Tubeless conversion mystery...

[pauloc]

Gotto agree with you on this one...

 

Guys, Why did you not go the Ghetto route inthe first place??? It immediately tkes care of any possible leaks at valve, rim nipples etc.

Only place left over for the sealant to seal is the actual tyre itsself!!

 

Simple as that...

I'm a sucker for punishment

[SURFER]

Only the yellow rim tape. In the past I've found that the other stuff only gets in the way and causes issues.

 

Why not use the rubber stripo. You will have problems with only the yellow rim tape

[pauloc]

Why not use the rubber stripo. You will have problems with only the yellow rim tape

I've only ever used the yellow tape in the past and it's worked a charm each time. Confirmed the same with a lot of fellow MTB'ers.

 

My one experience with a rim strip was when a LBS did the initial conversion with my wifes wheels. Both wheels had issues, mostly due to holes and cuts in the strip that leaked air badly.

[andydude]

I've only ever used the yellow tape in the past and it's worked a charm each time. Confirmed the same with a lot of fellow MTB'ers.

 

My one experience with a rim strip was when a LBS did the initial conversion with my wifes wheels. Both wheels had issues, mostly due to holes and cuts in the strip that leaked air badly.

 

I don't quite understand your comment, but I must admit I'm not to clued up so excuse my ignorance!

 

I would think two layers are better to keep the air in. And any holes will be sealed by the sealant. Did you cut the edges round of the rim strip?

[Li Mu Bai]

as JB said, the rim tape had not properly bonded to the rim, prior to putting on the tire with sealent.

The Notubes website has got a good video of how to do it all properly.

In a nutshell:

take the rim and run a piece of scotch brite pot scourer inside the rim over the spoke holes. this cleans the surface and roughens it very slightly. wipe out dust that forms from the scourer.

Apply the sticky yellow rim tape, making sure you pull fairly hard to stretch it in place, finishing with a 12-15cm overlap.

using a sharp scribe, punch a hole in the tape over the valve hole, and then remove the yellow tape from this hole using a small circular file, in a pushing down motion, not pulling up. pulling up lifts the tape and can split it.

Fit your tire onto the rim, and install a tube. pump up the tube to 3.5bar and set it aside for 60mins or more. (this compresses the tape onto the rim properly so that it seals better.)

remove the tube, install the tubeless valve, tighten it down properly. install the tire, clipping in the bead to one side, and 90% of the bead on the other, and add 80ml+ of sealant. fit the rest of the tire bead into the rim (tire levers may be required if the fit is tight)

inflate the tire to 3.5 / 4bar. this may take some massaging of the tire to get the bead to 'clip in' if you are using a small compressor for a 29". you may need a large compressor eg at the local BP or engen if the 29" tire fit is loose. for a 26", a bomb usually works well followed by a hand pump to get to 4bar.

Soapy water is sometimes applied to the bead outside edge to get the tire lubricated so that it can seat better, up to you. the soapy bubbles indicating leaks around the bead edge are more useful though in helping you seal the tire.

The next stage varies, but merely spinning the tire is not good enough. I find the Joes No flats method works well, although its time consuming.

hold the wheel just off horizontal with the valve at your chest and the furthest point of the wheel down in front of you. shake the tire forward and back in small movements for the count of 20 seconds. the sealent should be lying over the internal rim/bead junction and the shaking should agitate it into the joint between the two.

rotate the wheel 10-20 degrees to the left and repeat the 20 second shake.

continue for the whole wheel, then flip it over and repeat for the other side.

once done, yours arms and shoulders should be feeling the workout, put the bottom edge of the wheel and tire into waterin the bath so that it is submerged, and any leaks in the sidewall or bead rim junction are revealed. (very little if using a UST tire)

repeat the shake over the area that had bubbles escaping to seal it up.

after 3-4 weeks add sealent to the tire, as the latex in the sealent will have bonded to the inside of the tire through use, or collected into those neat alien rubber balls inside the tire.

ride and enjoy.

[pauloc]

I don't quite understand your comment, but I must admit I'm not to clued up so excuse my ignorance!

 

I would think two layers are better to keep the air in. And any holes will be sealed by the sealant. Did you cut the edges round of the rim strip?

 

Nope - isn't the rim strip already cut to size? If not, then I'd have hoped that the shop would have done any trimming when they put the rim strip in. All I know is that when I took the rim strips out they had little cuts around the edges that we allowing the air to leak out.

[pauloc]

as JB said, the rim tape had not properly bonded to the rim, prior to putting on the tire with sealent.

The Notubes website has got a good video of how to do it all properly.

In a nutshell:

take the rim and run a piece of scotch brite pot scourer inside the rim over the spoke holes. this cleans the surface and roughens it very slightly. wipe out dust that forms from the scourer.

Apply the sticky yellow rim tape, making sure you pull fairly hard to stretch it in place, finishing with a 12-15cm overlap.

using a sharp scribe, punch a hole in the tape over the valve hole, and then remove the yellow tape from this hole using a small circular file, in a pushing down motion, not pulling up. pulling up lifts the tape and can split it.

Fit your tire onto the rim, and install a tube. pump up the tube to 3.5bar and set it aside for 60mins or more. (this compresses the tape onto the rim properly so that it seals better.)

remove the tube, install the tubeless valve, tighten it down properly. install the tire, clipping in the bead to one side, and 90% of the bead on the other, and add 80ml+ of sealant. fit the rest of the tire bead into the rim (tire levers may be required if the fit is tight)

inflate the tire to 3.5 / 4bar. this may take some massaging of the tire to get the bead to 'clip in' if you are using a small compressor for a 29". you may need a large compressor eg at the local BP or engen if the 29" tire fit is loose. for a 26", a bomb usually works well followed by a hand pump to get to 4bar.

Soapy water is sometimes applied to the bead outside edge to get the tire lubricated so that it can seat better, up to you. the soapy bubbles indicating leaks around the bead edge are more useful though in helping you seal the tire.

The next stage varies, but merely spinning the tire is not good enough. I find the Joes No flats method works well, although its time consuming.

hold the wheel just off horizontal with the valve at your chest and the furthest point of the wheel down in front of you. shake the tire forward and back in small movements for the count of 20 seconds. the sealent should be lying over the internal rim/bead junction and the shaking should agitate it into the joint between the two.

rotate the wheel 10-20 degrees to the left and repeat the 20 second shake.

continue for the whole wheel, then flip it over and repeat for the other side.

once done, yours arms and shoulders should be feeling the workout, put the bottom edge of the wheel and tire into waterin the bath so that it is submerged, and any leaks in the sidewall or bead rim junction are revealed. (very little if using a UST tire)

repeat the shake over the area that had bubbles escaping to seal it up.

after 3-4 weeks add sealent to the tire, as the latex in the sealent will have bonded to the inside of the tire through use, or collected into those neat alien rubber balls inside the tire.

ride and enjoy.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Pretty much exactly what I did each time I tried to seal the tyre (with the only exception that on the last try I put the tyre in the pool instead of applying soapy water to the tyre with a brush.

 

I'm going to close the x-file on this one and put it down to it being pure co-incidence - guess I'll have to cancel those flyers I was printing to advertise my magic pool