Tubeless Woes. After a bit of advice

Hi, hoping somebody might be able to offer advice and reassurance.

I’ve been running tubes and been getting fed up with punctures. I tend to ride at night once I have put my baby to bed so it may be a culmination of not always seeing what I’m riding over or just the fact I’m out three to four times a week. I suffer a puncture every couple of weeks at the moment.

Yesterday I went down to the local bike shop and bought a effetto tubeless kit (at least that’s what I think it’s called) and set about installing as per the instructions including allowing the tape to be put on and then installed tubes pumped to a high pressure to squidge it all into place.

Today I went to complete the conversion which actually should read as today I sprayed latex stuff all over my car, drive way and me.

Inflated using a compressor at the local supermarket. Lobbed the wheels in the boot and drove back congratulating myself on a job well done.

Got home opened the boot to a mess. Once wheel decided it hadn’t seated properly and the other had a pin prick hole and wouldn’t seal. They both deflated and then leaked everywhere.

I tried moving the fluid to the area of the hole and pumped like a mentalist all it did was shoot out more of the latex stuff and wouldn’t seal. Once it deflated the tyre came loose and more fluid spilt everywhere.

Called the shop and they have been brilliant. I have taken the wheels down and they are going to sort it free as they agreed it should have sealed. To be honest I feel a bit embarrassed that they have got to sort it out for me.

One reason to buy from a local bike shop I guess. I will make sure cake is taken on collection.

Couple of things I have noticed which worry me. The tape that I put on really wasn’t sticky at all and I assumed it would or should be? Is that normal?

Also I’m concerned that if I do puncture the tyre will literally just fall off. The pin prick hole really is a pin prick yet it doesn’t seal.

Tyres are a continental race king and a shwalbe nobby nic and the rims are DT swiss 4.1

I’m guessing the tubeless set up is brilliant but I have incompatible rims/tyres or I’m an idiot that can’t install tubeless tyres.

Do I have to have proper tubeless rims and tyres? If that’s the case I have pretty much thrown £50 in the bin as I can’t afford new rims and tyres.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and apologies for the length of the post.

One thing to note, if your tyres were very holey already, and they sound like they are, then you are starting from a ‘bad’ place.

Today I went to complete the conversion which actually should read as today I sprayed latex stuff all over my car, drive way and me.

You really don’t need to do that , it won’t help at all . 😀

I faffed about with conversion kits for weeks the Ghetto Tubeless on youtube. Over 2 years ago I bought 2 x 20″ BMX tubes and haven’t had a puncture since. Doddle to do with a compressor and far cheaper than the conversion kits.

Look it up.

Nice one. Thank you. Will have a look now!

Do it with New tyres only. Also decent carcass tyres with a bit of reinforcement

I used the ghetto box tube method.

Most of my wheels now have tubes as a decent hole won’t seal very well.

you do need to have the right rim / tyre combination too otherwise you’ll have the problem you mention, i.e. any deflation and the tyres just flop off. I had this with an old set of mavic rims…
you need to have some where the tyre bead audibly pops in and stays in even after deflation otherwise its a right kerfuffle.

if in doubt check out justridingalong for compatibility info or stans site.

just any old set of rims is a bit hit and miss, even with the ‘conversion’ system. 😐

Ah cool. To be honest I really wish I hadn’t bothered. Waste of money that I haven’t really got and I don’t think I’m going to be confident that they won’t pop after what I’ve seen today.

DT Swiss rims are a right b*stard to get proper tubeless tyres to fit on, if your tyre is slack on one of those then its going to be no good on most tubeless setups, as per the other posts use brand new tyres.

What an utter load of balls. Picked them up and paid £10 for the LBS efforts. “They have been cleaned sealed and we found a hole in the rim tape” that I put in by hand.

I decided to ride up to the parents in law. Great. Everything spot on.

Sitting in the sun with a beer. Pooooooofffffftttttt. One tire pops. Pooooooooffftttt the second one goes.

I have no pump. The tyres unseat and latex is everywhere.

I’m about to pick some tubeless ready tyres up tomorrow. Is it really worth it? From what I’ve experienced this is a bit rubbish.

If you don’t have the patience to experiment with DIY tubeless, use a proper system. If you don’t have the money for a proper system, run tubes.

Looking at the kit you say you have, it looks like its just a bit of tape to seal spoke holes. DT 4.1’s are not tubeless rated in any way, so just the tape is not enough. You need a rim strip, which is not the same as tape. Dt is quite clear on this.

See here: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/dt-swiss-tubeless-kit/rp-prod10513?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Shopping&utm_name=UnitedKingdom&gclid=CJrGrtynsb4CFQkCwwodLVIAuA&gclsrc=aw.ds

You see that clear thing? That’s a rim strip. In the early days they used to be called ‘eclipse’ rim strips. It’s specifically extruded to match the inner profile of the dt swiss rims. These have been about since at least 2005. Do try to do your research better next time instead of blaming the kit not designed for the job.

HTH, TTFN!

Nice one. Thanks for the info.

Advised by the bike shop. Yes maybe should have researched beforehand but your information is brilliant.

Cheers!

I used stans kits and dt kits with varying success and cut up bmx tubes actually worked the best. But I ended uo going back to tubes as less faff overall. And I used to carry a bloody spare tube anyway just in case ; )

I will commit murder before going back to tubes!

Bit dramatic, but I feel very strongly about this. It’s the difference between taking your bike for a ride, and taking your bike for a very frustrating bit of maintenance.

My first foray was with some Rovals and TL ready UST tyres. Absolute bastard to fit, but they’ve been amazing since. Would not buy a non-tubeless wheelset again. I’m not the type for faffing with ghetto conversions either though.

On your first attempt did you give the bottle a really good shake, then another really good shake, then another really good shake, then another really good shake, then another wee shake just to be sure? The good stuff that does the sealing sinks to the bottom and needs a good agitation to wake it up. Other wise you’ve just got a tyre full of milk

A clean rim and careful application of Stan’s tape has always worked for me

Use a rim strip if needed (I chose Stans rims as it doesn’t need a strip with the added weight penalty)
Use tubeless ready tyres for minimum hassle (at least until you get the hang of it)
Shake the bottle. (I shake it, then balance upside down whilst I prep the bike, then shake again)
Do not use CO2, it dries out the sealant very quickly.
Carry a tubeless repair kit. When you hear a hiss on a night ride whilst the bike is caked in mud, getting a mate to stick his finger on the leak whilst you quickly pop a gooey strip into the tyre means you often don’t even need to top the tyre up.
Carry a slime’d tube, your tyre no doubt will be peppered with thorns by the time you get a puncture you can’t fix, a slime’d tube means any missed ones won’t result in a second puncture repair within the next 10 minutes.

At this rate I will probably go back to tubes. I will give the shop a call later to have a chat.

I’m going to pick up the tubeless ready tyres later and give the DIY sealant a go. I did shake the fluid up but not much Admitably.

To be fair the system I have used is labelled to convert non tubeless tyres/rims to tubeless.

Really hoped this would work.

Thanks for all the info.

Which rims, which tyres?

Some combos can be a nightmare, some a dream. For example, I got a brand new specialized 2bliss tyre inflated onto a flow rim with a track pump in 2 minutes with no sealant, but I have a lot of bother with schwalbe onto the same rim.

I wouldn’t try non-tubeless ready tyres as a first go, so you may fare a lot better with TLR.

I found going tubeless the 1st time pretty difficult but, as I’m a serial tyre swapper, it’s a doddle now.
I found the Stan’s tutorial video very, very helpful. It’s well worth a watch (a couple of times) before you start:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqPMxL0LmX0

Really appreciate the help. I guess I wanted to make sure it was just me being an idiot and it was worth persisting with. I have picked up two 2bliss spesh tyres today so will have a go at seating them on.

The front is a schwalbe which has issues with seating. The rear is a continental race king which has a pin prick puncture on the rear where all the fluid just keeps coming out of and doesn’t seal.

Stop dicking about with tubeless and just run Michelin Air-B latex tubes. Almost impossible to puncture.

I confidently predict that the 2bliss tyres will go on fine. 😈

Wrap more rim tape around the rim, ime a tiny bit of tape can be the difference between utter frustration and total success. Sounds like you need more rim tape. Add more rim tape. Rim tape.