Wanting to go Tubless on the hardtail. Have some 717 rims with some new Pacestar (Tubeless ready) Racing Ralphs on their way. Thinking could get away with just Gorilla tape and sealant as the bead on the Pacestar RR could seat well in the 717's, or do I just go for a full rimstrip kit? Or split bmx tubes etc. Have set up many UST and Stans rims with no probs - just dont know which way to go with the 717's and the Pacestar tires. Advice/experience greatly appreciated - cheers.
I've been sucessfully using a Stans strip on an XM719 rim for 18 months now. Can't comment on the others as I've never tried.
In my experience, the ghetto method with split inner tubes is as reliable as proper UST, probably more so than Stans rimstrips. That said it's a bit of a faff to do, not the end of the world, but proper tubeless rimstrips are easier. You would also need to drill out the valve holes on 717's to accept schraeder valves if using BMX tubes. The gorilla tape method, I can't comment on personally, but I'm not a fan of the theory. Just too much potential for the tyre to come off easily if it's not mega tight on the rim.
FWIW my 717s came drilled for schrader, with little plastic adaptors included. Ghetto tubeless on those was too much hassle for me, I reckon it could be made to work but after quite a bit of fannying around with tape and inner tubes and suchlike and too many failures, I got fed up with it and moved on.
My wheels consist of.......
Just electrical tape and a cut out valve from an old tube + locknut:
Alex/Speciaized Pitch rims
DT 470
Electrical tape + cut out 20" tube:
Mavic EN521
Mavic EN321
Seem's mavic make their rims deeper than everyone else? Logicaly they should work with just a lot of electrical tape but I've not tried it.
Just did the exact combination on the weekend, and it seems to be holding after going for a short blast. I only applied Stan's rim tape to the wheel and cut an old valve from an inner tube. Make sure you cut most of the rubber away, but leave enough to stop it from pulling through. Do the nut up on the valve tight, otherwise air will leak here. I used one and half cups of sealant and loads of soapy water and it went up with a floor pump after a few flips of the wheel and soapy water.
I used gorilla tape. I'd trust it over electrical tape. Also, the 1in handy roll was the exact size for my 21mm internal width WTB laserdisc trail rims.
You have more of a chance of burping with stans rimstrips/tape/gorilla than with an old inner tube, but at least you can change the tyre if you want. without doing it all again.
If you're interested I've got a full Stans notubes kit for slae inc rim srips that'll fit your rims, never been used.
Let me know if you want it.