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Well after two midweek puncture fests I decided to fight the tide no longer and finally go tubeless. This was a mistake.
1. Bought 'wrong' rim tape
2. Well not wrong but too wide - ah well thinks I, trim it down a couple of mil.
3. Resulting hack fest leaves £15 quid roll of rim tape in bin
4. Happily my wheels on one bike have tubeless tape already to go....except
5. Damaged rim strip on front putting on tyre a couple of weeks back
6. Never fear, do the rear (my new motto in life). valve in, sealant in, tyre seated and inflating with track pump nae bother. But wait, whats that faint hissing, probably conti sidewalls, fret not. But its not the sidewalls, its the valve, tighten valve, loosen valve, rotate valve, infalte defalte, take tyre off bead, inspect, reseat valve, reseat bead infalte....golden. Quick test ride round the block. Flat. Tighten valve, loosen valve, rotate valve, infalte defalte, take tyre off bead, inspect, reseat valve, reseat bead infalte, tighten valve a bit more. Stops. Hissing resumes from second eyelet along from valve.
Must be the rim tape - See 1.
At this point, having wasted my entire saturday evening - F*ck it
Open beer, vent on web.
I'm putting tubes back in tomorrow. :/
Have you tried putting a bit of sealant on the valve seat?
Don't think it's actually the valve, dodgy tape with the valve hole being the easiest out
You need some ust wheels.
Gorilla tape and a couple of superstar valves should get you done for less than 15 quid.
Think I've cracked the rear.
Now to balls up the front. Nah, just stick tube back, never pinch the front anyway (I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow?)
Oh look. Another 'tubeless is rubbish because I can't do it' thread.
Thanks.
Ooh look another smug humourless smart arse
I really don't get how people find it so hard.
Ooh look another smug humourless smart arse
Love it.Hahaha
I really don't get how people find it so hard.
I don't think that's the op's issue - did you not read his post he is finding it soft not hard 😛
OP I am an early tubeless evangelist and I had evenings as frustrating as yours even with ust at the beginning. Perseverance and practice I am sorry to say - or fix more tubes...
Soapy water applied to bead + sealant + one of these http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/how-to-make-a-tubeless-inflator-44290/. Job done.
I reckon I've probably spent longer on the vital maintenance task of de-stickering the wheels on Maksh to try to make them a bit less EURO.
After two and half hours they look a bit less EURO but for some reason heavier, I have a blister on the pad of each thumb, white spirit in my eye, and have used up the remainder of the month's supply of swearing.
There's not really a moral to this thread.
The only real thing I can think of is:
Measure twice, buy once.
Get the right rim tape, and none of this will happen to you.
Decathlon for the valves. Cheap as.
I've never done the soapy water thing. One Stan's strip, try it. If fails then just keep adding single layers of electrician's tape until it all works. Did, however, go through years of sweary rants - and still do sometimes - when fitting some tyres. Wife now knows to remove the kids from the vicinity. Worth it though - all of my bikes are tubeless now, running silly low pressures.
thestabiliser - Member6. Never fear, do the rear
Noted.
I can send my 6 year old daughter round with a track pump .. She blew up my last ust tyre (was a maxxis on stans rim tho)..
Persevere.... You ll get there
I ’went tubeless' for about an hour last weekend.
On Stans rims and continental Baron tyres (still new enough to have the whiskers on the knobs).
1km into the ride there is white shizzle peeing out of the sidewalls and both tyres are too low to ride, so I stopped, got rid of the gunk and slapped some tubes in.
And there is no way in hell that anyone can say it wasn't done properly. Because it was.
It wasn't done properly 🙂
On some tyres you are supposed to paint the inside to prevent the above.
Was too!
It can be the most vile product invented when it goes wrong, Grant you that. My LBS refuses to touch it on customer bikes.
muddyground - Member
It can be the most vile product invented when it goes wrong, Grant you that. My LBS refuses to touch it on customer bikes.POSTED 1 HOUR AGO #
Your LBS sounds a bit shit .
I found it effortless. Hans Damfs on Crests run with tubes for a month first and have been tubeless for 14months with the only need to pump up the pressure is if I've dropped them super low for maximum grip.
I know this doesn't help the OP but I'd hate folk to be put off the idea of trying it.
Grant you that. My LBS refuses to touch it on customer bikes.
Where as my LBS is happy to do it, pay them and your wheels will come back tubeless unless you have rims and rubber that doesn't work.
Just been through the pain. All I can say is, follow the stans procedure to the letter. If you think you can cut corners you can't. But it's not difficult, just has to be done right.
thestabiliser - Member
6. Never fear, do the rear
Noted.
Stifled chuckles on the maternity ward here.
I didn't do it wrong the nerk who put the tape on at WTB did it wrong. The only thing I did wrong was buy the wrong rim tape - which I didn't use on that wheel, was going to use it on the front but didnt cos hacking was just making a mess of it.
The tyre went up and seated beautifully, with a track pump. without washing up liquid. It still doesn't hold air however so I'm just going to have buy the right rim tape and start again.
It's all down to luck really.
I had so much trouble before I bought proper tubeless tyres and bonty juice.
Stans did eff all for me.
I found this in my tyre and didn't even know it was there til I heard what I thought was a sealant ball.
[img] 
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Impressive! Aye am going to persist I imagine once they're all taped up nicely it'll pretty straightforward. Maybe.
Went for my first ride tubeless this afternoon, bit of XC and through some local woods.
I presume it just takes a while to get used to the tyres being a bit 'spongey', flexing a bit more than previously?
I have standard Alex rims and worked without an issue with my Conti Trail Kings, I did have a Mountain King on the rear but it refused to work, swapped for a spare and went up first time. Really chuffed.
Do people carry spare sealant with them, or just a tube and sort it when home?
Yeah, I was wondering, normally run tube at 35+ so 30 ish is going to feel peculiar.
Now - the saga continues, this time it's the hard tail. got some gorilla tape but the rims are ancient EN321's with a few dings and bumps, reckon they'll hold or will the bead not sit evenly? there's a couple of ~1-2mm deviations from rock strikes.
No spare sealant, just a tube. You'll never look back.
What I found useful was to put the tape in and then put the inner tube back in and blow it up really hard. Left it whilst I had a beer and then removed the tube, it really squashed the tape down well. It still took a day or so, lots of shaking and one ride before the gunk really got everywhere it needed to.