim. So – rim strip ruined and back to square one!

Semi ghetto here – used gaff tape split down the middle of the roll twice round and a tubeless valve pused through, then a bit if tape over the top. Used mud x tubeless ready tyres and worked perfectly 1st time using track pump. No fannying aboutwith split tubes

tubeless guru

I always get co2 cannisters, use them and had no failures

Go for a quick ride to the end of the street. Bang up some curbs and stuff if you want, you're immune now!
Ride hard on roots and rocks. Do not puncture. Amazing

twaddle.

Is that "guru" assuming that UST tyres are being used? Because my (non-UST) tyres definitely don't stay seated on the rim when you let the air out!

For normal tyres.

Because my (non-UST) tyres definitely don't stay seated on the rim when you let the air out!

Mine don't stay complete put either, but they pop straight back again when you pump it back up. You just have to keep the wheel tyre verticle and off the deck when you top up the latex, so that it runs into the void inside the tyre. Then slosh about when reinflated.

This was my problem though. To put more sealant in meant letting the air out, which meant the bead came away from the rim. So – rim strip ruined and back to square one!

Why is the rim strip ruined, should be re-usable!

Jay

mr_mills

Kendas have very porous sidewalls, they can take a long time and lots of effort to seal fully. They're also not the tightest tyres on a rim, so might be worth building a couple of layers of insulation tape, or even rim tape, on the rim before putting the rim strip on again.

This was my problem though. To put more sealant in meant letting the air out, which meant the bead came away from the rim. So – rim strip ruined and back to square one!

Right, there is a crafty solution to this…

Go down halfords, buy yourself a valve core remover. Also buy yourself either a syringe, or a squeezy bottle with a small enough nozzle to fint inside a Schraeder valve. Simply unscrew the valve core from the valve, and inject some more sealant in! Put valve core back in, pump tyre back up, and hey presto… You've got a load more sealant in, but you never had to break the seal of the tyre and rimstrip to do it.

I had to put more sealant in my Kendas twice in the end, and spin em up, ride em down the road, leave overnight then repeat etc. Finally sealed though, and worth the hassle IMO.

Go down halfords, buy yourself a valve core remover. Also buy yourself either a syringe, or a squeezy bottle with a small enough nozzle to fint inside a Schraeder valve. Simply unscrew the valve core from the valve, and inject some more sealant in! Put valve core back in, pump tyre back up, and hey presto… You've got a load more sealant in, but you never had to break the seal of the tyre and rimstrip to do it.

Errr this is exactly what I've been doing! Remove core, air comes out, tyre comes away from rim, back to the aforementioned 'square one'!

What are you using for sealant?

Stan's

I've set up Conti MK Pro 2.2's ghetto, using Stans and Schwalbe 20" tubes (Presta with removeable cores). Only problem was getting one of them to seat – with a track pump. The other went straight up.
Used the guide here

you should be able to reuse the rim strips over and over, as long as you don't trim them too close.

even if the beads move a little from the rim they should re-inflate far more easily than getting the initial seal… and especially if you're adding sealant through the valve it really shouldn't trash the rim strip

previous useful thread

have you thoroughly shook yr stans before application??? mebe yr just lackin a few o the neccessary magic bits??? i've done full an semi ghetto with stans and the bonty stuff, bonty randomly looses air occasionally but pump it up an its fine again….

I've had problems using a steel beaded Panaracer Fire XC on a Mavic 717 rim, and Joe's Tubless kit. My thoughts are that the tyre is too loose, and needs to be tighter. The front wheel on the same bike has a kevlar beaded tyre (still Panaracer Fire XC) so will a kevlar beaded tyre be a tighter fit than the steel beaded equivalent???

you should be able to reuse the rim strips over and over, as long as you don't trim them too close.

That was the problem – I trimmed them really close so when the tyre was off the rim the strip just curled up so it was easier to fit another one.

I'm going to give it another try and be more patient. The one that sealed successfully is holding pressure really well. I let it down earlier and the tyre stayed stuck to the strip.

I've had problems using a steel beaded Panaracer Fire XC on a Mavic 717 rim

Panaracers have to be the loosest tyres on the market, and are strictly not recommended for tubeless conversions. Unless you buy the UST specific version of said tyre naturally…

Don't trim anything, until you're completely done. I had a go at this last year and left all the excess rubber hanging out of the wheel until they were fully sealed, topped up with sealant and had been round the block a couple of times. Then trim, leaving a couple of mm sticking out still.

Those Schwalbe BMX tubes are like £5 a go. You need to be able to get the tyre on an off without trashing them else it starts getting pricey!

MaverickBoy – Member

I've had problems using a steel beaded Panaracer Fire XC on a Mavic 717 rim

Panaracers have to be the loosest tyres on the market, and are strictly not recommended for tubeless conversions. Unless you buy the UST specific version of said tyre naturally…

Thanks, will try a UST version next.

I've tried ghetto tubeless and can safely say that persistence works. You might not get it right first or even second time, but if you've got a compressor and make sure the tyres are seated with plenty of water then you'll get it right eventually.

Beware of trying to seat too wide a tyre on too narrow a rim though… Took me forever to get a 2.35 Kenda seated on my Mavic 717.

anyone tired using just electric tape as the rim strip ??