Tubeless tyres for MTB

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I didn't think the tyres were tubeless, it was more the rims I was interested in, but I probably won't bother as it seems bit of hassle and mess.
What about tubes with slime in - I've seen those for sale, though not 29" ones with Presta valves.

Though 5 seconds Google shows that they are available for £5 each

[Docca]

Our local Halfords is doing a deal to fit tubless tyres £20 all in (including Stans fluid,tape and valves) so I ordered some tyres (can't remember which ones) (WTB Trail boss?) and dropped the bike off. Pick it up in a couple of days. Quite excited tbh. Now just on the hunt for a small pump

[Beancounter]

Our local Halfords is doing a deal to fit tubless tyres £20 all in (including Stans fluid,tape and valves) so I ordered some tyres (can't remember which ones) (WTB Trail boss?) and dropped the bike off. Pick it up in a couple of days. Quite excited tbh. Now just on the hunt for a small pump

That's not a bad price and saves a lot of hassle. Like Weeksy, all my MTB tyres are tubeless. I don't know if it makes a difference but since going tubeless I've not had a puncture (touch wood) in five years of battering my bike down trails.

I like WTB tyres too, three of my bikes are set up with Vigilantes and Trail Bosses. The four bike is the new e-bike which has Bontrager XR4. I've no issues with the Bontragers but will be swapping to WTB when the time comes.

[Docca]

So this has taken a turn for the shitty.

Halfords just called to say my rims aren't tubeless ready so they can't do them.

They sell the tape
They have the stans fluid
I've supplied the tyres

What else is needed? Any reason why they're refusing?

[flicker]

Some rims aren't designed to be run tubeless, whilst it might be possible to get them to work I doubt Halfords will want the risk associated with converting a set not designed for it and you then having an accident.

Chances are it'll be the rim joint isn't welded, the wheels on my lads bike aren't so I've decided not to risk it with his.

[Docca]

They were lovely and friendly, but said my rims didn't have beads or something so advised to buy some tubless ready wheels and then they would fit. Made it clear that my current rims could never accomodate tubeless.

They have however fitted my new tubeless ready tyres to my current bike

[weeksy]

They were lovely and friendly, but said my rims didn't have beads or something so advised to buy some tubless ready wheels and then they would fit. Made it clear that my current rims could never accomodate tubeless.

They have however fitted my new tubeless ready tyres to my current bike

Or not.... as his tyres have been going flat even though he's not ridden it since taking to them. So the big fella is coming over today.

Could be an interesting afternoon, we're (well, i say WE, i mean me...) going to try and tubeless his wheels.. If not, i've got a pair of Giant PXC2 on my PArkwood that i can stick on his bike which are tubeless, i don't run the Parkwood outdoors, so not a massive issue to stick my wheels on his, from memory they should be same axles etc.

I'll also see if i can 1X his drivetrain as he wants that doing at some stage, so may as well see what's needed or if it's a simple case of taking it all off and fitting one of my spare chainrings i have in the spares box.

Lastly he wants some wider and higher bars, sadly, my spare bars are only 10-20mm wider than his and ideally he wants 40-50, so i may see if Banjo Cycles has any bars when i drop into town later. The height, i may be able to sort by spacers, but i don't really know yet until i see the bike

[Mr Moofo]

They were lovely and friendly, but said my rims didn't have beads or something so advised to buy some tubless ready wheels and then they would fit. Made it clear that my current rims could never accomodate tubeless.

They have however fitted my new tubeless ready tyres to my current bike

Or not.... as his tyres have been going flat even though he's not ridden it since taking to them. So the big fella is coming over today.

Could be an interesting afternoon, we're (well, i say WE, i mean me...) going to try and tubeless his wheels.. If not, i've got a pair of Giant PXC2 on my PArkwood that i can stick on his bike which are tubeless, i don't run the Parkwood outdoors, so not a massive issue to stick my wheels on his, from memory they should be same axles etc.

I'll also see if i can 1X his drivetrain as he wants that doing at some stage, so may as well see what's needed or if it's a simple case of taking it all off and fitting one of my spare chainrings i have in the spares box.

Lastly he wants some wider and higher bars, sadly, my spare bars are only 10-20mm wider than his and ideally he wants 40-50, so i may see if Banjo Cycles has any bars when i drop into town later. The height, i may be able to sort by spacers, but i don't really know yet until i see the bike

how wide are you talking?
And I assume he has a short stem ??

[weeksy]

They were lovely and friendly, but said my rims didn't have beads or something so advised to buy some tubless ready wheels and then they would fit. Made it clear that my current rims could never accomodate tubeless.

They have however fitted my new tubeless ready tyres to my current bike

Or not.... as his tyres have been going flat even though he's not ridden it since taking to them. So the big fella is coming over today.

Could be an interesting afternoon, we're (well, i say WE, i mean me...) going to try and tubeless his wheels.. If not, i've got a pair of Giant PXC2 on my PArkwood that i can stick on his bike which are tubeless, i don't run the Parkwood outdoors, so not a massive issue to stick my wheels on his, from memory they should be same axles etc.

I'll also see if i can 1X his drivetrain as he wants that doing at some stage, so may as well see what's needed or if it's a simple case of taking it all off and fitting one of my spare chainrings i have in the spares box.

Lastly he wants some wider and higher bars, sadly, my spare bars are only 10-20mm wider than his and ideally he wants 40-50, so i may see if Banjo Cycles has any bars when i drop into town later. The height, i may be able to sort by spacers, but i don't really know yet until i see the bike

how wide are you talking?
And I assume he has a short stem ??

720. I rekon his are 700s. Stem i don't know yet... I'll have to see when he gets here, without being harsh on the bloke, asking Docca questions in advance isn't often going to get me the answers i need I've got a couple of stems here too. He was asking for wider and i think that'll help with his turn in too for leverage if we get some 780s for example. His bike is old school, so i'm guessing he's going to have a 60-80mm stem on it.

[Mr Moofo]

I have several 720 ish riser bars that I doubt I will use again. I will be in Ascot at 10.30 TIL 11.30 tomorrow

[weeksy]

I have several 720 ish riser bars that I doubt I will use again. I will be in Ascot at 10.30 TIL 11.30 tomorrow

Sorry, the 720 was what he/we have.... we want bigger/wider sorry.

[weeksy]

Well tht was an interesting afternoon.

Docca turned up with his Giant. It has Giant SXC2 wheels which i didn't know, beause if i did i wouldn't have spent time sorting my spare rims out for him, i've had PXC2 and SXC2 in the past and both work tubeless.
Halfords had done a crap job of fitting insulation tape and that's it... it was pushed off the holes so was never ever ever going to seal. So a wrap of insulation tape, a wrap of gorilla tape and away we went.. Both tyres straight up and hopefully holding air. They were still hard by the time he left 2 hours later, so i'm hopeful that with a little ride in them, they'll be golden.

So what were we doing for 2 hours... Well..
First i noticed his cranks didn't turn. Partly because of the chain which was half siezed, but also the rear jockey wheels, so wheels off and bushing cleaned, spacers cleaned and a little grease, sorted, chain off to check the bottom bracket, that's all good. Chain put in degreaser to sort that too.

The brake calipers were realigned as the rear didn't really spin at all, 30s and it's super and both wheels spinning freely.

Then we discussed his front mech, which was rubbing lots.... So we took it from 3x10 to 1x10 with a 32T front ring and the front mech and shifter removed.

Next we were discussing the handling, which with a 29er and a 70mm stem was never going to be sharp and precise, so it got a new stem at 35mm. Oh it then also got a wider set of bars along with a reposition of the brake levers.

Next was a bit of a lesson it clutch mech technolgy and how it affects the bike...

I think that's about it !!! LOL.

We'll see how that rides now the wheels and cranks spin along with the different bar are.

[Docca]

Fuck Halfords


It was an absolute pleasure watching Weeksy work. Two tubeless tyres done in minutes. I'm over the moon ( genuinely) as this wasn't looking possible a few days ago.

Got the impression that wasn't the real interest quite quickly though as out came the tools. Off came a load of gear I didn't know I didn't need. I'm down to one ring and everything feels great. Will need to test this in anger tomorrow.

Handlebars swapped. Cider drunk. Laughs ( mostly at my expense) had.

Top bloke.

To do:

Dropper post
Something possibly about forks
Clicky clicky thing

[weeksy]

Fuck Halfords


It was an absolute pleasure watching Weeksy work. Two tubeless tyres done in minutes. I'm over the moon ( genuinely) as this wasn't looking possible a few days ago.

Got the impression that wasn't the real interest quite quickly though as out came the tools. Off came a load of gear I didn't know I didn't need. I'm down to one ring and everything feels great. Will need to test this in anger tomorrow.

Handlebars swapped. Cider drunk. Laughs ( mostly at my expense) had.

Top bloke.

To do:

Dropper post
Something possibly about forks
Clicky clicky thing

I really enjoy it, especially when i know the things i'm doing will make an actual difference to someones bike. Yours should ride a lot lot better now i think.

Stick up your exact model of bike, year etc, As per my Whatsapp, Giant at times have done some weird stuff with their fork/steerer setups, so don't want to order the wrong ones. Your forks are 1 level up from 'basic' and quite a few years old, so if the bike is staying, that's where my money would go.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fox-32-forks ... SwZXFfJHzU

Something like these are going to massively improve your front end feel (assuming no weird steerer on your bike model) and you'll really notice the difference. Make sure you go NON BOOST... you can fit boost with spacers (funnily enough, i have some here in spares box too) but it adds a level of complexity you don't need currently.

Move the fuck on from the clicky rear hub, completely pointless. There's many things i'd do to your bike before a clicky rear hub, but before i make recommendations, i'd like a ride report on the changes made and what you do or don't like

[Docca]

where will i find the exact model of bike?

going to pop out now for a quick 90 mins and see whats what

will report back

[weeksy]

where will i find the exact model of bike?

going to pop out now for a quick 90 mins and see whats what

will report back

LOL how the fuck do i know ? What year was it bought ? It may have a sticker on there saying Giant Anthem 1, 2, 3 .... which will give us a start point.
Then put up a pic of it... we'll work out the rest from there.

[Docca]

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/bikes ... -29er-2014

That one I think.

Qui x update:

Took the bike out today for 30km. Mixed terrain, including tarmac.

The rear was deflating. Felt spongy after about 15 minutes with fluid leaking. Then after an hour, the rear was sliding about and the tyre folding itself over roots. Time to stop. Gutted.

I walked aboit 2km then Weeksy reminded me that if I had a pump with me, I could perhaps pump it up ....

I did. Pumped it up. Solid, but not rock solid ( small hand pump, the hedge find editions of Knave finally paid off ). Pumped it up and the bead was popping etc.

Both tyres stayed fine from there on in. Psychologically, i'd lost a bit of confidence and was second guessing every turn for a while.

That soon passed and I started getting more aggressive again. Since the tweaks from the Weeks, the bike feels lighter. Much lighter. I know that's not possible, so putting it down to flickability with a change in the bit that holds the bars on.

Free rolling felt a bit more of a slog though. Dunno if that's just these tyres, but previously I could coast for ages and there is more friction here?

Will pump up proper once home. Take out again on Sunday. Looking forward to it.

[Docca]

Forgot to mention the gearing.

Dropped from a 42 tooth front cog to 32


99% of the time I honestly couldn't tell the difference. Seriously. There was one hill however that had me wishing i had a granny ring still

[weeksy]

Sunday Docca came back over and i gave him one of my spare 29er wheels i'd Tubelessed the night before.

I then re-did his one with a new tubeless valve, nothing else, apart from that and fluid.... it's still hard today, no loss of pressure at all. So 4 days, which is good

I'll get it back to him soon.

[Docca]

In a bizarre exchange of whatsapp messages where we are telling each we were 'still hard' I can confirm that my tyres are, well, still hard.


Going for a quick ride in a bit. The heat has been really prohibitive in recent days. I know that sounds like an excuse, but I'm fucked just walking in this heat at the moment