So I’ve had my bike a couple of months now and I love it so much I’m thinking of some minor changes/upgrades.

Going tubeless seems to be all the rage and I like the idea of lower tyre pressures and less (no?) flats.

I have WTB STi29 rims and 2.6 Maxxis tyres from and rear.

Went into the bike shop today and was pretty shocked to see tubeless kits going for around £70. That seems like a massive rip off for what is a couple of valves, some tape and some sealant!

I’ve seen this pump that I want, seems good value as I only have a little hand pump at the moment so wanted a track pump anyway

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/lifeline-airblast-tubeless-tyre-track-pump/rp-prod155451

Will valves cut out of old tubes, Gorilla tape, and the below sealant from Wilko do the trick?

http://www.wilko.com/all-bike-parts+accessories/wilko-tyre-sealant/invt/0344045

If not can anyone recommend any materials to get this done properly but cheaply?

Cheers!

No idea about the Wilko sealant .

You’d be better off with this kit for £25 from uberbike, decent valves, tape and sealant.

https://www.uberbikecomponents.com/view-product/Uberbike-Tyre-Matrix-XL-Tubeless-Conversion-Kit-500ml

Little word of warning re that pump. It is taking higher pressure that other inflators, but the tank is on a rather small side, so not ideal if you have stubborn or very loose tire.

Might help if you remove valve core for initial setting shot.

Additionally you can’t go wrong with split inner tube option. It is cleaner than gorilla tape as there is no sticky residue on the rim, and vale is already there. So no additional valve/rim point that might not hold air.

On top of that if you have loose tire split inner tube will act as a tightener.

Cheers!

I.

We’re having decent luck with split inner tubes and Stans at the minute, which is nice 🙂 I think the extra layer of rubber from the tube helps the tyre seal against the rim more easily and the bit that’s left hanging over might even help with snakebites as well. Most of them have gone up ok with a Lidl track pump but a couple of wired Kendas have needed a blast from the compressor.

Split inner tube and Stans has always been a reliable system for me. Plus a ghetto pneumatic accumulator, aka a Coke bottle.

I just looked up those rims and they are tubeless compatible…what is the kit giving you for £75?  You don’t need a bulky rubber rim strip, just tape the rims, add two valves, sealant and some air, and away you go.

Tesa 4289 tape from ebay – £10 The same tape as Stans, 66m so enough for 8 bikes if you needed a double layer on each wheel.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tubeless-Rim-Tape-for-Cycles/263255199300?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D51004%26meid%3Df4471d8612194eb68fc0f97ea19ec78e%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D253590437634%26itm%3D263255199300&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A609fa2c2-4b33-11e8-a1b9-74dbd1803b23%7Cparentrq%3A0e5e8b141630aa14482138c5ffff14a8%7Ciid%3A1

Stans sealant/orange endurance sealant – £15

Pair of tubeless valves – £5-10

Total – £30-35

Any tubeless kit that is £70 are a rip off.

yes cutoff valves will work – they won’t work as well as proper tubeless valves which have more ‘meat’ at the base and are less likely to leak. If you have some scrap tubes lying around, give it a try.

Gorilla tape is good. Remove the existing rimtape, clean rims thoroughly first, then wrap two turns of tape around. Overlap at the valve hole by 50mm at start/finish. Use a Stanley knife and cut a tiny ‘X’ for the valve, so you have to force it through. This will aid sealing. I would re-mount the tyres with inner tubes at this point, inflate to 40 psi and leave for an hour. This will make sure that the tape is fully seated.

when you add the sealant, brush some washing-up liquid/water solution around the tyre bead to help the tyre to move when being inflated. Don’t over-tighten the valve lock ring, particularly if using cut-up tube valves. Remove the valve cores to let more air in – small snipe-nose pliers work if you don’t have a valve core remover.

Nothing wrong with cheap valves and sealant along with some gorilla tape

My tubeless conversion cost less than £20 works perfect, done this to 4 bikes now

Decathlon valves £8.50

Decathlon sealant £7.99

Gorilla tape £3

Ive always used just a track pump to get them up and seal with no issues, trick is to get one bead seated using a tube first especially on new tyres

If you do need a big shot of air to mount them then a Co2 canister does the job

I have had success with valves cut out of tubes. I have successfully used gorilla, stans and tessa tape off ebay. I’d opt for tessa tape as it is a cheaper version of the stans tape, but should be lighter and cleaner than gorilla tape.

The things that actually made it harder to set up tubeless for me (but not impossible) are A) non-tubeless tyres. These seemed to be looser and sealed less well and B) non tube less rims. The centre channel was too deep. This lead to the tyre bead sitting in the middle with the air leaking round it. This was fixed by filling up the channel with copious quantities of tape, which will be a PIA if the wheel ever needs a snapped spoke replaced.

small snipe-nose pliers work if you don’t have a valve core remover.

so does a link or two of old 9 speed chain (think its 9 speed anyway).  take a few links out of an old chain, fit one link over the valve core and use the others as the ‘handle’.

I’ve only ever used cut off valves they work brilliantly. Ebay tesa tape as above and decent sealant.

Tesa 4289 tape from ebay

+1 seems to work great – used on a few non tubeless rims and as said if they are deep a few wraps around it to bring the height up.

Dont forget to a trial fit with soapy water and no spunk first thou, just to make sure the tyre will inflate then do with spunk. Can get messy(ier) otherwise.

I do use tubeless valves thou cheap on eBay.

Valve cores most definately out thou to get the max oomph.