Hi guys, im going to get some new tyres for my fatbike this year maxxis minions 4.8" ..so I might as well use this opportunity to change to tubless ...
My question is what rim tape do people use?
Do I try and get 80mm tape and wrap once or 48mm and wrap twice
Is there anything thing else I might need to know
TIA
I just used 50mm electrical insulating tape. Three wraps (one each side and one down the middle).
If you have single wall rims and the valves aren't threaded all the way then you might need some Super P-Nuts to get a good seal.
Are they drilled/cut rims? Makes a little difference.
I use PVC tape- tbh I probably overthink it, I put a 50mm wrap around it facing "in" so it's visible in the cutouts, with the sticky side not stuck to anything. Then I go round the inside edges with normal electrical tape to stick it to the wheel, and lastly another wrap of the 50, so there's no sticky side exposed anywhere.
I went ghetto tubeless on my fatty.
Works extremely well and has done for years.
Coloured gaffa tape underneath that you see through the rim cut-outs.
My 50mm wide rims have a single piece of 30mm tape right down the middle. It’s been fine for 2 years.
I used a 24x2.0 inner tubes, sliced along the inside circumference and folded open to form a flat circle to create a combined rimtape/valve.
If your rims are the solid type, or have cutouts but with an existing non-tubeless tape to prevent bulging of your tubes out of the cutouts then this should work.
On one set of rims I had with cutouts, I used some 50mm wide 3M reflective tape to stop the bulging, and the sliced inner tube to seal.
Looked very jazzy with all the reflections on night rides, which was all the rage back in 2015.
Fattystripper for me, on a clownshoe.
As an aside, and imho ymmv etc, but are you totally set on the minions? Bud and Lou I”ve found better in almost every way.
Minions are noticeably smaller. Both in width and height, so overall volume is a lot less.
This means they are significantly less tolerant of low pressures.
On the rear, the fbr is ok grip wise, but loses out on volume and riding feel.
I found the fbf horrific. Almost put me off fat bikes completely it was so bad. Grip was ok, but self steer was horrific, pressures needed to be up around 7psi to stop it, but by that pressure the tire characteristics were horrendous (small volume and higher pressures were not fun).
Bud is a joy in comparison, rides so much faster, feels lighter, and works superbly.
Bud and Lou ftw.
FWIW I love the Minions, run front at 6psi and rear at 7 (or a Jumbo Jim on the back). I think basically they're very different to Bud/Lou- but our experiences are pretty different? I think probably the Bud/Lou had more grip but I could never really tell what they were doing so I never pushed them like the Minions. And I found the Minions much more... fun, basically. The Bud especially seemed to just soak up everything, in a way that was pretty impressive for traction but hard to get anything more out of- for techier or faster stuff where I want to be taking more control and popping and moving the bike more, the Bud sucked that up too much while the Minion doesn't have that hugely damped feel.
(never had any self-steer issues with either, on 80mm rims, except when I was way off on pressure)
I couldn't say what was better or worse, I reckon your traditional fatbiker could well prefer the Bud/Lou set but I just found the Minions to be much better trailbike tyres, I enjoy riding the bike more and I can make it do things I wouldn't try on the Bud especially.
I've always used surly rim strips and fattystrippers on all my fatbikes as its just so easy.
If you're likely to swap tyres I'd suggest the split tube method as fattystrippers are single use (unless you're really careful / lucky).
I faffed for ages with various tubeless tapes on cut out rims.
In the end i left rim strips in and gorilla taped the rim. Sealed perfectly.
Minions front and rear at 9 psi. Amazingly, after 18mths sat in the garage not moving they were still at 7psi.
FWIW, I'm a Minion minion...
For sealing, two rounds of clear Tesa tape in a warm room, stretched when applied. Doubled and an extra patch when the valve goes through. This is on a twin wall carbon rim so no big cutouts.
Cheers guys...lots of different ways.
My wheels are DT swiss BR710 with cutouts...which I used camo gaffer tape twice wrapped then put back the black tape that came with the wheels over that.
My tyres atm are what came with my Rose Tusker Vee H Billie 4.25"
Which I been pretty happy with up till the soggy trails we had the last 3 months in he Surrey hills , I found the tyres just would not grip.
On the subject of tyres mine are 4.25" and I've got about 12mm clearance each side of the frame on the rear...how much bigger are 4.8" minion ( might have a look at other makes now)
Frame clearance is 125mm....my 4.25 tyres are 100m at the widest...what's the size on 4.8"?
I try and limit risk on this.
With tyres that sit well on the rim I use tape. Stan/Sun Ringle etc.
If the tyres are a little loose or start to leak I now tend to take the easy option and use fatty strippers.
They really are fit and ride with confidence.
I found some 70mm PVC tape over ornamental tartan ribbon (for effect) been fine for 3 years and multiple tyre changes on cut out DT swiss rims
Cheekyget, have a think about that 4.8 tyre choice. I would bet that a lot of that wouldn't actually be any use, most of it wouldn't touch the ground. They are great IMHO, at low pressure in soft conditions where I need more float on snow for instance, but for summer or dry I use a JJ 4.0.
4.8 does look cool though....
I know what your saying... it I'm finding my current tyres don't have the grip I'm after to keep up with the boys I roll with on their enduro bikes..my thinking is wider tyres better grip when needed...
@rickmeister Are your minions4.8...if so can you please tell me the width when fitted..can find it out anyway
my FBR measures up 118mm ish, but thats on a 100m rim, so on 80mm rims might come up a bit narrower I guess.
Genuinely surprised by the FBF/R love in. I am a Minion minion too, have a pair on my wee hardtail, my sone has them on his stumpy, I have the 29+ versions on the big hardtail... but as mentioned, in FB form, me no likey!
So, based on that, why the hell am I keeping the 4.8" FBF that I recently took off? Cheekyget, if you want that posted to you, just buy the postage label and I'll get it off to you.
@bigs_scot_nanny wow mate that's very generous of you ..many thanks for the sizing too ...no where mentions it...ill happily send you cafe stop funds too ..please send me the details..many thanks
I'm another with a significant liking for Minions on the Fatty but then I've never tried the Bud/Lou combo. I've no desire to try anything else; Minions work really well for me on our ground, which may be a bit rockier and more solid than that experienced by some others. I've not encountered self steer on my 4.8 FBF either; 4.0" FBR as the frame won't take larger. 6psi front, 7 psi rear on Halo Tundra 80mm rims.
What sort of fluid volumes are folk using in theirs?
Like big_scott_nanny, about 118mm here too on a 90mm rim.. and grip, well it feels like I could climb a house with the 4.8. Pressures, it's an endless debate but anything up to 15psi depending on conditions... and as for sealant, maybe "some". Two small bottles that come with the big Doc Blue sealant kit.
I always wondered about how much milk to put in...on my road bike it's 60ml of stans....so thought a fatty would need say 250ml?
As per Rick, I put 2 wee bottles in. Is that about 100ml? That seems to have coated the tire and left enough to slosh about.
250 sounds like a lot!
Another Minion ftw here. FBF 4.8 front matches with JJ 4.4 on the back, in winter. JJ 4.4 also on front when it dries out.
I did find self steering at 5PSI on the FBF, but works well all round at 7 even in the absolutely dire mud over chalk slop we have just now.
I set the same up on my mate's BR710 rims with previous owners' wide gorilla tape set up. Needed a tube and neat fairy liquid to fully seat the bead with Airshot. Left overnight, then unhook one side and slipped the tube out.
About 100ml of stans in each.
100ml it is...I did a bit of reading last night and it seems I've been putting in too much inn my road tyres....65ml I've been doing but reading 45ml is plenty...thank god for you guys