Tire Chat

Just tubelessed a P35 that turned out to have a single layer of Stan’s by stretching a latex strip over it, putting some dish soap on the tire bead (TR Ardent), and inflating as normal with a floor pump. I’ve reached expert level.

A single roll of identical strapping tape costs basically as much as Stan’s but will do literally dozens more wheels. Lots more tape to experiment with, lend to friends, encourage you to abandon tubes, etc.

the Schwalbe tubeless tape is the only purpose-engineered stuff I’ve used

it’s a little thicker and rubberier than yellow strapping tape, only needs one wrap

One wrap is enticing

Not confident in my Jones fat front tubless setup. Haven’t been able to identify the rim yet, previous owner says Surly but it doesn’t look like it: 50mm, round holes, non or very minimally offset spoke holes, 26".

Anyway, I set a Surly Larry 3.8 up tubeless yesterday. Inflated easily without any sealant and the fattystripper backing strips plus latex strips. I added 3 oz of Finish Line, rode it like 5 minutes and left it alone. Was fine for like 10 hours but then it deflated and I couldn’t get the bead to pop back into place. Not confident in taking that outside the house atmo. Like maybe it’ll be fine once the latex bonds to the tire but I fear burps and instant deflations if I hit a landing or a rock wrong. Should I try some gorilla tape up on the bead shelf to make things a bit more interference fit?

Lookin’ at 650x42 slightly knobby tires
WTB Resolute vs Schwalbe G-One?
or something else?
neither is in the spreadsheet

can u fit burts

I can fit 42s

I’d try it, cheap experiment. If it goes to hell while you’re riding, you can ride the rim/trash it/buy a new one/problem solved.

How about this window insulation trick to build up the bead?

So I have figured out that the rims are Speedway Cycles Uma 50mm which Jeff Jones also sold as his own 50mm rims years ago. Apparently they are designed with tubeless in mind but I’m not impressed with the whole interface.

Actually I’m just gonna swap the tire for a Jumbo Jim or Specialized Fast Trak Fat.

I think this Surly Larry I have is the wire bead version cuz it weighs like 1500+ grams. No wonder it won’t tubeless.

FWIW I have the heavy-ass wire-bead Surly Nates and they set up just fine, still holding air too

But you should definitely get something else

WTB Byways arrived last night so I mounted them up to the Light-Bicycle Carbon Rims 27.5 RM650BC09 (22mm inner).
Byways (unstretched) measure out to about the same as the Horizons (fully stretched).
Byways fit way tighter in the rim bed than the Horizons ever did. No tube shenanigans required, welcome to tubeless future.

I begin to pump them up with normal floor pump strokes (couldn’t do that with Horizons) but realized it was going to take much longer than just charging up the Topeak tubeless dump chamber and letting it go in one burst. Once seated on the bead shelf I let all the air out and bead stayed up. Reinflated with NO SEALANT and they held air @ 50psi for an hour so I left them over night.
This morning went to check and one had gone flat (bead still on shelf) but the other was still inflated with no loss of pressure. Woo!


Old WTB Horizons Tires by Andrew Squirrel, on Flickr

New WTB Byway Tires by Andrew Squirrel, on Flickr

Also, when I took the Horizons off the rim I discovered that there was no Orange Seal Sealant left. As much as I love Orange Seal it requires frequent top-off IME.

Mounted Teravail 650B x 47 Ramparts on Zipp carbon (i21mm) rims. Tires went on with minimal effort. Seated the beads with Blackburn Chamber (tubeless) floor pump. Went to measure them an hour later and they’d lost nearly all pressure (no sealant). Will be curious to see how much Orange Seal is required to keep them inflated. Actual weight was 498 grams.

[quote=Andrew_Squirrel]WTB Byways arrived last night so I mounted them up to the Light-Bicycle Carbon Rims 27.5 RM650BC09 (22mm inner).
Byways (unstretched) measure out to about the same as the Horizons (fully stretched).
Byways fit way tighter in the rim bed than the Horizons ever did. No tube shenanigans required, welcome to tubeless future.[/quote]

which Horizons tho, there’s at least three or four different generations with differing rubber thickness, bead tightness, casing suppless, casing color, logo color

The casing on the Horizon version I had were always pretty supple (compared to the new Byways). Looks like I purchased them in Oct-Nov 2016.

If a tire doesn’t do this these days I get freaked out. My Maxxis Mammoth did not stay on the shelf after losing its air (without any sealant) over the course of several hours and I’m kind of wary, but maybe this is par for the course with fat bike tires.

I couldn’t get my jumbo jims out of the mulefut rim channel to save my life. Well, eventually did, but it was a hell of a struggle.

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Aesthetically I really love that tread

I’ve been using light/supple Ramparts for a couple of weeks and I like them just fine. Not as light or fast as my SBHs, but certainly more confidence inspiring on mixed surfaces. Basically a black sidewall Horizon replacement afaict