Road - Tubless on non-tubless rims...

Can't comment on those rims but I currently have 7 or 8 pairs of wheel running 700c tubeless. only 3 are tubeless specific rims. They may need and extra layer of tape.

I've tubelessed non-tubeless MTB rims. My #gradventourer has a set of non-tubeless rims running tubeless. I'd not try it with road pressures though.

Having said that, my road bike has tubeless rims and I'm still running tubes on them. I'm not yet convinced the pros outweigh the cons for my road riding.

Thanks both. Sounds promising... extra layer of tape noted, seems to be a common recommendation.

#scotroutes - what are the downsides?? - faf / heavy tyres, I get that, but I like the idea of less punctures (not that I puncture that often mind)...

What size tyres and what pressures?
The smaller the tyre (and higher the pressure) the riskier it is.
~32mm at 3.5-4 bar i'd do myself.
~25mm at 5.5-6 bar i'd watch from a safe distance.

That shoulder on the inside of a tubeless rim is there for a reason, keeps everything concentric and locked in place.

And FWIW i've got my CX rims set up tubeless, took some faffing and finesse (and tubeless rims are far easier) but they managed 5 or 6 seasons without issue. And that's with tubeless tyres too.

That's a max of about 2.5 bar (and 33mm tyres).

I'd not bother again, just get new rims.

There is a reason you never hear about ghetto road tubeless and it isn't because it's a secret the industry is trying to hide from you.

Ps in case that wasn't clear enough don't do this.

Or 'yer gonna die'.

@neilforrow - I've had two road punctures in the past ten years so there is little upside for me. I appreciate that it might be different if I lived elsewhere. OTOH I've seen quite a few folk have hassles with road tubeless (including them just never sealing, difficulty mounting/changing tyres). Add to that the risk of high pressures on non-tubeless rims and it wouldn't be my choice.

I’ve been running tubeless on standard h plus son archetype (rim brake) rims for years. (In fact two sets after the first wore out) with no issues. As said above use more tape to help the initial seal. 25c IRC tubeless tyres at 76psi front/78 rear.

No chance I’d do this

You can probably/maybe get away with it at mtb pressures, no chance I’d try it at road pressures when the consequence could be hitting the tarmac in front of a lorry

As has been pointed out, tubeless rims have a different shoulder profile for a reason

Also, safety aside, not convinced about road tubeless in general. I didn’t find I got any less punctures than with tubes, and when I did it was messy, wouldn’t seal at a high pressure, and covered my clothes in sticky white gunk

Dunno, but my Stans road rims are far worse than the Shimano ones. The Shimano ones are more like MTB rims that the bead ends up locked onto and you'll break your thumbs trying to push them off. Stans the bead falls off as soon as you let the air out, so I'm not buying the argument that the shoulder profiles are vastly differnt.

Been running road tubeless for a few years with the following set ups

Non tubeless wheels fitted with tubeless tyres, never had an issue with the tyre coming off when the puncture has been too big for the sealant to do its job, tyres are a tight fit on the rim and can only be removed with tyre levers

Tubeless wheels fitted with normal tyres, no tubes fitted, sealant used to stop any punctures, again never had any issues with the tyre coming off the rim

In fact the only reason i run normal tyres with no tubes and with sealant is beacuse when i tried fitting them with inner tubes the tyres were so tight i kept pinching the tube with the tyre lever, this is on a set of 28mm Schwalbe Durano plus tyres fitted to 40mm deep carbon wheels, been running the Durano plus tyres on various work bikes for years and this is the only combo of tyre and wheel ive not been able to fit with a tube

Both set ups are run at 80 psi, when not running tubeless i was averaging 10+ punctures a year (living in a major city, poor roads, lots of glass, commute takes me out into the countryside for a bit etc...) averaging 5000+ miles a year

Nothing worse than getting a puncture on the way home from work at 9pm in the pitch black and raining, having to stop, dig everything out of your bag/tool bottle and fix the puntcure using your helmet light to see what your doing whilst your prescription glasses keep steaming up!

@continuity - noted, but I'm not talking fully ghetto, I've got tubless tyres for this.

@mert - 32mm and typically run arounf 75psi in the rough lanes round here.

@bjj.andy.w - cheers

@thisisnotaspoon - this is my thought. You look at hookless, hooked and other forms and they all work.

@tpbiker - its the ability to get you home I like. I've seen one rider puncture and it seal at a low psi, but enough for them to continue on and get home.

It seems we have a split pack, and a fair reflection of the rest of the answers I'v found!

75 psi
Nah. No chance.

Tubeless tyres on Kysrium rims is fine. I also tested non-tubeless tyres on the same rims to see where they would blow off. Not fine - DON'T. I ran Schwalbe G One Speeds fine until one suffered and irreparable cut that no amount of sealant was going to save. You can get to 75 PSI on Ksyriums. Most of the technology is in the tyre bead. And you don't need to tape Kysriums since they are double wall and sealed.

@mert - do you typically run lower pressures when running tubeless on the road? I dont need to run 75psi if there is no need. That was mainly to try and prevent pinch flats.

Years ago I had a similar set up as mentioned by the op. Non tubless rims with tubeless tyres. 25cc. Worked ok.

There was never any catastrophic failuers. But the tyres did lose pressure a fair bit. Not sure why. In the end it was a balance around what was best/worse the tubless would get random deflation or the tube set up would get pinch flats from pot holes. I ended up with a new bike and just left the tubes on but moving to 35cc and gravel tyres is just better all round so i dont have the same issue any more.

do you typically run lower pressures when running tubeless on the road?

Yes, TBH, i run lower pressures than that with tubes as well. And i've got some proper shit roads round here (and some really good ones)

And that’s with tubeless tyres too.

Actually, i use tubed CX tyres on non-tubeless rims to ride CX, bit of a typo.

I’d like to convert the road bike to tubeless,

I wouldn't bother, its shit

I'd also second AA, I went back to tubes and latex ones on the nicest wheels. G One Speeds are nice tyres but mine now have tubes in them 😀

I also ran wire beaded Cx tyres on Stans rims on my SS 26-er for some single speed cross racing. Again this was fine but that combo has been tested for years (and pressures are lower). So I'd say try it, Kysriums are a natural rim to try tubeless. It works fine but I didn't feel the love.

Last week someone I know fell off his bike. He was running standard tyres on standard rim with standard inner tubes.

Going down a hill he got a puncture, front tyre blew and it threw him off his bike at 30mph. He's a bit of a mess.

Anyway, after years of being a road tubeless hater he's started asking me about what he needs to go tubeless on his road bike.

I'm not saying if he was running tubeless he wouldn't have fallen off but I am saying that anyone can fall off at any time for any reason.

Ive converted none tubeless Road wheels in the past to run tubeless but these days they are so common and pretty cheap 2nd hand that I wouldn't bother. I'd sell the mavic ks for good money to the cynics and buy a decent tubeless wheelset.

It's funny how people have such different experiences with road tubeless. I'd never go back to tubes on road bikes.

Plus one for don’t bother based on my experience. I ran tubeless for a couple of years, 25mm, wide rims run around 65/70psi.

It was fine, gave a good ride quality and let me not worry about pinch punctures. However… it was v poor at sealing properly, especially small glass/flint type punctures. When it did seal it would be at 30psi or so by which time its barely rideable. And the maintenance is more, sealant needs topping up more regularly as you use less, and it all needs pealing off the tyres and rims every couple of times or your wheels just get heavier and heavier!

I’ve gone back to tubes and I’m not regretting it yet!

From experience of fitting tubeless on countless road bikes unless you are running 30mm+ tyres tubeless just doesn't work. The air pressure at less than 30mm means the air comes out too quick when punctured and doesn't give the sealant chance to work. If you like fitting tubes into sealant filled tyres on the side of the road go for it but I wouldn't

The air pressure at less than 30mm means the air comes out too quick when punctured and doesn’t give the sealant chance to work

And without patching once home, you are somewhat limited in the pressure the tyre will take after sealing. Most sealant plugs will blow out at about 50 PSI in my experience, higher than MTB pressures - hence too much Pfaff. Unless you regularly just raise your arm and the mechanic is on hand to do the repairs after handing you a new wheel 😉

This thread is about Converting non tubeless rims to tubeless. It's funny how it's now turned to don't do it! Road tubeless is garbage 🤣

This thread is about Converting non tubeless rims to tubeless

Yeah, that's kind of obvious, don't do it.

The air pressure at less than 30mm means the air comes out too quick when punctured and doesn’t give the sealant chance to work

Indeed, it is borderline useful to be tubeless on my winter bike with 30mm tyres but not enough to justify the pain in the bollocks setting it up.

Thanks for the consensus - it seems there is a message here.

The wheels also had an issue with it - air was pissing out the pinned joint and I’ve got to re wrap them to tape it up. I gave up at that point!

I’ll put this to one side and run the tubes for a while longer.

pissing out the pinned joint and I’ve got to re wrap them to tape it up. I gave up at that point!

Try glueing the joint prior to taping but personally I think your right to give up, sell them and buy some tubeless ready wheels.

Running 28mm specialized turbo 2bliss as road wheels on my gravel bike on 303 rims.

I've only had one puncture, a 3mm long cut in the main tread (so deep). It wouldn't plug with a thumb over but as soon as an anchovy went in it held @ 75psi and has held for 500km since. Topped up and i'll prob ride it all winter.

Road tubeless is not awful, it's fine if you have kit already set up for it, but it probably isn't worth the hassle if it is a hassle, and especially not if there's a risk of proper death.

I also don't remember having many punctures in years of running latex tubes around Yorkshire. In fact I think I got 3 years and 2 sets of tyres on the same set of latex tubes.

Just done another this morning. 35mm Hutchinson Overide non tubeless tyre on some old Cannondale rims. 4 layers of Tesa tape and straight up with a track pump.Held air without any sealant.