i think I have the following options

1. Buy new wheels (prob Mavic 819 on Hope) – £265 at CRC, sell existing for about £150. So £115 ish
2. Convert existing with Joe’s kit or similar – about £50
3. “Ghetto” – about £15

now, the questions.

– If option 2 or 3, do you use tubeless or standard tyres, or doesn’t it matter? ie any advantage in using a tubeless tyre on a non tubeless rim?
– if option 1, do you still need sealant? i assume you do
– is there any functional advantage of 1 vs 2 or 3, or is it just the fact it should pump up easier?

cheers

always use sealant
standard tyres are fine
go for option 2

Option 3
Just finished doing a HR on a 719 – 15 minutes all in

Good info on what ghetto combos work here http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/forum/index.php?showforum=21

http://www.tubelesswheels.com/tubeless.html

Very good advice, especially that 20″ Schwalbe presta inner tubes have removable valve cores…

advantage of no.1 is its safer. less chance of air burps/rolling a tyre off, causing a crash. had loads of air burps using strips and have crashed as a result (not every time). switched to tubeless rims (mavic and stans) and problems became much less frequent, only occuring when i ran very low tyre pressure. i always use non ust tyres and sealant.

option 4 cost about £1.75 (for both wheels) with stans sealant or less if you make your own super ghetto
this is lighter than other tubeless systems also

@righty – Nice link mate. As a super cheapskate I am going to have to try the super ghetto method now. Have you used it yourself? Does it work well in your experience?

ghetto’d a front wheel this afternoon. Had to use a CO2 canister to initially inflate but was v. easy.

I’d be inclined to always use UST tyres, certainly if you aren’t a light weight.

I run 2 sets of 819s, as does my brother. I also run a set of bigger wheels with Stans, and whilst they’ve been fine, I’d changes to 823s if some came up second hand, just so I knew it was ‘proper’.