Tubeless on Arcade

[Jack Heard]

After watching Ali clarkson's second vlog showing how impressive the tubless system is I decided to get the supplies ordered to give it a test myself. Watched his previous video showing how he converted it and got to work. 

Supplies: 

orange seal tubeless liquid £15

closed cell foam 1 metre X 1 metre (could do 4 more wheels with the remainder of the foam) £18

gorrilla tape (used as rim tape) £6

and tubless valves £5

so for a total cost of £44 I have reproduced the system used and tested by Ali and couldn't be happier. 

Here are some of the steps in photos: 

although I need to wait until the morning to see if my tyres are still inflated so far I'm very chuffed with how simple it was to convert. 

Thought I'd write this to nudge anyone on the edge of trying it themselves. So far so good and would insist that you give it a go. 

I'll keep this updated too in case anything happens

 

[Scott B]

Nice job!  I'm about to do this myself.  

[JJ Leigh]

Awesome stuff Jack!

[Ali C]

Glad it went well  

You may find the tyre deflates at first, this could be because the tyres are not meant for tubeless and are porous until the sealant full seals them. If this happens then I'd recommend giving the wheel a spin and a shake to make sure the sealant is evenly spread and then leave the wheel resting flat on each side for half an hour...this worked perfectly on my MTB.

Also I don't think cut outs are vital in the foam, I left my second foam strip solid and it still works fine.

[AndyT]

Would this work for lower psi tires, what would be the limit? 30 psi? 35? What are you running, Ali runs what- 45?? I bought everything to do this save the foam cel pad when Ali did his vlog on it...but never did it.

 

as for the gorilla tape- how far over the edge of the rim did you go ? 

 

Do do they make shrader stem caps? Hate presta looks like a roadie puff.. guess I could fashion one out of an old tube.

[Jack Heard]

7 hours ago, Ali C said:

Glad it went well  

You may find the tyre deflates at first, this could be because the tyres are not meant for tubeless and are porous until the sealant full seals them. If this happens then I'd recommend giving the wheel a spin and a shake to make sure the sealant is evenly spread and then leave the wheel resting flat on each side for half an hour...this worked perfectly on my MTB.

Also I don't think cut outs are vital in the foam, I left my second foam strip solid and it still works fine.

Surprisingly when i went to the bike this morning it was still fully inflated no tubeless liquid anywhere (could be because the tyres are like 3 months old). So looks like its gone well. 

Went for the first ride this afternoon and it feels completely different to before but i like it. Makes the bike feel very nimbal. 

As for the foam it was very time consuming cutting it so next time will leave it if its worked for you! 

 

Thanks for the advice  

[Jack Heard]

1 hour ago, AndyT said:

Would this work for lower psi tires, what would be the limit? 30 psi? 35? What are you running, Ali runs what- 45?? I bought everything to do this save the foam cel pad when Ali did his vlog on it...but never did it.

 

as for the gorilla tape- how far over the edge of the rim did you go ? 

 

Do do they make shrader stem caps? Hate presta looks like a roadie puff.. guess I could fashion one out of an old tube.

I ride mostly skatepark so in terms of pressure im a little higher than ali. 45 minimum really. In the latest tubless vlog ali made he put the pressures down to 30psi and it still worked great - worth a look on his youtube. 

For the tape i probably went a little wide but its seemed to work. Ran it completly from rim edge to rim edge making sure i had stuck it to the metal as tightly as possible. 

Presta isnt as accesable as shrada valves but you can get an adaptor and put it in your pocket - fashioning one might be difficult to make it air tight. 

[Ali C]

Joe's make car type tubeless valves if you are allergic to presta.

I thiiiink it should still work with wider trials rims. The main thing that would make me lose air is folding the tyre, I run narrow rims so folding a tyre is pretty easy at low pressure. I think with a wider rim it should be fine.

Basically if you fold your tyre now with normal riding, you might struggle with tubeless but if you rarely fold your tyres from the rim you'll be fine. I run my tape to just before the beads. 

[AndyT]

1 hour ago, Ali C said:

Joe's make car type tubeless valves if you are allergic to presta.

I thiiiink it should still work with wider trials rims. The main thing that would make me lose air is folding the tyre, I run narrow rims so folding a tyre is pretty easy at low pressure. I think with a wider rim it should be fine.

Basically if you fold your tyre now with normal riding, you might struggle with tubeless but if you rarely fold your tyres from the rim you'll be fine. I run my tape to just before the beads. 

 

Going on a 26" spank subrosa / lends nevegal combo... I don't go below 30 unless I'm at a muddy competition in the pouring down rain in Spain. So never

More nimble eh? I wonder how only the front wheel will feel..

[cwtrials]

I successfully converted my rear wheel on my 26" pure trials bike this weekend.  

Echo double wall 47mm rim

For kicks I used a conti trial queen. I choose this tire because I loved the way it felt but was getting constant pinch flats. I used to have to run it at 34psi to avoid pinches.  In my test I started at 29psi and dropped pressure a few times.

Running just above 22 psi, which would've resulted in a pinch in a few minutes, no leaks or anything

I did not use the foam strip,  i really don't think it is necessary. 

One note for rim brakes. A bit of sealant got in my rims when sealing. It pretty much dries into wax and the brakes were not a fan.  It took a few minutes of dragging the brakes to get this better, but my brakes were still not at 100%. Next time I will be more careful,  grind first, and find a way to clean the rims up proper.

I rode some proper sharp corner urban, but unfortunately I don't have any proper natural near me. 

Edited September 23, 2017 by cwtrials