Tubeless Set Up

Ride Gravel
1

Oh man.

I did my first tubeless set up recently. Here’s my experience.

2 x Schwalbe Thunder Burts 2.1 (50mm) on Stan’s No Tube’s 25 mm rims for “CUSH” bike-packing on the Salsa Cutthroat. Went on like magic. Just as the inter-webs video’s suggest. They went on dry and held air with a simple floor pump! I removed the valve core and dumped 100mm of Stan’s sealant in there and boom…it held air for 2 weeks now. I was thinking of running out and buying a lottery ticket.

Then I had a second set of wheels for the Salsa !!! And thought hmmm…what should I put on these? Perhaps a “faster” set for gravel grinding??? Had a spare set of Clement MSO X’plor 40x700mm NON-Tubless tires !!! But, thought what the heck…I’m old school…what would Adam Poll do ???..what’s the worst that could happen?

Well first thing was I install the tires with the tread backwards. :sob: So, waited until the next morning to take them off and swap them around.

But, they didn’t hold air or the sealant too well. It was exploding out the gap between the tubeless wheels and non-tubeless tires. But, eventually…it sealed ??? It’s held air for two days now and I rode them today??? Superb !!!

I know…I know…should not match tubeless rims with non-tubeless tires. But…I have FOUR brand new MSO 40x700 non-tubeless tires…so thought I’d give it a shot at tubeless. And it seems to be holding well now at the end of the week.

Any way. As a loooooooooog time TUBULAR tire guy…tubeless is 10x easier than tubular. And soooo much nicer of a plush ride. And they SEAL instantly when you get a puncture!

My 2 cents.

Never be afraid to try out new things and break some rules.

A.

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2 Likes
2

No pinch flats ever again. I have been running tubeless for 3 years now on both of our road bikes. Nary a flat. I found if they suggest 30mL of sealant in a 28mm tyre use 60mL. Very nice ride. 60psi works really well for me. Quality valve stems are important. Stan’s or Muc Off sealant works equally well. Once in a while I will I lay the bikes on their side and spin the tyres for a few revolutions to ensure sealant gets to all of the sidewalls.

3

No you need to keep the tubular obsession.

I ran some MXP non tubeless for and only burped once, that was the first kwcx where I ran the pressure at 15 psi, as I didn’t have any mud’s at the time.

My only issue ever setting up tubeless was on the kids MTB, but it was schrader valve, on the fourth attempt I got them to pop, but realised the one tire was backwards, it has stayed that way since.

4

I converted my fat bike to tubeless using gorilla tape, lots of sealant and a compressor. I’ll be doing the same to my gravel bike! For MTB, I haven’t used tubes in 15 years!