[Closed] Tubeless, with a track pump ?

[quote=patriotpro ]Northwind - Member

scotroutes - Member
I'd be going with wider tape. 21mm may be the measurement across the rim but the tape needs to follow the contour of the rim well too.

I assume i need to remove the generic tape first guys ?

If it's simple rim-tape yes. If in doubt yes. Rim tape won't seal the spoke eyelets air-tight and won't allow tubeless tape to seal the eyelets properly as it will simply stick to the rim-tape and not the rim.

Yeah it is just generic tape PPro. Thank you.

Yeah it is just generic tape PPro. Thank you.

Good luck! Be interested to know how you get on.

So i've fitted the tape from Bird, only 1 layer at the moment. It slots nicely into the gap at the base and is all pressed/pushed down. I've cut an X slot where the valve will go, assuming it arrives in the post today. Shall i do a 2nd layer of tape ?

weeksy - Member
So i've fitted the tape from Bird, only 1 layer at the moment. It slots nicely into the gap at the base and is all pressed/pushed down. I've cut an X slot where the valve will go, assuming it arrives in the post today. Shall i do a 2nd layer of tape ?

Does the tyre go on nice and snug? I wouldn't bother if so. When you get the valves in, i would advise to fit tyre and seal without sealant first off, then if that stays up, slap your sealant in and off you go.

Bah, my valve never arrived.

You can use the valve from an old inner tube. Cut it down small enough for the bead to get either side of it, and it needs to be one of the ones with a bolt so you can screw it on super tight. Removable valve core also really useful 🙂

I had a fail...

I tried the Non-tubeless tyre with the non-tubeless rim LOL. I stole a valve from one of my Whyte wheels for a test... but it wouldn't inflate. I just couldnt get it close enough to the bead, it was sitting almost in the middle of the well. There may be a trick i need to get it to hold on closer. It's more likely i'll have a bit more luck trying the non-tubeless tyre on a tubeless rim, then the non-tubless rim with a known easy tyre... Which is all faily simple with the combination of wheels/rims i've got about at the moment.... but sadly no time for it today.
So for my long day out tomorrow i need to decide whether i go with a tubed Rocket Ron on the rear, or swap wheel and go with the WTB Vigilante and run both front and rear Tubeless. Either way, i really need to be taking a tube and pump just in case. So i'm not sure it actually matters 🙂

Well it kind of worked.

I fitted the wtb vigilante onto the DT swiss non tubeless rim, this is done with 1 layer of Bird tape. Straight up, simple as you like. So great, my non tubeless rim is done.
Then onto the tubeless ready i25 rim with the non tubeless Rapid Rob. These rims have worked effortlessly before, but with this RR it simply will not seal. Fitted a tube and got it fully sealed on one side, but it simply will not go up. The unsealed side just flaps about inside the channel. I had Mrs Weeksy holding it tight in a couple of places and me on another, then a blast with the Airshot, but no joy at all.
I'll pick up a tubeless tyre suited for xc duties and the RR can be put in the Emergency use only pile of tyres.

Effortless, the TR Crossmark II arrived today and went up in seconds with very little effort.

So i now have all the wheels i want and need configured Tubeless.
4 on the White, with 2 being bikepark/afan etc, the other 2 being fast XC race rubber. The Parkwood is currently just the 2 with the XC fast rubber installed as the last pair are the Turbo tyres.

All in all... a pretty succesfull jaunt into tubeless.

Any tips for a non tubeless rim, taped to tubeless but leaking at valve hole?

Got a tyre that won't seem to stay up, but can't see any white goo to tell me where I'm losing air?

Its a brand new rim that is tubeless compatible, but arrived untaped, so I gave it 3 wraps of bird tape and used an old valve to create the hole by just pushing through the tape and hole.

Ideas and thoughts appreciated

If it's leaking at valve hole then there are a number of possibilities but they all boil down to 'it's not sealing'. Most common is that the hole in the tape is too large followed by wrinkles that are allowing seepage. The only answer there is removing the tape and retaping. Assuming that it isn't a tape fault, your next most likely issue is the valve itself - or more specifically the rubbery bung part at the base. Most common MTB issue I think is overtightening but especially for fat bikes etc there's an issue becoming quite common that the conical rubber bungs are designed to work with regular MTB rims - older ones that are concave on the rim bed. This doesn't work as well with very wide, flat rim beds like the 80mm single wall monsters common for fatties. The two most common fixes here are o-ring under the valve nut or just using a valve with bit of tube attached as reclaimed from a tube. I've heard of people essentially gluing the valve in with a bit of Stan's quite successfully too, though. I suppose you could possibly trim one of those blocky Mavic valves intended for the UST Crossmaxes to do this too but I've not seen that done.

I'd inspect the tape and retape if the hole looks at all raggy or there's any sign of fluid under it and try an o-ring if not...

Thank you

I need to put it in the bath tomorrow to check its losing from there. But there's some great tips. Thinking back I'm not sure if the valve isn't a cheap one, so maybe a decent one is a plan.

I've had tyres go up straight away or been an absolute bar steward.... guaranteed veery time is to co2 it so that the bead goes tight in the rim. Deflate, remove core, fill with stans then reinflate with std track pump. Works every time...

Just to add, I had one going flat on me overnight... tried some suds on it all round.... no bubbles, realised the "core'" of the valve was bent so straightened it with some pliers, nipped it up then been right ever since...

Getting it up is effortless on this occasion. Its keeping it inflated that's the issue

Daft question time.

How much does the ring matter on the valve stem? When I was out on Friday I was losing a little pressure but no fluid. I thought it was the valve so fitted a ring with a ridge on it, sort of fits into the rim better? So I stole that ring off my 29 rocket Ron, which has been faultless, only to find when I went out, I needed to pump it up 4 times. Just dunked in bath and its losing air from valve at rim junction, it now has a completely flat ring.

Or is it more likely to be tension of ring ? Or?

I've always found my leaks are due to the valve, with minimal leakage around the bead that eventually seals.

two wraps of tape and a conical valve, tightened down hard.

Swapped a time trial tyre over without emptying the sealant last night. And it went up with the track pump alone 😀

Weird, or not, I've just swapped the rings over and instantly the leaky Ron stays up fine and happy.

Can't find any ridged rings to buy though on eBay. I think all my spares are flat ones.

I just used the ghetto method for both my wheels and seems to have worked. Used plenty of soapy water all the way round both sides of the tyre, then pumped the track pump like mad untill you hear the bangs of the tyre seating on the rims.

Would appreciate any valve hole leak tips.

My rear 29 is still leaking a bit. Lost air twice last night in 90 min. But then on way home, held air perfectly. So I was thinking of whipping tyre off and redoing hole area with some insulation tape instead of an extra bit of tubeless tape, I thought in may bend and mould itself better around valve hole.

But ideas appreciated

I tried fixing a leaky valve with extra insulating tape but it deformed too much and ended up still leaking.

3" strip of extra rim strip over the top, then a very small hole poked through it, then I gently screwed the valve through rather than forcing it which can create a larger hole.

Sadly the tape didn't work. I assumed this was a wheel I'd taped myself but is actually a factory done one. Looked at the valve surround and you can see it's worn and had a hard life. This came with an old set of wheels.

Plan this morning was to cut up an inner tube and fit a square of it around the valve, simple enough to push through cleanly. So that's now done, it's inflated and we'll see if it leaks air today. If it does, I'm off to Banjo cycles for a pair of new valves.

Just so you realise I'm not a complete gimp, I have 4 other wheels running tubeless that are fine!

Well, eventually i lost patience with the wheel, I put a brand new Crossmax II on there and it STILL lost pressure.... So i pulled off the factory fitted Stans yellow tape and have cleaned, prepped and fitted new Bird tape instead. Tyre is now on and inflated along with some sealant and sitting at 40psi... We'll see how it gets on overnight now.

Arrrggghhhhhh. It's still not staying up. It's now staying up for longer, but not fully.

Have you ridden it? I find tyres stay up fine after I've been for a ride on them.

Yup, 45km tonight on it. It just about had enough in to nurse it home.

I had a pump, but I was being stubborn and hanging on.

So it's a new maxxis Crosshair 2, tubeless ready, new valve and newly taped. I can only think it's something around the valve hole area, but dunno.
Will inflate in morning and put in the bath to see.

For leaks around the valve hole, stick a self adhesive patch over the hole inside the rim then push the valve through.

Is the tyre UST or tubeless ready? If TR then they can take some time for the sidewalls to seal.

TR.

My plan this morning is to do a swap. My spare wheel for the turbo is a Mavic Crossmax, so I'm going to tape it up and see if I can use that instead tubeless. I don't care which wheel I have on there, as long as it holds pressure.

Right, the Mavic rim is now taped and sitting with a tyre and tube for an hour just to give the tape a final shove down. I'll shoot back in and for the TR wheel later.

WEll that's it, all done and inflated... Lets see how long this thing lasts today and whether it remains inflated. Fingers crossed and if all good, i'll then put the turbo tyre onto the WTB rim and forget all about this sorry state of affairs... It's been a little on the frustrating side this particular wheel.

Phew, finally. It stays up overnight! Thank heavens for that

Still here LOL.

So with the new TR MAxxis Crossmark II tyre i'm still getting some air pressure being lost. Just put in the bath and it's the teeniest tinyest holes in the sidewalls, just enough so you can see little teensy bubbles being lost....Is that common, will it seal up over time and riding ?

Almost certainly- tubeless ready tyres aren't guaranteed airtight til the sealant's worked in so I often find they don't stay up til they've actually been ridden (even a 5 minute thrash makes a big difference) As long as they stay up for a few hours that's all you really need at first.

Thanks. We'll see. I'll give it a ride in morning.

Not being sarky, but have you thought about sticking a couple of tubes back in? 7 months down the line and still not working reliably for you. Must be costing you a fortune in time and money.

As per Northwind I've also found that they need riding to seal

I've also had the cheap square bottom tubeless valves separate from the valve overtime 🙁

(Only problem with an airshot is once you get one you tend to go tubeless on everything it really does work well no more spunk sprayed over the place like a really bad porno.)

In all the time I've been tubeless its cost me 1 tyre. That's it. Some time I admit.
I have 5 other tyres all tubeless and no issues, 4 of them have been taped by me.

I did one the other week, sweating my nuts off with track pump, wouldn't go up for love nor money.... then remembered I had CO2 in backpack.... no idea how quickly it inflated but it was in milliseconds.

For the times I change tyres, a couple of quid for cartridges is cheap.

If you are using Stans, then there is an even chance you have wrecked the sealant. It doesn't react well to cold and C02.

If you have to use Co2 then just use it to set the bead without sealant in, then let the air out, add sealant and reinflate with track pump.

Fortunately was aware of that, and had already let it out, only use it to seat bead.

After that, remove valve stem and put sealant in.