tubeless curious, worth the hype?

rolling resistance + traction, its amazing and i loved it…..i fucking despised it after getting halfway down neds and the tires had 15psi because of the system burping(also the ammount of dents on my 721's righteously pissed me off aswell from this ride)

Here's a question for the lot of ye. Do you seat your tires on the rims (compressor or hand pump) BEFORE putting in the stans solution just to make sure they seat properly? Or do you put the tire on all the way and leave a bit open, put the stans in, do the shake and spin stuff BEFORE even bothering trying to seat it with a compressor/hand pump?

:bandit:

Here's a question for the lot of ye. Do you seat your tires on the rims (compressor or hand pump) BEFORE putting in the stans solution just to make sure they seat properly? Or do you put the tire on all the way and leave a bit open, put the stans in, do the shake and spin stuff BEFORE even bothering trying to seat it with a compressor/hand pump?

:bandit:

I put stand in first, that said its not hard to tell when your tile has poop

My routine: (once rim is sealed taped etc if necessary)
1) Wet the sidewalls with a soapy solution (from a spray bottle), use my fingers to ensure the beads of the tire is nice and slippy (must be clean first of course)

2) Put the tire on the rim, leaving just a bit of bead off one side at the bottom. I ensure the valve is at the top side (pointing down). I let the tire lean against the front of my legs, and bend over it and pour my sealant into the tire through the spot where the bead is still open.

3) Gently and carefully work the final section of bead onto the rim without rotating the tire. This keeps the sealant at the bottom, and reduces slosh. Sometimes I do use a pedros lever for the final bit, but always very gently.

4) Then work the beads into the centre channel, again without rotating the tire.

5) Once the tire is in place, I gently do a single slow revolution to spread the sealant around.

6) Hit it with the compressor. If it doesn't catch the first time, I manipulate the tire around the valve area a bit to get the bead in the right spot. Sometimes the valve pushes the bead up a bit and interrupts the seating procedure.

7) As soon as it pops, top it up to 40 lbs or so, and then do the spin and shake routine.

If the bead isn't seated right, I just deflate and reinflate, adding a bit of soapy spray to the sidewall inbetween. I never remove and re-install the tire once it is seated. I find this method to be uberquick now, but everyone seems to have their own tricks and routines. I find the trickiest "feel" part of it is occasionally having to manipulate the bead by hand around the valve when inflating. This just takes practice.

BS on the performance advantage. World Cup DH racing is the proving ground for bike performance, and none of the top riders run tubeless. If there was a traction, rolling resistance, or any other performance advantage, the top racers would be on them. As far as I know, Gee is the only top 10 guy to run tubeless, and he flatted out of two races last season.

I have run tubeless on my DH bike, and trail bike. I found that I had to run considerably more pressure than with tubes in order to keep the tires from burping when cornering hard. I ended up running harder, bouncier tires tubeless to keep air in them, sacrificing traction. I am 190 lbs, race cat 1, have been on the podium a few times with clean runs, but far from the gnarliest rider out there.

Besides the whole burping issue, which was really annoying, and then having to run them harder than I would like to solve that issue, they worked OK. I got 2 flats in a season at whistler, which is about normal for me with tubes. Those two flats were a royal PITA though. Sealant (GLUE!) everywhere! Over my pants, shoes, frame, rim, tires, hands, what a mess. Bits of dirt, sticks and whatnot stuck in the glue in the tire. I threw a tube in to fix it on the trail, and did not think about tubeless again…. until I got my next flat a few months later and find that the sealant glued the tube to the tire. Gah!

Not worth it.

BS on the performance advantage. World Cup DH racing is the proving ground for bike performance, and none of the top riders run tubeless. If there was a traction, rolling resistance, or any other performance advantage, the top racers would be on them. As far as I know, Gee is the only top 10 guy to run tubeless, and he flatted out of two races last season.

I have run tubeless on my DH bike, and trail bike. I found that I had to run considerably more pressure than with tubes in order to keep the tires from burping when cornering hard. I ended up running harder, bouncier tires tubeless to keep air in them, sacrificing traction. I am 190 lbs, race cat 1, have been on the podium a few times with clean runs, but far from the gnarliest rider out there.

Besides the whole burping issue, which was really annoying, and then having to run them harder than I would like to solve that issue, they worked OK. I got 2 flats in a season at whistler, which is about normal for me with tubes. Those two flats were a royal PITA though. Sealant (GLUE!) everywhere! Over my pants, shoes, frame, rim, tires, hands, what a mess. Bits of dirt, sticks and whatnot stuck in the glue in the tire. I threw a tube in to fix it on the trail, and did not think about tubeless again…. until I got my next flat a few months later and find that the sealant glued the tube to the tire. Gah!

Not worth it.

It ain't BS but I do think that current tubeless is not optimal for hard dh use. I think dh needs a more robust bead lock is all. Do motocrossers use tubes?

Yes, they do. And coil springs, as well, but that's a whole nother debate. :p

T.S.S.

TUBELESS STILL SUCKS

TUBELESS STILL SUCKS

That's a well reasoned assertion.

Jesus Fart On A Stick. This reminds me of the doom-stories I keep reading about adjustable seatposts. I think I just have to try it either way and see if I like it. And I think I'll get a KS I7 adjustable seatpost and see how that goes too.
:idea:

most guys i know run tubes, but the din about everything tubeless is starting to make me crazy. is it all that? so far as what i know, it's way more complicated, and probably messy, and makes frequent tire changes a pain.

does it cut rolling weight and make the ride that much better? i rarely pinch flat as i don't run super low pressures, so that's not the big selling feature for me. reduced rolling weight, and other magic properties may be though…

I'm a cranky old bastard who is skeptical of anything 'new'.

My bikes are all set up tubeless, using the ghetto method- 18" tube split circumfrentially and stretched over the rim, sealed with latex.

Tyre choice and preparation are the key.

I have yet to experience a downside, and doing it the way I do it costs the same as using a standard tube and putting sealant in it. No magic properties, just more dependability and no extra cost.

Jesus Fart On A Stick. This reminds me of the doom-stories I keep reading about adjustable seatposts. I think I just have to try it either way and see if I like it. And I think I'll get a KS I7 adjustable seatpost and see how that goes too.
:idea:

I've got both the i7 and UST tubeless on one bike and have no issues with either - so you giver! If your experience is anything like mine, you'll be pleasantly surprised. :rocker:

Build your own ghetto high-volume tire-seater thingy for nearly nothing:

http://messageboard.notubes.com/viewtopic.php?f=1[HTML_REMOVED]t=3047[HTML_REMOVED]p=8416[HTML_REMOVED]hilit=pop+bottle#p8416