I thought I would take the oportunity to bang on about tubeless tires after hearing about Mikes disapointing prerace shenanigans last weekend. I have been running tubeless for a couple of years now and I have never had a flat. While this is the main advantage, tubeless systems also weigh a smidge less than tubes, not much less but it is weight saved at the most effective bit of the bike.
There are several options but I am only going to mention some cheap ones that dont require fancy rims:
Ghetto tubeless: cut a 20 inch tube down the seam around the outside and stretch it around the rim with the valve in the hole. then stick the tire over the rim, squirt in some sealant and blow it up. Chances are this will need a compressor. then use a sharp blade to trim the excess tube.
Rimskinz: these use a strip of open cell foam that you insert into the rim. I found these really easy to install and they inflate with a track pump. Made in NZ. One of many tubeless conversion kits, though most of these are much more expensive.
Home brew: some people even make their own sealant. this link also has some amusing photos of tubeless tires burping, the result of breaking the seal when pressures are too low of the tire is not tight enough
I am currently using tubeless rims (no spoke holes) with both UST and normal kevlar bead tires, though I ave used rimskins in the past and they were great.
Heh that sealant link goes to
Heh that sealant link goes to my mate Zane's blog. I was riding with him in Chch over the weekend. He hooked me up with some of his homebrew sealant when I treated myself to some new rubber. So far, so good. +1 from me.
rad! it was very much a
rad! it was very much a random link but I like the picks of tires burping. Let us know how it goes. I am yet to get to the bottom of my bottle of stans but I might consider possibly making a batch once that runs out.
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