Unable to inflate new tubeless-ready tires

[shinobi111]

By the sound of it -- your'e doing everything right...

Just - it might be a tyre / rim incompatability...are those jobbies tubeless?

 

Something you can try as a lasresort...without stans first...

 

when hanging your rim - i use a lugguage starp and fit it around the tyre...pulling it tight so that it forces the bead evenly onto the tyre...from here on in you can almost inflate it with a floor pump - a compressor of any sorts will definately be able to do it!!

 

then once seated... let air out - open a sectiopn and pour stans in and start sloshing it around as per youtube instructions!

 

good luck & report bact to us here..

 

The tires I trust are tubeless-ready - it says so on the sidewall. The rims - not sure although it has quite a decent bead hook on the inside of the rim. But from what I understood any rim can be made tubeless by using the tape in anycase so . . . .

 

I tried the strap method you describe but with a rope which didn't work out all that well. To be perfectly honest I didn't give it a proper go though. Have been at it for a couple of hours last night, covered in sealant with some work left to do so wasn't the most enthusiastic guy on the planet - but i'll give it a go again with a better setup.

 

Got a few decent tips so far - so have a few things to try again tonight. Don't know if you guys have seen these okes on the web inflating their tires by using some sort of a flammable gas - think that would be the last resort, perhaps burning down my house in the process!! Haha.

[Eldron]

 

 

The tires I trust are tubeless-ready - it says so on the sidewall. The rims - not sure although it has quite a decent bead hook on the inside of the rim. But from what I understood any rim can be made tubeless by using the tape in anycase so . . . .

 

Pre tubeless rims (and manufacturers too lazy to change their rim design) have narrow ~19mm very square profile - the rim bed is flat. Newer tubeless ready rims are wider at ~23mm and the bed has a slight "u" shape designed to force the tyre out when air is pumped into it - helps seat the tyre easily.

[Chain-L]

are you sure its a 29" rim and not a 27,5"?

 

I have also had good luck with a garage pump when a CO2 bomb and floor pump didn't work. Interesting thing which I found was that at the BP across from Die Akker in Dorp street, I could not get a tire to seat. Went down to the garage at the bottom of Dorp street, and guess what, it worked. It's all about the pressure and volume of the pump you use.

 

Good luck.

[Wil6]

Well my suggestion is try again tonight with all the new methods and if you still don't get it right rather take it to you LBS and see if they can help.Still cheaper then buying a new tire/tires

[Newboy]

If I struggle too much I take the core out of the valve and also do the pipe from the compressor without any adaptor.

[Jagermeister]

The tires I trust are tubeless-ready - it says so on the sidewall. The rims - not sure although it has quite a decent bead hook on the inside of the rim. But from what I understood any rim can be made tubeless by using the tape in anycase so . . . .

 

I tried the strap method you describe but with a rope which didn't work out all that well. To be perfectly honest I didn't give it a proper go though. Have been at it for a couple of hours last night, covered in sealant with some work left to do so wasn't the most enthusiastic guy on the planet - but i'll give it a go again with a better setup.

 

Got a few decent tips so far - so have a few things to try again tonight. Don't know if you guys have seen these okes on the web inflating their tires by using some sort of a flammable gas - think that would be the last resort, perhaps burning down my house in the process!! Haha.

I believe the flammable liquid is lighter fluid, also butane gas is used for seating 4x4 tyres. I worry about the safety as well, but also concerned about the effects fire has on such a thin MTB tyre (nowhere close to the thickness of a 4x4 tyre!)

[Flippa]

I have the same rims, but I converted them using the RKL kit. The tyres seated easily, so I suspect that you probably need another layer of tape to fill up the rim a little more.

[jannosmit]

If I struggle too much I take the core out of the valve and also do the pipe from the compressor without any adaptor.

 

+1 remove the core for even faster airflow

[shinobi111]

are you sure its a 29" rim and not a 27,5"?

 

I have also had good luck with a garage pump when a CO2 bomb and floor pump didn't work. Interesting thing which I found was that at the BP across from Die Akker in Dorp street, I could not get a tire to seat. Went down to the garage at the bottom of Dorp street, and guess what, it worked. It's all about the pressure and volume of the pump you use.

 

Good luck.

 

About the only thing i'm dead sure about at this stage!!

[shinobi111]

I have the same rims, but I converted them using the RKL kit. The tyres seated easily, so I suspect that you probably need another layer of tape to fill up the rim a little more.

 

This gives me a little hope actually. Can you give me more details on the kit that you used? Would be appreciated. I tried again just now - but stopped before I throw the wheels some-place!!

[orbeaorca]

I presume they are new tires that came folded up? I have on ocassion after struggling put a tube in and pump it up to 4bar to get the bead straightened out and left it overnight. normally its easier to do then

[shinobi111]

I presume they are new tires that came folded up? I have on ocassion after struggling put a tube in and pump it up to 4bar to get the bead straightened out and left it overnight. normally its easier to do then

 

Correct, they came folded up. I took your advise and did exactly that last night. Going to leave it for a while and see if that helps at all. Another hubber raised quite an interesting point as well. If the recess in the rim is too deep - meaning the once mounted the bead doesn't actually touch the rim / rim tape - then you're going to kuk to get it inflated cause it's constantly sitting away from the rim and can't form a seal. Think my solution might lie in both remedies, more rim tape to close the gap between the rim and the wheel, and "form" the tire by mounting it tubed.

 

Was mentioned before that it's not an exact science - starting to see what they mean. Seems one has to play with it, and find a setup that works. For now i'm done with the sealant though - can't handle cleaning any more stans. I'll add this again once I see the tire actually go up.

 

I'll be sure to report back here once I've tried this.

[D Vader]

AM rims and Schwalbe tyres are a problem. I've had the same issue.

Get Bontrager rimstrips, black plastic insert, which fills up the rim inner volume, used in place of rimtape ( they are also great as you can just re-use them so trailside repairs to eg spokes can be done). the tyre should be straightened out 1st. Strips weigh about 40g each.

It will sit alot more tightly with these strips in and it will seat with a standard floorpump.

[Flippa]

 

This gives me a little hope actually. Can you give me more details on the kit that you used? Would be appreciated. I tried again just now - but stopped before I throw the wheels some-place!!

 

It's a thick rubber strip, almost like the Bontrager strip, but rubbery, not plastic. Comes with separate valves, packed in a plastic packet with the card stapled on top. They were at the start of the queue at last year's 94.7 expo with the blue sealant.

[PeterF]

As some other hubbers mentioned, it is very important to remove the core from the valve as this restricts the airflow and you don't get the air into the tyre fast enough to seat it.

[shinobi111]

So was at it again last night, and happy to report that front and back was successfully converted to tubeless!! Would like to thank everyone for their help and tips - don't think I would have gotten it right without it.

 

Thought i'd just mention quickly what I did if anybody else has issues similar to mine:

 

Firstly, i took the stans rim tape off the wheels and cleaned the inside of the rim thoroughly. Went down to our local brights around the corner and got 2 of those big roles of insulation tape (big thanks to Niel for this tip). Had 3 options :

• R10 (said high quality on the packaging)
  
• R86 (said R86 on the packaging, so no)
  
• R16 (said highest quality on the packaging, obviously chose this one)
  

So basically with the bike upside-down, pulled up a chair to the front wheel and started laying down the tape. I carefully did a center layer over the spoke holes for one revolution, and then alternated left and right for each revolution of the wheel after that. I think i did about 3-4 layers each side. And that was that really. First thing i noticed was how friggin' difficult it was to actually get the tire on the rim after adding the tape, but once the tire was actually on I was able to inflate it with about 3 - 4 strokes using a hand pump.

 

Tested both front and back for seating before even considering to bring the stans into play. Once i was happy that the tires could be inflated, I removed the cores, and used a massive syringe to inject the sealant through the valve. Core back in, inflate and spin the wheel like crazy. Easy peasy. The front tire inflated and after shaking it back and forth sealed up perfectly. The rear tire had a slight "hissing" sound after inflating and spinning. This was easily remedied by deflating the tire somewhat, and the pulling the tire left and right - almost like you're trying to pull the tire off the rim. Doing one revolution of this eliminated the hissing and seems to have sealed.

 

Obviously only been inflated for about 10 hours or so - but this morning both seems to have held the pressure. I'll check again once I get home and report back if something did go wrong.

 

Thanks again guys - much appreciated!!