Anyone doing it? Did a search but couldn’t find anything on here.
What tyres/rims you using?
tape/rim strips/ghetto?
how easy?
many problems?

Got some alex xd-lites with conti cx tyres, done a little googling but so far not found much info on these rims.

I tried ghetto the other year on the 3 peaks with a 50% success rate.

The setup had worked for some weeks before. Would try again, but probably not on a rocky course.

CX tyre thread

I’m using Mavic CXP33 rims with Rocket Rons. Yellow tape to build up the central channel then a stan’s rim strip.
Needed a compressor / CO2 cartridge to get them to mount up properly. The front sealed instantly, with only 3/4 cup of sealant, but the rear was more hassle. Inflated to + 60psi, then it would drop down to ~10 overnight, shaking, rolling, spinning, riding, leaving on one side, then the other didnt do much. Added another full cup of sealant and the sidewalls finally stopped oozing, probably took 3 days of messing to get it to hold pressure – so dont do it the day before a race!

Raced twice with them now, and the rear has burped once in each race, each time when i’ve really pushed hard into a corner, only lost a tiny amount of air and sealed up straight away. No idea what pressure I’m running – way less than when I had tubes in there and its definitely better, more grip and in one of the races I’m pretty sure i punctured but didnt even notice till afterwards.

So pretty much as per any tubeless experience – more hassle to setup but worth it.

all this talk of racing, I just commute on it 🙂

Not sounding good mayan*, what pressure you running them at? JRA say no more than 40, on tubes I’m running 40/45 but just starting out on CX so may lower them, not sure. I’m commuting so puncture resistance is more important than outright grip.

Rich saw your tweet (via BWDs blog) and it inspired me to ask on here 🙂

cheers for the link roter I hadn’t seen that, more general info tho, I’m hoping for some specifics.

*but then my first few 26″ tubeless experiences weren’t great.

Which bit is not sounding good?
The setup? it is hassle, and took a good few days to be confident with them.
The advantages for racing are there, for commuting, the only advantage has to be puncture resistance?
I think I’d just buy heavier weight tubes and thicker tyres. The hassle of a proper flat (ie burp / ripped sidewall) on a commute is a big deal, and heavier wheels for commuting = more training effect surely?

I ran mine tubeless for a few races last year. The front was fine with no issues until the end of summer this year (tyre rolled off rim due to low pressure) the back one lasted 3 weeks of training and half a race. I think tyre and rim combo seems to be the main factor as to how well they work. The low volume of CX tyres means that if they burp you loose an almost catastrophic amount of air!

I reckon for commuting some landcruisers pumped up to 60psi should be spot on, those things are indestrucatable and probably not bad for a tuebless setup given their rigidity.

Jamie

For commuting, I wouldn’t bother. If When you get a proper flat it’s going to be messy and as you’ve got a tight tyre rim fit, it could take an age to fix.

I’ve got a proper stans tubeless wheelset on my road bike, and I’m not inclined to run them tubeless, or at least not until the price of tyres etc doesn’t add up to over £100.

I reckon for commuting some landcruisers pumped up to 60psi should be spot on, those things are indestrucatable and probably not bad for a tuebless setup given their rigidity.

Landcruisers are loose on most rims in my experience. I tried to ghetto tubeless a pair.

really, I was sure my landcruisers mounted up nice and tight on my rims. They were the wire bead ones. Nce thing about a tubed setup is the ease of puncture repair… just swap the tube no sticky jizz on your hands when you get to work!

The low volume of CX tyres means that if they burp you loose an almost catastrophic amount of air!

yeah, this is probably quite true, both times I burped my rear in a race, I was probably running too much pressure, and after the burp, I still had plenty of air and the grip was better. So I think I had plenty of air to lose. I think I’m still not used to running the really low pressures cos I’m still scared of pinch flats.

Its interesting tho’, I’m assuming running higher pressure is going to reduce the risk of a burp? as the pressure is pushing the tyre bead onto the rim, so if you start off with a lower pressure to start with, do you run a greater risk of burping and having no air left?
I think after this season is over I’ll add some more tape to build out the rim well and see if that makes it more stable.

I’m pondering tubelessing my Soma Double Cross and did a bunch of reading on it the other month – most of which I’ve now forgotten. I’m running 29er Crests and the other week picked up a tubeless Hutchinson cross tyre on eBay for less than a tenner with the aim of experimenting.

In theory it sounds spot on, but there are few things worrying me. One is the web stuff out there that says Hutchinson tubeless cross tyres with their non-stretchy bead are so tight on anything like a Crest that people often damage the bead getting them on.

The other thing is that if I run less than 60psi or so round here with tubes (Maxxis Raze 35s) I bottom the tyre on the rim regularly on rocky stuff and I’m not convinced that tubeless conversions will hold that much pressure without blowing off…

Finally, I don’t flat that often with the Maxxis tyres anyway, but it would be nice to have more grip and less ping.

Off the agenda at the moment as I banged a pair of Nordic Spikes on them yesterday for the authentic winter experience 🙂

As per Richpips, I can’t imagine buying tubeless specific cross tyres at the substantial full retail price.

tbc when the sun shines again…

I’m not racing yet due to injury and only built my first CX bike last month but I am running tubeless with Michelin Mud 2s fitted to Fulcrum Race CX 5 wheels. I’ve used a Stans tubeless seal/valve and Stans fund. Absolute bigg@ to get the tyres on and a bit of a challenge to get seated but they don’t leak much and run pretty well so far.

As I said, not yet raced in anger with them but I don’t see why it should be a major issue.

I’m running Conti CX Race tyres on H Plus Son Archetype rims.

Setup 1:
Stans rim tape, then built up with electrical tape. 1 cup of Stan’s, CO2 to get it to seat, just wouldn’t stop leaking, both through the sidewall and from the bead.

Setup 2:
Same as above, but with a ghetto rim strip as well, and 2 cups of sealant. Seated better and very little bead leakage, still some through the sidewall. I popped all those little bubbles you get and it seemed to be holding pressure at 60 psi.

I also re-inflated setup 1 to 60 psi and it seemed to be holding OK.

24 hrs later, both flat. I’m going to try Setup 2 again tonight, I’m hoping it just needs a bit more inflating and jiggling to seal all the pores in the sidewalls. I’ll let you know how I get on. Next step, tubeless ready tyres.

Apart from the faff of setup my tubeless experiences have been pretty good on normal* riding. My SS has been running tubeless F&R for 18months (~1600miles), 1 rip in all that time and then I just slapped a tube in and repaired the tyre when I got home. That’s kinda what I was aiming for on my CX, puncture free riding.

If the CX bug** bites hard I’ll probably get some iron cross rims and suitable tyres, was just wondering if I could cobble something together with my current wheels.

*some of my other bikes get ragged a bit more and have torn a few tyres in the lakes and other places with lots of pointy rocks, even then I get a lot fewer flats than when I ran tubes.

**yes I know it’s not really CX if you’re not racing.

I’ve had succes with an open pro rim, two loops of velox rim tape and a stans cx rim strip combined with a Michelin mud 3 tyre. It was a slight wrestle to get the tyre on, but went up first time with a track pump.

I’ve ridden and raced on it on pressures between 30 – 45 psi and it’s been faultless.

I’ve tried the same setup with a smart sam tyre on the front, but couldn’t inflate. Ill leave that with a tube for now and buy a new tyre for the next season when hopefully there will be some proper tubeless tyres available.

Anyone using tubeless tubs?

I’ve had succes with an open pro rim, two loops of velox rim tape and a stans cx rim strip combined with a Michelin mud 3 tyre. It was a slight wrestle to get the tyre on, but went up first time with a track pump.

I failed with open pros, rim strip and Sam Slicks – only did one loop of stan’s tape though which I think was my downfall. Will give it another go soon with 2 loops. If that doesn’t hold then I might try Michelin Cyclocross Jet S (Mud 3 looks a bit too nobbly for my commuting duties!)

Knew i’d seen something somewhere.
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/tubeless-tires-for-cyclocross–35885/

This does look proper faffy. And I’m sceptical about the ability of it to work when racing hard and running 20-40 psi.
I also wouldn’t want to start with higher pressures to compensate for air loss. And race day tyre pressure fettling must be a worrying affair.

I’m thinking of using sprints next season, but then I’ve only had one race puncture in four seasons on the current bike, so maybe not. The other thing is I can swap from GP to mud to slick easily.

I do have tubeless specific road wheels on my road race bike, but I’ve yet yo try it tubeless.