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Hi all, I'm looking to go tubeless on my winter/cross/gravel bike, currently running Mavic Open Pro rims. A bit of Googling reveals that the internal rim width is a very narrow 15mm, the narrowest rim tape i can find is 18mm. Is this idea doomed from the outset? has anyone else tried, and succeeded doing it? Would 18mm rim tape work?
I look forward to any answers to my many questions.
Thanks.
I wouldn't bother. The profile doesn't look suitable for a tubeless set up - no bead shelf at all.
I'm sure some will have got it to work, but I'd expect it would need a lot of tape, and removing the tyres if you get it to work would be a pain in the ass as there's no distinct central well. If it's set up to be tight enough with they're seated, it'll be similarly tight in the centre of the rim.
Never tried it with an open pro but old mavic rims were generally not good for tubeless conversion, personally I wouldn't- my experience was that at best, it was a ballache to do.
Re-rimming a wheel is easier than you might think though. Or possibly depending on your bike's spec, tracking down some used wheels- my "tubeless road" wheels are actually just old unfashionable mtb wheels because luckily my road bike is from before the standards settled and takes 135mm qr. Fantastic result, I got some superlight xc wheels for £100 which are pretty much ideal as they're so narrow.
I tried it with the 90s open pro rim, DIY method 10+ years ago. Didn't really work.
Glad I asked, thanks for the response's. Looks like I'll save the cash or maybe try some posh inner tubes.