Hi I have a Continental Rubber Queen 2,4″ and a Continental Mountain King II 2,4″ on my bike currently I’m running both the old fashioned way with tubes. Neither are the tube less versions of the tyre but I know plenty of people still run standard tyres tube less.

My LBS seemed to think it wouldn’t be possible with these tyres the guy said they would burp a lot and require loads of sealant. Is this true?

If anyone’s run these tyres tube less what your experience?

ive set these up with no issues

Contis can be more porous than other brands, which can mean they take longer to get a good seal, and require more sealant.

I had some Conti Speed Kings, they were my first tubeless effort. Sidewalls very porous but Stans sealed them eventually. Might’ve had one burp once, not sure.

When people say they burp, does that mean all the air goes out of them and you can’t finish your ride or what does it mean?

I finished a race and found about 20psi in my tyres. So I think burping means losing a bit of air.

I’m sure I’d have won that sprint for the line if they’d been at full pressure 🙂

I’ve just finished installing tubeless ness on my rear wheel for the very first time. It’s an arch ex rim with a conti vertical tyre, using a ghetto inflator and then my track pump to get it seated properly. Just finished shaking it about and it seems to be holding pressure, much success!

Burping means the tyre deforms under impact or cornering loads and breaks the bead seal. This leads to catastrophic loss of air and likely sealant. You’ll probably be putting a tube in to get home once you’ve picked yourself up. It is not simply losing a couple of psi.

In reality burping is almost unheard of when using suitable rims and tyres. If you choose to experiment with ghetto conversions then you takes yer chances – it may never happen, but the weaker the sidewalls and bead the more likely it is.

Always carry at least one spare tube unless you like walking. My mate had to stuff a tube in his Hans Dampf on a tubeless rim last night when he lost his air (old tyre, slightly bent rim, uncertain amount of sealant that had been there over a year) That said it’s the first flat we’ve dealt with apart from commuters all year.

Sounds good think this weekend I will have to take the plunge into the tubeless world. Any grip/ rolling advantages?

I recently dipped a toe – ghetto converting – and the biggest bonus for me is the much improved grip I have due to lower pressures I can now run without pinching.

Any grip/ rolling advantages?

Yes and yes. You can normally run lower psi so your tyre will deform to the terrain better so will roll better than the same tyre, tubed, at a higher pressure. As you have a lower pressure the footprint is bigger so, again, more grip. I was running tubed tyres at about 32psi front, 34psi rear and after going tubeless I’m running the same tyres at about 25 front, 28 rear (sometimes less if the terrain isn’t too rough)

I did it on my Patriot for reasons of rolling resistance. The bike was a bit of a dog on climbs on Kenda Nevegal Blue Grooves with thick innertubes – tubeless sorted it out a treat.

Been running tubeless with non tubeless Maxxis (Minions, HR, HR2 and Ardent) for a couple of years now, not once burped or any issues with leakage in sidewalls. Just use two or three scoops of sealant to cover thorn type of punctures and seal the bead, job done.

That’s on two of my bikes and one of them was an old wheel running ghetto for a year and no problems.

Most LBS will go with the official line and say that you need the proper tools for the job and obviously they can supply it, but that’s UST all the way, and that’s heavy and expensive. It’s not a case of risking it with non tubeless tyres and ghetto set ups, it’s a case of people realising many (not all) non tubeless tyres and certain rim profiles actually are just as good but cheaper and lighter. That’s why tyre companies have Tubeless Ready tyres as well as UST. Slightly tweaked normal tyres to seat better tubeless and maybe less porous sidewalls but otherwise they’re just branding and a certification that they’re okay for tubeless. With the Maxxis tyres I’ve used, as far as I’m concerned they’re all tubeless ready even if they’re not marked as TR.

Oh, and big seller for UST is they can run without sealant. Fine, but get a puncture and you’re screwed without sealant, so almost everyone adds sealant so you may as well have TR or non tubeless tyres and use sealant instead.