Kenty Posted January 26, 2019 Share Mornings...I know many many and still many more threads/topics have been and will still be written about tubeless and tubeless conversion and the so called DIY methods and then of course there is only the TR rims and tires that can be used otherwise this will happen and that will happen.... NOW...let me add my son and I et al are by NO MEANS experts OR pro cyclist we are at most amateur weekend warriors who really do like riding trails at a fair pace and like the odd tough hill or two... With this in mind , my son gets a really good bike , albeit an oldie at a very good price from the guys at Bike Market...the bike came with ONZA rubber and ALEX Suprah rims....after much Googling , found both NOT to be tubeless ready ...My son quite happy with the tubes and settled down to the fact that when the ONZA,s gave out he would invest in TR rims/tyres...BUT as we all know the exuberance of youth and YOU tube he came out and said we doing a CONVERSION!!! I tuned him ...no way..not gonna happen NADA...with those tyres and rims....BUT...the next day he came home with rim tape and two tubeless Presta valves NOW heres the kicker ...the Alex rims have Shrader valve holes in them and you guessed it ...hurdle number one... BUT on we forged and tape went in ...Presta went in and locked down , although a bit wobbly , AND we fired up the compressor and gooied air...NOPE...nothing ...I tune ...soapy water and lotsa Sunlight liquid...More air and SUDDENLY...POP..POP....we had an inflated tyre!!! Man , hehe , my sons face ..we did it ..we did it!!....Me now ...whoa ...boykie ..we have a LEAK!!! Air was leaking out around the Presta and so we tightened some more BUT sadly the rubber stopper pulled through the Shrader sized hole in the rim... Back to YOU tube and an hour later one of my new Presta valve spare tubes was cut up...we cut the Presta valve out with a larger rubber piece at the bottom...I put thread tape at the bottom of the valve and slotted it in and locked it down...PRESTO...no wobble... Bear in mind he did not get tubless sealant we were trying it with that El cheapo blue/green stuff from Sportsmans....more Sunlight and POP POP we had pressure and an inflated tyre...NO LEAKS and the tyre held pressure for over 5 days...next the back wheel and same process... Done some mileage on them like this ..quite a few trails lots gravel roads and still all good... Cost per wheel.... Rim tape R30.00 x2 Tubes for the valves R40.00 x2 Sealant(we used the proper one eventually!) R120.00 So..all in all it cost us R260.00 to do the conversion , oh and a bit of thread tape which I had anyhow ...for 20m its about 20 bucs... So , the point of this epistle , IT CAN BE DONE!!! For the pros and experts and hard downhillers ...Im not sure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterbean Posted January 26, 2019 Share Easiest way you could have done it is just use Schrader tubes, and the ghetto method, Instead of tubeless valves and tape... Fit a size smaller tube (26er tube on 29er rim, 20" tube on 26ee rim, etc). Slice the tube along its outer radius, so that when you open it up, the valve is in the hole and the tube is splayed open over the rim bed. Fit tyre, lube up, and pop up with compressed air, or really fast track pump. Trim excess tube. Easy done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddy Gordo Posted January 26, 2019 Share Easiest way you could have done it is just use Schrader tubes, and the ghetto method, Instead of tubeless valves and tape... Fit a size smaller tube (26er tube on 29er rim, 20" tube on 26ee rim, etc). Slice the tube along its outer radius, so that when you open it up, the valve is in the hole and the tube is splayed open over the rim bed. Fit tyre, lube up, and pop up with compressed air, or really fast track pump. Trim excess tube. Easy done.Yeah, ghetto tubeless works well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenty Posted January 26, 2019 Share Yeah, ghetto tubeless works wellJip...quite correct...what I suggested to the laaitie BUT ..Noooo...thats not "proper" tubeless he tunes..hehe...so ..always the HARD way ...so ja nee.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shebeen Posted January 26, 2019 Share Ghetto tubeless. I wish we could get all the township commuters on this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasilvarsa Posted January 26, 2019 Share Put some serious mileage on it and give us an honest progress report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V18 Posted January 26, 2019 Share Did my kinds trailer wheel like that. No issues. Wire bead on 20"is nogal. Took about 3x failed compressor blasts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenty Posted January 28, 2019 Share Put some serious mileage on it and give us an honest progress report.Will do.....done about 200k so far....150 of that is trail ...so we will see in the weekends to come.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertWhitehead Posted January 28, 2019 Share Congratulations on the successful conversion. It is true, you will be able to run a non-tubeless tire and rim with a tubeless set-up and you'll be able to get the wheel to sit nicely on the rim when you're standing still . Although you've already done 200km, one thing to bear in mind is safety, at speed the tires has to withstand quite a bit of pressure to stay on the rims and if a tire does not have the thicker side wall one gets in the tubeless and TR variations then the tire could fail when going into or coming out of a corner. The tire can literally give way and climb off the rim. I'm not saying it should not be done, I've done it before as well . I'm just saying monitor the wheels before every ride and do not ride too aggressively Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter-morgan Posted January 28, 2019 Share Quick question, what do you guys do for Cheap valves? they vary from R45 all the way to R180 each? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenty Posted January 28, 2019 Share Quick question, what do you guys do for Cheap valves? they vary from R45 all the way to R180 each?We bought two tubes with presta valves ..cost per tube R40.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleming Posted January 28, 2019 Share ... I tuned him ...no way..not gonna happen NADA...with those tyres and rims....BUT...the next day he came home with rim tape and two tubeless Presta valves NOW heres the kicker ...the Alex rims have Shrader valve holes in them and you guessed it ...hurdle number one... ... Stans do a schrader valve for tubeless but they are not common. I ordered some from CWC a few years ago. Never seen them in my LBS. I have also heard for people cutting the schrader valves from motorbike tubes as these are generally threaded with a locknut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenty Posted February 4, 2019 Share Update...another 40 odd k trail ride this past Sunday and both tyres stood up well and a very slight pressure loss in the back BUT..we have found the problem..will report back tonight after a bit of R & D in the workshop... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoBigBen Posted February 4, 2019 Share 20190203_064631.jpgUpdate...another 40 odd k trail ride this past Sunday and both tyres stood up well and a very slight pressure loss in the back BUT..we have found the problem..will report back tonight after a bit of R & D in the workshop...With 'slight pressure loss' my go to method is to inflate it quite hard then check exactly where it is leaking by putting in the pool ... Find the exact spot and sort that out rather than guessing. Hope that makes sense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solty Posted February 4, 2019 Share Good job for trying this.The best part is spending active time with your kid and engaging with them. Rather than nose in phone or TV.10 points for making Dads cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenty Posted February 4, 2019 Share With 'slight pressure loss' my go to method is to inflate it quite hard then check exactly where it is leaking by putting in the pool ... Find the exact spot and sort that out rather than guessing. Hope that makes senseSpot on Sir...what we gonna do..thanks for confirming my thinking...I think we didnt tape it proper like the front wheel ...will check it out tonight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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