I want to go tubeless, I think!!

Ok, not sure on the best way to achieve this. I was under the impression that tubeless was like car tyres ie tyre sealed to rim and pumped up. However I’m confused about sealant and rim strips and Stans etc. Someone help me out here!

Ghetto Tubeless Guide. It is very similar to a car system but with a few mods due to slight differences in wheel design. Have a read as it should give you a decent feel for the whole tubeless concept. Rimstrips stop the air leaking through the spoke holes. Proper tubeless rims don’t need rimstrips as the rim bed has no spoke holes. Sealant is optional but helps keeping pressure in the tyre when using normal tyres and rims.

I was under the impression that tubeless was like car tyres ie tyre sealed to rim and pumped up

It is like that, if you have proper tubeless tyres and rims 🙂

Normal rims have whacking great holes in them for the spokes.
Thus, they aren’t very good at holding air!
Proper tubeless / UST rims are sealed.

You can run without tubes on normal rims if you use a rim strip to seal the rim.

Sealant isn’t required with proper tubeless/UST rims and tyres (but is useful to seal small punctures). If you are using a normal rim with rimstrip, or normal tyres then sealant is required to get a proper air tight setup.

p.s. I would strongly recommend a proper UST setup.
Virtually all the people complaining about problems with tubeless/it being hassle are trying to use bodged setups with normal rims and/or tyres.

But bear in mind that a proper UST setup is likely to be significantly heavier than, for example, a Stans conversion kit. This does depend on tyre choice though.

It’s not really any heavier if you use ‘tubeless-ready’/’2-bliss’ type tyres which have UST beads (so seal properly and pump up easily), but don’t have the extra thick sidewalls.

True, but not all manufacturers make such tyres. Maxxis, for example, come with a weight penalty for UST compatible.

Ok, next question. What happens if you get a puncture? Can you just stick a tube in?

Yes next question.

What happens if you get a puncture? Can you just stick a tube in?

Yes, though you’ll need to take the valve out… and the rim strip if using those.

Bear in mind if you’re using a rim strip and goo… it’s gonna be a bit messy, so you’d want to carry a plastic bag or something to put it in to stop if getting all over your bag.

Also – I think some tyre / rim combinations can mean that you’ll want to have good tyre levers with you in case you need to stick a tube in.

After much debate and research (talking to people I know who run tubeless and looking online) I’ve decided to give it a shot, but I’m going with proper UST rims and Tubeless-ready tyres… and a bit of goo for thorn punctures etc.

And if you do need to put a tube in, make sure you have checked the tyre for thorns first! You could potentially have a few months worth of thorns embedded in the tyre.

It would probably be a good idea to use sealant though, even with a proper UST set up.