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So finally decides to go tubeless or at least try.
Ryde 26mm internal rims, Bontrager XR4 tyres, Tesa tape.
Was expecting this to be a nightmare seeing as you read so many threads where this is the case.
So took out the tubes, taped the rims (twice round) one side on, fitted the valve, other side on and then inflated with a track pump.
2 hours later and they are holding air no problem. No sealant in yet as I don't have the valve core removal tool yet.
Am I gloating too soon. Seems easy or too easy.
All this tubeless tyre talk has left me feeling a little deflated.
You don't need the core remover tool. Just pop part of one side of the tyre off and pour in the sealant. Pop the tyre back on and inflate. You've already proved you can inflate the tyre without having to remove the valve core.
My main reason for that was i just figured it would be a less messy option (or less potential for mess)
Bontrager tyres are the business.
+1 for bonty tyres<b> </b>and +1 for just popping a bit of bead and pouring the sealant in. There will be barely a hint of sealant to wipe off the tyre once inflated.
I use the valve, if I have to add it. If you have presta valves, just use pliers.
Rims make the seating easy/hard. "Old school" deep rim beds are a PITA as you need a lot of air flow to seat the beads, "modern" rims with flat rim beds (Stan's style) are normally easy to seat as they form an air seal prior to the bead seaing.
I always end up making way more mess trying to get the sealant through the valve tbh!
After being spoilt by the ease of DT Swiss time I’m struggling with a pair of Hope Enduros. Currently got tubes in and inflated to 60 psi to hopefully seat the bead on one side and mound the tyres.
Just popped some Bonty tyres on a new DT Swiss rim this morning. So easy compared with some of the Stans rims I've struggled with in the past. Included an XR2 I've had to get up to a very scary 60psi to get fully seated before.
I've still never tried it - but still tempted. I'm maybe lucky but had two, maybe three punctures in about five years. Run pretty low pressures anyway on 2.3/2,4 tyres on narrow old school 20mm or so rims. Bike rolls and handles great.
Apart from the weight saving maybe, 100g a wheel, I'm not sure why I'd benefit and although many (most) riders seem to go tubeless with zero hassle there is the other 10/20/30% who seem to have so many faffy/burpy/farty/splodgy/messy/expensive hassles that I never take the plunge...
TBH, most ‘Tubeless pain’ stories are the result of unsuitable combinations or following the plentiful bad advice on the subject. Following mfr guidance with suitable parts it’s really not hard...
Max, there are a number of potential advantages to Tubeless and your choices impact which you get.
Personally, I value the improved tyre performance and ability to run lower pressure. Others value weight reduction and still others believe it’s all about puncture protection. Any Tubeless set up will give these benefits but in different measures depending how you did it. It’s a bit like the famous ‘strong, light, cheap’...
In four years of tubeless on two bikes I've had two instances where the sealant didn't work straight away. One was on the fat bike, by the time I'd stopped the tyre (45nrth Husker Du) was almost flat but pumped up straight away, still no idea what caused this one, I suspect a nail in the road. From realising the tyre was going flat to on my way again was under five minutes. The other was on the Solaris near the start of last year's Jenn Ride and I went over a nail or similar and the tyre (Bonty XR1) needed an anchovy. Again was fine for the rest of the ride.
Weight-wise it depends on how much tape and sealant you use. If you need a couple of wraps to fill the rim bed then there won't be much saving, especially if you use something like Gorilla tape, more so if you use a split inner tube to do it.
Tubeless won't help if you put a big tear in the side wall or something similarly drastic.
Initial installation seems to be either "painless" or a right ball-ache. I've had both using the same rim and tyre combination: one kept pressure for a week without sealant, the other wouldn't inflate. I ended up completely retaping the latter and it finally decided to play ball. That was on 37C tyres on a single speed, they are fine now. I'd say somewhere between 1 in 10 and 1 in 20 installations will be troublesome.
You are trading one set of potential problems against another.