I’m having an absolute mare with my TL setup and I’m tempted to try the ghetto method of using a tube as the liner. What size tube should I use? It’s a 27.5+, 40mm external, 36mm internal rim. I’m assuming it needs to be a smaller diameter than the wheel to get a tight fit, but I’m not sure how much smaller.

20″ dude

Thanks, I’ve seen that size mentioned when I did a bit of googling, but it was all on 26″ wheels. Anyone gone ghetto on 27.5?

20 and 24 inch tubes tend to only come with Schrader valves.

Yes, 20″ will stretch easily.

I’ve found 20″ tubes with Presta valves on eBay.

No they don’t greyspoke.

No geex, there is a definite tendency.

20 and 24 inch tubes tend to only come with Schrader valves.

That is rubbish. All my tubeless conversions, apart of one were on 20″ presta valved inner tubes. Some even with removable core. Look for Schwalbe 20″ SV6 or light/extra light inner tubes.

26″, 27.5″ and 29″ alike. Only fat bike conversion required different than standard 2.0-2.5″ wide inner tube.

Cheers!

I.

Schwalbe 20” x 2.25” BMX tubes can easily be had with Presta valves – they’re what I always use on 26” rims, so I’ve no doubt they’d be fine on 27.5” too.

In my opinion, it’s the most reliable tubeless system that there is, based on having used it for  eight years, including some pretty harsh, rocky conditions in Greece.

Adittionally split inner tube have 3 advantages.

1. No sticky residue on the rim.

2. No sealant ingress into the rim.

3. If you have lose fitting tyre inner tube liner will act as an additional tightener and will make conversion easier.

Triple win situation 🙂

Cheers!

I.

I’ve heard ghetto can work, but I had a couple of goes with it and couldn’t get the tyre to stay up. In the end the freewheel went on my old wheels and I couldn’t get a replacement, so I just built a tubeless ready wheelset up. That so far has worked perfectly with tape / sealant / tubeless valve. There are some really cheap rims round at the moment – especially in 26”.

Inner tube method is (1) easy and (2) IME very reliable.

I’d say 20″ will do a 650b. For 29r I’d be thinking about a 24″ tube.

I found the best way of opening out the tube was with some sharp non serrated scissors and go straight down the middle on the outside.

I then put the valve in, hook the wheel over something by the valve hole (I use one of the s shaped garage storage hooks hanging from the ceiling) and stretch the tube round evenly on both sides to meet hands opposite the valve hole.

Fold tube back over the rim. Install tyre and goop and add a good brushing of your preferred lubricatory soap around the beads and pump like billio.

Once all settled then a trim of the excess rubber with Stanley / scissors and you are all done .

Tyre changes require a modicum of care and tweaking of the bead to get it to settle on the rim strip but only a few extra minutes.

Though I’ll admit I used Tubeless rims, tyres and valve, I seem to have got away with a few wraps of bog standard electrical tape.  Mavic Quest tyres and WTB i25 rims, regular track pump worked fine.

Ivan missed one

4. if the tyre rolls on the rim the tube will roll with it, making a burp much less likely.

OP, surprised you can’t get your regular setup to work with just tape, valves and sealant, as i’d expect any 27.5 + rim to be tubeless ready?

Yeah. Couple of wraps of lecky tape to catch the wayward spoke holes your tape has missed.

Have you put it up with a tube in to seat itthe unseat one side?

I also had a problem  setting up bontrager tlr rims with , bontrager rim strips and a WTB resolute  tyres. The tyre with the rim strip in it was just to tight , fitted the tyre over night  with a tube bit tight but no  no problem really . The rim strip on the other hand,  just a nightmare gave up and put the tube in untill, I decide which route to take, cut down  tube , buy rim tape or  electrical tape.

Either that or I got something very wrong 😭

I run ghetto tubeless on all my rims, tubeless or not.