Hey,

I have DT Spline M-1900 wheels and Maxxis High Roller II 2.4” and Maxxis Ardent 2.25” on my MTB

I’d like to go Tubeless, do I only need to buy valves and sealant to make this work ?

Any gotchas I need to be aware of ?

Cheers

Are the rims & tyres tubeless ready? If so all you need is valves and sealant. If the rim isn’t you’ll need tape,  if the tyres aren’t they can be used but might take more faff

You’ll need tape of some kind, either Tesa (which is what Stans tubeless tape actually is) or something like Gorilla Tape.

I find that getting the tape right is the key to successful tubeless installations, it’s a bit like getting the foundations of a house right, do it wrong or badly and you’ll have a whole heap of problems.

My process is:

1. Unfold tyre and leave overnight to get correct shape and remove the folds from the beads (you can put an inner tube in the tyre and inflate to speed this up)

2. Apply tape to rim.
2.1 The tape should be the width of the external width of the rim, When you apply it, it gets pulled down into the rim and becomes the “right” width.
2.2 Start about 150mm to one side of the valve hole and stick the tape into the well. You’ll go over the valve hole, round the rim and then 150mm past the valve hole.
2.3 As you work your way around the rim you need to keep a lot of tension on the tape as you go, try and keep the tape as central as you can.
2.4 Once you’ve got the tape on get a tyre lever (or something like the handle of a spoon) and go round the middle of the rim pressing the tape into the well of the rim. Again you need to do this with quite a lot of pressure.
2.5 Now with the lever/spoon go round each edge of the rim pressing the tape down, again use a lot of pressure.
2.6 If there’s any tape covering the bead channel you’ll need to cut it away with a sharp knife.
2.7 From the hub side of the rim push a pin or something similarly sharp through the valve hole and the tape so you can see where it is then with a sharp knife make a very small starting cross for the valve. Remove cap and lockring from valve and push through and replace lockring.

3. Put on tyre, noting rotational direction (not that I’ve ever put a tyre on backwards!), align logo with stem for extra points.

4. Remove valve core and inflate. Keep inflating until you are certain the tyre has popped into place around the entire rim.

5. Remove pump, the tyre will deflate, add sealant, replace valve core and reinflate.

6. Do the “Stans shake”, fit brake rotor, put wheel on bike and go for a ride to get the sealant into all the small gaps.

I’ve done the above with rims that haven’t been marked as “tubeless ready” and had no problems. I wouldn’t worry if your rims aren’t marked in this way.

I expect the M1900’s will be taped from the factory so no need to retape unless it’s damaged.

Thanks for the replies . I’ll check to see if the wheels are taped, otherwise will add that to the list

2.4 Once you’ve got the tape on get a tyre lever (or something like the handle of a spoon) and go round the middle of the rim pressing the tape into the well of the rim. Again you need to do this with quite a lot of pressure.
2.5 Now with the lever/spoon go round each edge of the rim pressing the tape down, again use a lot of pressure.

If the tape is pulled tightly and pressed into the rim using your fingers as you go round, instead of doing that ^^, I find that fitting the tyre with a tube inflated for an hour or two presses the tape into the rim well nicely.

Just my 2p

Carlos

Top tip – dont change the valve/ disturb the rim tape and then expect the tyre to hold pressure!

If you use tape that is wide enough (external width of rim is probably about right, as above) then it doesn’t really matter how well stuck down it is.  The only bit that needs to be sealed properly is where the tape overlaps with itself.  Doesn’t matter if the tape goes up the sidewalls a little, just not over the hook of the rim.  I usually use a plastic tyre lever to push it into the corners of the rim.