Hi All, I know this has been discussed many times but I have done a lot of thinking about this and have some very specific questions which someone out there may be able to help with. I am going to Morocco next year and am worried about flats. The sled is not as straightforward as other bikes Inhace had to get the wheels off so I really want tubeless tyres which I can plug if needed. There is a company in the uk which will vulcanise a rubber strip on the inside of the rim for about 300 GB and I am going for it but I have two questions: (1) Does the sled have beads which will seal properly on a tubeless tyre? (2) Anybody any idea at all how the hell I support and store a bike with no wheels on it for a few days! Sorry if daft questions.
Tubeless Conversion
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I’m going to try the 3m tape method when I need new tyres, the only thing that bothers me is adjusting the spokes afterwards, vulcanising the rim would have the same problem or do they do it some other way?
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The front rim is going to be a pain with 3M tape. The spoke nipples are very close to the edge of the deep section.
I succeeded once, but it failed at the first tire change. Never got it properly sealing again. Not even after installing new tape twice.
The rear is still ok.
I succeeded once, but it failed at the first tire change. Never got it properly sealing again. Not even after installing new tape twice.
The rear is still ok.
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Max, thanks for the input. I’ve got the tubliss system front & rear in a wr250r works great. How do you reckon it would go on the sled, it’s not recommended for on road use but I’m more worried about having to fix a tube in the middle of nowhere than I am about the legalities of the system, you do have to fit an extra hole in the rim for a rim lock. Might try 3m rear tubliss front. Not due for tyres for a while so maybe I’ll get a few more suggestions before then.
Hi Guys, the Vulcanising system I am looking at has the same issues with spoke tightening as tape. They sell a patch kit to address this. As for propping do you think I can use axle stands under the main foot pegs? Also Max where would the stand go at the front? At the triple three? Ta for the advice.
The mechanical rim lock is only for off road spoked rims that do not have the bead-lock built in to the rim. Many folks think the tubeless rim bead-lock is to assist sealing, it's actually to prevent the tyre sliding and falling into the well at low pressures or a blowout. It doesn't help a tyre seal at all, just holds it in place.
The not recommended for road use is the key. They aren’t designed for and shouldn’t be used at road speeds. If one of those fails you are going to have far worse problems than a simple flat. I wouldn’t use Tubliss on a bike that was going to be used on the highway.
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Was it not possible to use wider tape to seal further out on the rim?
I understand how with the nipple/nipple pocket being close to the edge it would be hard to get the tape to lay down nicely. What width tape did you use?
I saw one reference of using 38mm tape on the front and 50mm tape on the rear.
I'm still considering having my wheels relaced using Excel rims, 2.5" front and 4.24" rear with SS spokes, then taping them. I need to see how the Excel rims look in reference to the nipples and taping. I really wish there was a solid choice for having proper tubeless rims laced up here in the States. If I was in Europe I'd just go with the Italian BART system.
Woodys Wheels is the go to place in the USA as far as I know. People are always recommending them on others sites for this sort of conversion.
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I contacted Woody's and indeed they offer this service using the Outex kit. I had inquired about having them relace the wheels using my OEM hubs with a 2.5" wide front and 4.25" wide rear rims using SS spokes, then taping them for tubeless. I was quoted ~$700/wheel to do the job.
In searching around I found Dubya Wheels in SoCal and they quoted me about $750 or so for BOTH wheels to do the relacing to Excel rims with SS spokes but no taping mostly due to liability issues. They gave me some hints on doing it myself etc. So...... for about 1/2 the price, minus the shipping charges from CO to CA, I'm looking at doing it myself, even though I'd prefer to pay a shop to do it if they've done a lot of them.
I was told that Excel rims has purchased the BART Tubeless company and "might" offer that service here in the States. But..... when that will become a reality is unknown for sure. I don't think shipping my wheels to Italy and back will make sense.
For reference, the Outex kit runs about $100/wheel, not cheap compared to the 3M tape around $15/wheel or so. The primary difference appears to be the Outex kit includes some "things" to place over the spoke nipples while the 3M tape is just the tape itself. It was suggested to me to use RTV over the spoke nipples (letting it setup up hard) prior to applying the tape. So you'd need to factor in the difference of the cost of large tube of RTV plus application time vs what's provided in the Outex kit.
I would still prefer to have my wheels laced to proper tubeless rims like the Alpina or similar. After some investigation I have mixed feelings on the Kineo wheels. They are kinda heavy, expensive, and supposedly not that strong. My preference would be for the wheels like the Super Tenere uses but they appear to be proprietary after asking around.
In searching around I found OEM replacement Super Tenere bare rims but .... they are $298 ea, OUCH.
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