Converting Regular Road Bike Wheels to Tubeless?

After running puncture free on my Ultegra tubeless set up for 9 months, I switched to winter wheelset last week (Shimano RS11 with inner tubes) and got a puncture on my first ride.

Any issues with converting the RS11 with rim tape and then fitting tubeless tyres and sealant? or is it critical to have ‘tubeless ready’ rims for this to work?

Given the pressures road tyres run at, I’d be very much going for tubeless specific road rims.

Yes, people have had issues with road tubeless blowing off the rims. Strictly speaking you need to use rims and tyres from the same system, but some mixing and matching of tubeless specific components would probably be OK.
Tubeless tape won’t work with the sort of pressures you’re dealing with on a road bike because of this. I remember at least one person on here that’s had the bead blow off whilst cornering.

Tubeless tape won’t work with the sort of pressures you’re dealing with on a road bike

Why do all of DtSwiss’s tubeless road wheels use tubeless tape then?

Can’t see tubeless tape being an issue?

The area most likely to fail is the rim/tyre interface. These rims have a ‘lip’ that would hold the bead and if tubeless tyre was snug enough, can’t see how it could blow off? I do understand the concerns though – hence the question!

Tubeless tape won’t work with the sort of pressures you’re dealing with on a road bike

Why do all of DtSwiss’s tubeless road wheels use tubeless tape then?

Sorry I didn’t phrase that right. Tubeless tape alone won’t work with the sort of pressures you get on a road bike.

The tape itself will work fine, but needs to be with a tubeless specific rim.

Never had an issue running tubeless on 17 mm ksyriums (no tape needed) nor HED JET non-tubeless rims (with tubeless tape). Most of the technology is in the tyre bead. The only issue is that the shape of the rim means that if a puncture does not seal, you can’t ride on it flat because there is no shelf for the tyre.

DO NOT RUN NON-TUBELESS TYRES ON NON-TUBELESS RIMS. they’ll blow off at about 65 psi. I tested this (not by riding them)

I’ve run non-tubeless tyres on non-tubeless rims with a tube for years and my ghost is here to tell the tale. 😉

TBH, is there much point putting winter wheels on? I’ve got the non-series version of ultegra (RS61?) as my winter wheels and the rims are coping just fine. Only blemish is one of the stickers is lifting off.

If you do try it, you need 2 layers of stans tape, not 1, to protect it from pushing through the spoke holes at 100psi.

I did run tubes on a tubeless wheelset for a long while, the ability to ride with a completely flat tyre was occasionally useful.

Other option if you can live with the weight and don’t want punctures is something like slime in the tubes. You could offset it by running super light tubes and summer tyres rather than doubling up on weight.

Update for anyone who is interested.
I went ahead and converted the Shimano RS11 with 21 mm Stans Rim Tape and Tubeless Valves (btw TINAS, I want to keep my Ultegras for summer, they would get trashed if I used them over winter up here leaving me nothing for the nicer months). One possible issue I hadn’t thought of is that the rear rim is asymmetric, which means all the spoke holes are very close to the internal corner of the rim. I used 2 wraps of tape, and made sure that one of the wraps went up the side of the rim wall a little to ensure a good seal at the spoke holes. Fitted Hutchison Fusion 5 All Season TLR tyres with Stans fluid. Tyres went on rims fine, inflated ot 90 psi without issue and held pressure without any drop over 5 days before I rode on them. Since then, I have done a few 100 km with no issues. Quite happy!

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Given the pressures road tyres run at, I’d be very much going for tubeless specific road rims.

Poppycock. I’ve been running Schwalbe Pro Ones, Hutchinson Sector 32s and even non-tubeless specific tyres on Archetype and Nextie Carbon rims for half a decade.

They occasionally need a little more inflating and if they do deflate, they will come away from the rimwall unless bonded to it by the sealant.

One wrap of Tesa Tape same as any other tubeless setup.

I’ve also used all sorts of non-tubeless rims for years but use two wraps of tape as it gets forced through the spoke holes over time at higher pressures.

I find looser tyres hard work sometimes as there isn’t enough volume in road tyres to get the valve core back in without it all escaping.

I have been running an older fairly narrow carbon rim (reynolds) taped and with a GP5000 TLE tyre for 6 months now. Used it plenty in anger and its never flinched burped or wobbled including hitting some monster potholes on my training loop.

I wouldnt try it with a non tubeless tyre, and started with just the rear to try it out. Im converting the front once the shit weather moves away as currently on an alu there for braking.

I would say IME its fine.