Well, I hummed and hawed long enough! Last week, I converted my 29er to ghetto slit-tube tubeless. I went to larger, more aggressive tires at the same time. I went this way because I am cheap, wanted to try it with minimal outlay of cash and resources/time and because it seems to be the best way to go in a lot of cases. I did a lot of research online, and it seems using UST can sometimes be a pain with burping at the beads. I’ve witnessed this on the trail numerous times and it really put me off the tubeless thing for a while. However, I have had an unheard of string of pinchflats since I got the new bike. A combination of narrow rims, thin tires and too low a pressure. Now, I could bump the pressure up, but then the ride sucks. For me, this is the real beauty of tubeless. It’s not to lose weight. (My bike actually gained a ton, but that was mostly the tires.) It’s the ability to run silly low pressure for gobs of traction, more efficient rolling, some comfort and floatation!
So, what did I do? Well, I bought a jug of Stan’s No Tubes sealant. Sounds and looks like crazy good stuff, so I figured I’d try it. If you have non-tubeless tires, you will need this even just to keep the air from passing through them. My new tires, however, even held 40 PSI for a few days without. That was good news. It could be because of the VERY thick sidewalls. Heavy? You bet. But, it’s a rugged trail tire for broken rock, roots, you name it. It’s not a race tire, by any means. Anyways, I used a 26" tube, inflated it just enough to take shape and mounted it on the rim. Then, I slit the outside of it all the way around the rim. I layed it open, rubbed some sealant on the beads, mounted the tires with the tube flaps out past the beads. Installed a few scoops of sealant in each tire, seated the beads and inflated to 40 PSI for a few days. Cut the extra tube off, and viola! Tubeless. Is it ghetto? Fer sher! Does it work? Well, so far it’s pretty special.
I went from Racing Ralphs in 29x2.0 and now have 29x2.25 cheapo Ignitor look alikes. I left the house on the first ride so far at 25 PSI, about what I usually ride at. Initially, it felt pretty lethargic. I was already cooked from a road ride, so between dead legs, and heavy, taller tires, there were no Strava segments to be smashed. Oh well. Off to the woods. At first I was getting some wheelspin and getting knocked around a bit. I was a bit disappointed at first. Oh well, was worth the experiment. So I figured, hey, let’s see how low they can go? I kept bleeding more and more air out. I think those stiffer sidewalls need less air pressure to keep my fatness afloat! Cause man o man, once the pressure got down there, it was a riot! For one thing, it sticks to anything now. It wraps around wet angled roots and grabs like mad. And it’s smooth as it does it, to boot! Pretty crazy to just blitz super rough and technical sections like it’s a dually, (It’s a hardtail XC rig), and I was charging some gnarly DH sections without worry of pinchflats. That fact alone will make you faster, and not pucker every time you peg something, as long as the rim can handle it. It claws up climbs like it’s glued at the knobs. As long as I can pedal and keep the weight in the right spots, it goes up. Honestly, it feels more akin to riding an ATV now than a MTB, as far as just point and ride goes. So grin-inspiring!
We will see how it works over time, but let’s just say I’m pretty happy with my set up.
Here is some good stuff for you to look at. Oh, and it makes me wonder even more about fatbikes now…
How to do it and great tricks and tips
ridemonkey.com/forums/f19/gh … ks-240026/
The science behind rolling resistance and fat/low pressure tires
mtbonline.co.za/info/mtb-tyr … stance.htm
Stan’s crazy demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTlZvOVG8zs)
