Always keen to try something new on a shoestring, did plenty of reading around and thought I’d give tubeless a try on my slightly rubbish Decathlon 29er.

Brand new Chunky Monkeys, stock 19mm Decathlon rims, gorilla tape, stans fluid, 2l lemonade bottle homemade inflator and a bit of experimentation and up they went first time. No sign of quick deflation yet, had a quick ride and all seemed to work OK.

I know CM and 19mm runs might be a slightly dodgy combo, but I don’t ride hard so hopefully won’t stress that weakness too much.

Lessons learned for a tubeless newbie:-
– try a few dummy inflations without fluid just to see what happens
– with valve core extracted you need to stop the air coming out after you’ve inflated or with the lemonade bottle inflator
– do it outside so fluid doesn’t go everywhere

Could be all flat by the morning, but fingers crossed!

Update – getting carried away, I then moved onto doing one wheel on son’s bike with well used tyres – again, went up OK, with plenty of oozing from the holes in the tyre already. Let’s see how long that stays up.

And finally, decided to go full DIY and cut out a valve from an old inner tube to do the rear on my 29er. Not a wise decision, as it turns out. First I cut it too large, so the bead wouldn’t seat (I think). THen I trimmed it too small so that when it did seat and I brought it back up to pressure with the valve core re-inserted the valve pulled through the tape and practically out of the rim. Ah well, time to spend some more money on getting more “proper” stans valves.

I gave it a go for the first time a couple of months ago.
Geax AKA TNT tyres, tenner each from On One, Gorllia tape, stans fluid, valves from superstar, ordinary track pump, and Mavic EN321 & 521 rims. Absolute doddle. Track pump inflated them fine.

Now I need to get round to doing my other and my sons bike.

top tip for anyone struggling to inflate a tubeless tyre. get one of these!! AIRSHOT TUBELESS TYRE INFLATOR works a treat (BOOM!)

I did try with the track pump but got nowhere fast. Which Superstar valves did you use ads678? The only ones I can see are £10.99 (their £6.99 pair are out of stock), which isn’t much cheaper than the Stans ones from CRC. £6.99 would be much more palatable though!

And I would love to be able to justify the airshot, but I’m too penny pinching and my lemonade bottle works!

You might fine the Chunky monkey burps a bit on narrow rims.

Yeah it was the cheap superstar ones I used.

My track pump is a Joe Blow sport II, I think. No idea if it’ll work on other tyre/rim combinations though!!

You have angered the tubeless gods.
Someone , somewhere will pay.

don’t worry, it seems that i am the focus of the tubeless Gods’ anger. i’ve had enough grief to ensure that everyone else has an easy time of it.

(inner tubes, and the occassional puncture are waaaaaaay less hassle than tubeless, ime.)

(inner tubes, and the occassional puncture are waaaaaaay less hassle than tubeless, ime.)

Agreed… I’ve spent hours faffing with my first tubeless set up eva. These have been pointless hours. The tyres went up initially okay, but then overnight sometimes the tyres stay up, sometimes they go down, including sometimes mid-ride – which can be a bit sketchy if it’s the front gradually and unknowingly turning into a squirm monster and nearly pops you off on fast turns.

Really worth it? versus Tubes?

I can pick up inner tubes for £2. One puncture every 6 months or so, which takes about 3 minutes to sort.

Tubeless didn’t appear to turn my bike into some sort of winged chariot held aloft by trail-angels either.

I’m de-adopting now.

To be honest, I’m having a go just to see if I can do it. Whether it becomes something necessary for me, I don’t know. Particularly at £6 per presta valve, vs £1.50 for a new tube.

Though to be fair, we go through tubes like there’s no tomorrow in our household, and in the past when we had a slime-filled inner tube we got some much needed respite from thorn punctures, so perhaps it will work.

Caution noted about CMs vs 19mm rims, already aware of that concern. I don’t intend to be running on minimal air pressure in the tyres, but if I get too much burping on those that might well be the end of my tubeless experiment.

specialized jobbies from evans – £3

https://www.evanscycles.com/specialized-tubeless-valve-stem-EV163236

cut the rubber corners off, though, the rotated in the rim and rubbed away at the sidewalls on the wifes bike. had to patch the inside of the tyre. All good now, though.

still ambivalent here, fewer punctures fo’ sho’ but when it does go tits it’s a right faff.

It can be a faff to seat some tyres foshure.

Tubeless is a cunning beast. If your first few attempts have gone well it’s only because it’s lulling you into a false sense of security. You’ll be punished later, when you need to get a tyre seated on a deadline and suddenly all the soapy water, manic pumping and sealant in the world won’t get it to work.

Having had a relatively low pressure inner tube pop out of a rim and burst in my kitchen, causing temporary deafness, I’d be pretty trepidatious about using a plastic bottle like an Airshot!

My first four attempts one took an hour and the other 3 took 15 mins each, on both bikes I’ve had a tyre go flat but just pumped it back up and squirted in a bit more liquid

Then I got some hope enduro wheels and racing Ralph,
I’ve now spent well over 10 hours and I just cannot get them to stay up, I bought an airshot and can get them to seat but air just flows out, I have left an inner tube in for a week and still no success
Could it be the folded tyres, is it worth getting in touch with Merlin to discuss the tyres..

Well fecked off

Recent convert and been fine – maxxis tyres on stans flows. Went up happily with a pump and no airshot/bottle. Sealed so well stayed up for 2 days! Problem was getting the sealant in! Had to buy a syringe and take the valve core out as there was no way the bead was coming off the rim. Having said that mate who has racesport contis really struggles and he gets the fluid coming through the sidewall on new tyres.

My first four attempts one took an hour and the other 3 took 15 mins each, on both bikes I’ve had a tyre go flat but just pumped it back up and squirted in a bit more liquid

Then I got some hope enduro wheels and racing Ralph,
I’ve now spent well over 10 hours and I just cannot get them to stay up, I bought an airshot and can get them to seat but air just flows out, I have left an inner tube in for a week and still no success
Could it be the folded tyres, is it worth getting in touch with Merlin to discuss the tyres..

Well fecked off
If there is a leak that you cannot fathom, it may be to do with the rim/tape/valve. Have you tried re-doing that lot?

i sure have greyspoke, I’m gonna ride it with inners for a while to ensure the tyres get used to being seated and then have another go when i have time on my hands, i’ve read in numerous places the racing ralph arent great.