OK, I’ve had great experience with Mavic tubeless and ghetto tubeless with BMX tubes on normal rims.

Now going down the route of Notubes Flow rims.

1) using a UST tyre, I need a valve and their rim tape to secure. Can I just make my own valve from an old innertube and use electrical tape?

2) Using a non-ust tyre, can I use the above shonky, tightwad, method or go ghetto BMX tube or is the proper rimstrip Stans the only solution?

3) Must I buy all the proper bits and spend nearly another £30?

What have you guys done?

My thoughts are:

1) Electrical tape and well-sealed valve for UST tyre
2) Give the above a go for non-UST, failing that BMX tube ghetto method.

Cheers

Electrical tape won’t work – the yellow tape does. Sticks like poo to a blanket.

If I was using a standard tyre I’d use a proper rims-trip. Burping over rocks could bugger the rim, not worth it. I run UST.

Valves can be sourced cheaply – maybe justridingalong.

I’ve had 2 sets of Flow rims (plus Olympic, Arch and Black Flag all using NoTubes tech.) and have never used a rim strip. I’ve used yellow tape and the Stans valves on all of them always with standard tyres and have never had a problem.

You can buy a Hope tubeless kit with all the Stans bits you need for £20 that includes a roll of yellow tape, 2 Univeral Valves and 2 small bottles of sealant.

Yellow tape and valves FTW.

My take.

You need to use the yellow tape -it’s much stiffer than PVC so won’t distort or move. I think there’s some kind of parcel/strapping tape you can use instead – fibreglass reinforced stuff.

UST tyre – just use the yellow tape and valve. Easy. Dual ply non-usts also play quite nicely.

Non-UST, really needs the rim strip. I’ve tried it on my XC bike and it worked OK for a few rides, until I tried riding some techy stuff, then it just burped like mad every time it got seriously sideloaded.

yellow tape, valves and any old tyres (never tried UST, just use standard Maxxis, Spesh and Conti jobbies) work fine for me.

Dave (1 pair of Flows, 1 pair of Crests, 2 pairs of 355s)

Electrical tape won’t work

Electric tape works fine.

I’ve been running it with a Mavic UST valve for about 2 years & never had an issue. Using it on 3 different bikes now (mine & my wife’s trail bikes & her DH bike).

Most of the people I know who run Stan’s rims do the same & no issues either.

Electric tape does work fine, but it’s not as good as the yellow tape IME- over time it becomes much more likely to come loose when you change a tyre. Which isn’t really a big deal, but it’s irritating when you’re in a hurry.

As for non-UST tyres, as long as you use suitable standard tyres that tubeless up well, I’ve never found any reason to use a rim strip, yellow tape and valve works near-flawlessly. I’ve had one significant burp, as a result of mashing my wheel off a boulder the size of a fridge while in France, but since it took a lump of rim and a chunk of tyre with it too that seems reasonable 😉

(FWIW, non-UST tyres that have worked flawlessly so far are folding Kenda Nevegals, Smallblock 8s, Telonixes and Excavators, wire bead Maxxis swampthings and minions, folding minions and highrollers, folding Nobby Nics, and folding Conti Barons and Rubber Queens. All had quality beads that were pretty tight, ymmv with less good brands like Panaracer with beads like a wizard’s sleeve.

My LBS gave me 3M strapping tape to use, followed Stans instructions and roughed up the rim seat, used IPA wipes to degrease then wrapped round the tape pulling as hard as possible. Put tyre on WITH TUBE, pumped up 40psi & left overnight to press the tape down nicley, next day insalled tyre with no tube and some StanSpunk. My Bonty TLRs went straight up first go, needed more air after 1st ride but lost none since.

brilliant feedback, thanks. Going to go with the Hope Tubeless kit for £19.
Cheers all
James

Yep I got the Hope kit and it’s all you need – although you only get enough sealant for two tyres, and if you have to replace tyres you need to get some more.

The yellow tape is great stuff. I’ve used electrical tape as a substitute for rim tape on my road bike and it’s a bad idea. After a while the tape bulges and the tube can ‘herniate’ through and burst when you’re ‘just riding along’. This is probably more of a problem at road-bike pressures but still, it’s not a risk I’d bother taking to save a couple of quid. I hear you can buy the tape from 3M for a bit less, though.

I’ve got loads of sealant from running tubeless on my other wheels so that’s cool, still loads cheaper than going to JRA or Merlin etc.