I decided to join the 21century…

So I’ve got my latex, tape and removable core valves, and was just about to press the buy button on some Bonty team issues. Reading the back of the Stans bottle gives me the impression that they claim any tyre will work, non tubeless specific or not….?

I’m using a mismatched pair of rims, Mavic XM719 (I think) and a budget Mavic Crossride.

Some but not all.

My tuppence would be avoid gorilla tape, it’s porous so lets air/sealant out, which then slowly dissolves the glue. Electrical tape is much much better, start with 2-3 layers then just keep going until the tyre seals without sealant. It’s also 99p/roll rather than £6. Gorilla tape works for about 6 months then just peels off IME.

But some tyres just don’t work, but then most tyres these days come in ‘tubeless light’ type formats which is basically a normal tyre, that works tubeless rather than the original heavy UST style tyres (slightly tighter bead shaped to fit into the rim).

Any tyre is likely to inflate tubeless whether they stay that way once you start riding is another matter as thethe side walls are much thinner on non tubeless tyres. My first foray into tubeless was on a non tubeless tyre, a conti vertical. It held up okay until about 3030 mins into the ride, then wouldn’t hold any air. So in summary it might work and it might not.

I’ve had good success with using electrical tapefor the rim and most tyres have sealed and stayed up fine.

had an issue with conti race sport as they havery super thin sidewalls.

Ahh the conti “horizontal”, renamed due to its propensity to move happily in that direction (sideways usually).

I’ve had success with any tyre and Gorilla tape on my Stans Rims nae bother. But my Mavic Crossrides were a whole other story – tried them first with the proper Stans Conversion Kit (no success) and then tried the Gorilla Method and it never happened. The tyres weren’t tubeless ready which probs didn’t help but I spent several frustrated nights with those Crossride rims and never had any success 👿 Others may differ but thought I’d pre-warn!

Gorilla tape on a set of wheels 2 yrs now. Never any issues with porous?. Used it on another set again superb. I do use tubeless ready tyres though.

Could the varying results with gorilla tape be due to the fact that it now comes in various forms,repair tape,packaging tape,etc?

Ive had various tyres and rims seat with the good old £1 gaffer tape from the local poundland and stans valves , I find O-rings on either side of the rim helps for stop leaks as well .
Some tyres that claim are tubeless ready wont seat as easily as tubeless easy (simple ) and track pumps are ok but I find the 150 bar compressor in the garage just top notch to get tyres to seat first time every time , worked with the fatty in seconds 😉

just wondering, whats the idea behind 2-3 layers of electrical tape ‘to build up the rim’ comments all about?

I’ve always used 1 or 2 layers and just carefully sliced the excess off with a scalpel – running it along the inner tyre bead groove.

Works a charm, every time

I’ve used gorilla tape with tubeless and non tubeless tyres on non tubeless rims with no ill affects.

It doesn’t stretch and is waterproof, unlike electrical tape.

I’ve managed to get non tubeless rims and tyres to inflate and stay inflated using tape, but and its a big ‘but’ they could be burped stupidly easily.
The best solution to non tubeless rims/tyres in my experience is an under sized tube cut to be a rim strip. No burping and inflatable with a track pump in some cases.

Gorilla ftw, never had any problems with it being porous, and like he said ots waterproof unlike leccy tape. Whoever is selling you it for 6 quid a roll is having a laugh, usually around 2.50

Gorilla here too. 25mm wide rolls from B&Q for 2.49 enough for about 5 x 650b rims

used gorrilla tape on various wheels and tyres both tubeless ready and normal. never had any issue inflating them or with leaks.

Put a non tubeless Hutchinson tyre on a stan’s flow. It stayed up fine for 2 days until I took it for a ride. It blew off the rim going down the road after 30 mins. Went off with a huge bang, sealant everywhere. Luckily it was 5am so no traffic. Use a 2.4 HH 2 with no problems though, it doesn’t have TR on the side so assume it’s not really a tubeless tyre.

Gorilla here & in the workshop for most conversions these days. Helps build up the rim bed if the tyres are a bit slack.
Also comes as standard with Enve rims as part of their tubeless kit-even if the centre tube is rebranded.

Helps build up the rim bed if the tyres are a bit slack.

Again, how does building a rim bed up help a slack tyre?

When we refer to rim bed, are we talking about side wall thickness?

Mavic XM719’s I think (bog std Orange 5 rims), with Minion DHF’s, 1 layer of Gorilla tape & Stans.
Devils own game to inflate first time or after tyre swap, but tight as a drum after.
Next time I’ll save a lot of pissing about & just do it ghetto, like I normally do. Just saves so much hassle, plus they seal so well from the off you could practically inflate it with a mini pump.

Using Gorilla Tape on a set of Flows for the last 12 months and the only place I had leaks was out of the sidewalls of one Spez Purgartory Tyre.

Made sure I cleaned the rim bed down with Alcohol prior to mounting the tape though.

Slimjim – rim bed being the outer of the rim – ie where you’d put rim tape. The idea is that you build it up to the same circumference of the bead of the tyre, so that it’s quite a tight fit and doesn’t move around and hence burp. Keeps everything nice and tight.

I ghetto tubeless mine with electrical tape and a split BMX tube. If it worked for Jared Graves then ts good enough for me. Most of my tyres are non tubeless (Maxxis Minion) and my Mavic 521s are not tubeless either.

I run tubeless for puncture protection rather than weight or low pressures (30psi in my Minion) and they stay up pretty well. Only had them burp once and randomly deflate once in 3 years.

Tom KP

The idea is that you build it up to the same circumference of the bead of the tyre, so that it’s quite a tight fit and doesn’t move around and hence burp. Keeps everything nice and tight.

Ahh! That is a lightbulb moment. 💡 Thank you nobeer. That is something I’d never really fully understood.

That’s slightly incorrect. You do build up the rim bed to make a tighter bead fit, but it only helps with inflation. It’ll only help prevent burping on excessively wrapped rims, where you would need to build the well up higher than the bead, which is probably too much to fit the tyre on the rim in the first place.

rim bed

where you’d put rim tape

uh? now i’m more confused – to me rim tape goes in the central ‘well’ of the rim to cover the nipples/holes, but above it’s being talked about as if the rim ‘bed’ is the sides/lip of the rim.

Can anyone share any pictures that show people gorilla taping a rim once and for all so i can finally understand this?!!

Use folding tyres. I’ve had a bucket of trouble with non-folding tyres, I cannot get the bead to seat properly.