I set up my Ragley Big Al tubeless for the first time, 2.25 Racing Raplh on front & rear. Inflated to 30psi and took it for a spin (tyre was well sealed and held pressure at 30psi). I noticed a slight squirming from the back tyre when cornering hard and wheeling. It seemed like the bike was pulling to one side slightly when wheeling, each time pulling to the left. Does tubless setup make a tyre more likely to slightly deform under cornering loads ? I can’t see how it would be any different from running tubes really. Anyone else notice this when making the move to tubless ?

Not at 30psi i don’t… down at maybe 20 you’ll get deformation, but 30 should be pretty stiff.

As Weeksy said, 30psi is quite high and I wouldn’t expect to feel any squirming. Were you testing in tarmac? Also what width are you rims?

As above I’d say something else is amiss. I weight half a tonne and didn’t get any movement with 2.1″ Ralph at 30 psi and don’t get too much on 2.8″ plus tyres, if any.

Could your wheel be a bit loose or the tyre not seated properly etc.

Unlikely to squirm at those pressures even under super aggressive corning. Unless you weigh 100kg+

A 2.25 Ralph is a pretty narrow tyre, but what width rims are you running them on?

knackered bearings can feel similar to a soft tyre..

Just stick 35 psi in , see if it still happens.

I run ghetto tubeless Minions (EXO) at about 30psi and don’t suffer any squirming (sometimes the rear will fold or roll over when pushing into the most extreme corners or wonky landings). When I was at my fittest/strongest I was 90kg and rode them at that pressure because I hate soft, squirming tyres.

I get squirm on a maxxis exo protection tyre at 30 psi, can totally believe a 2.25 xc tyre at that pressure will squirm.

OP, verified the pressure with a proper gauge? I’ve fallen into the mistake where the track pump says 30 psi, rode it, felt weird, ignored it, but checked with a gauge eventually and found it was 20 psi.

How wide are your rims?

I like Racing Ralphs but, on my 29er hardtail, prefer running fairly low pressure on the rear combined with running on a narrow rim by todays standards (Stans Crest rim) which inevitably led to squirming in corners and rim dings on rockier trails as, given its a lightish XC tyre the walls arent thick…..tried higher pressures but didnt like the feel so decided to take the weight penalty and get a tyre with a bit thicker sidewall for support, got a Smart Sam Performance DD tyre (pitched as an ebike tyre), went up tubeless easily and thats been much better as I dont now worry about clumsy riding or picking smooth line choices

The bike is near brand new, running on 30mm wide WTB rims.I’m pretty sure the track pump 30psi is correct, the tyre certainly felt pretty firm when pumped up. Is it possible you get less side wall strength running tubeless ?

You do get marginally less sidewall strength just because you’ve no longer got the tube there, but it really doesn’t make much difference- it’s more noticable as hysteresis/rolling resistance.

Check the bead is fully seated. I had a similar issue when I first set up tubeless using Gorilla tape. I had a seal that would hold air but when the wheel was spun it looked buckled. Re taped the rims with a thinner tape and this gave the bead more room to seat. Problem was solved.

We’re you running the same tyres on the same rims with tubes previously? If so what pressure and did they squirm?

Could always try tyre inserts as I think they allegedly allow you to run a lower pressure with less squiriming. Obviously in your case you wouldn’t reduce the pressure but may address the squiriming.

It’s the shape of the tyre I think, my similar rims do the exact same thing on Conti Race King. The rounded shape of them translates to feeling like they’re squirming. Think of it as a feature, it’s less of a PITA that way.

I’ve never had much success with lighter Schwalbe tyres. They’ve either been way to soft and squirmy or pumped up so hard they offered absolutely no grip what so ever. And then they’d puncture whatever