Tubeless Setup

@gingerbongo - Not had time. Sorry!

Basic list goes;

GP5000S TL 28-30mm
Some sealant
Proper valves (Muc-Off or Silca)

Then some elbow grease and stubbornness to get stuff on.

Spares kit;

Valve core
Lifeline tubeless repair kit (has all the worms and blades and screwdrivers etc for £2.99. Can also fit the valve core and chain link in the box)
Spare tube
strong pump (NOT CO2!!!)
Maybe a repair canister for if the sealant won’t work and you CBA to repair it :clap:t3::facepunch:t3::boom:

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‘+ tyre levers
‘+ a CO2 just in case you can’t get the tyre bead to reseat with a pump. A pressure blast may be needed. Or to inflate the tube you put in as a last resort.

These are on sale currently if you want to go slightly more up market than the Lifeline pleb kit :wink: :

I’ve been running road tubeless using 30mm Vittoria Corsa Speed since last summer and so far no issues on the road. But I’m very rural so there’s no glass and punctures were one every two years anyway. Seating the Vittorias was a bastard and the ratchet strap technique was required so I don’t recommend them.

I use Stans sealant (normal version, not race which won’t flow through the valve when injected). I pulled a drawing pin out of my MTB tyre once and watched it seal, so I’ve been a Stans convert ever since. Silca has reported issues with eating certain brands of rim tape so I’d avoid it.

Which reminds me, a sealant injector is useful eg Stans No Tubes - The Injector | Merlin Cycles

And with road tubeless, if my experience with Vittoria is anything to go by, you may need more than just a track pump to seat them. But others will be along soon to tell you that mere hope and an asthmatic whisper were enough to seat their tubeless :man_shrugging:.

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Tanus.

Puncture proof solid tyres.

I think

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2 sets of wheels set up with tubeless this morning, new Gravel Kings on my spare wheels & Specialized Roubaix on my commuter.

Not the easiest job at 4°C, no thumb prints left on me now :roll_eyes:.

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The wheels I bought years ago aren’t advertised as tubeless compatible but I’d read a number of people had used them. I got 2 sets for my CX bike with the intention one set would be for CX and one set for road.

Installing the CX tyres were fine, but with the road ones really struggled to get them to hold air. Well the front would hold, but the rear wouldn’t. Added more sealant and then the rear would work up to about 60 PSI but adding more would result in leakage. It seemed to be from the valve area. Googling suggested maybe I’d done it too tight and caused issues.

New valves ordered yesterday, tyre off, new rim tape, tyre re-fitted. First couple of inflations had some leakage, but lots of shaking the sealant around and last night I put 80PSI in and it seems to have kept pressure overnight.

Think I now have confidence to use them on the road, just…

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Thought 60psi was enough for tubeless road?
https://axs.sram.com/guides/tire/pressure

As Buzz says, I think 80 psi is too high for tubeless.

Maybe 80 is a bit high but that calculator is giving me over 72 for the rear, based upon:
Rider weight: 85KG allowing for kit & and a few extra pies
Bike Weight: 10KG allowing for full water bottles, repair kit, etc.
Tyres: 28mm standard
Inner Rim: 21mm - these are older wheels, I’ve guessed this based upon external spec of 24mm.
Hooks (tubeless crochet) - I’m not even sure what this means
Dry

I don’t know if they already factor in kit, etc for rider and bike weights?

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My experience is that bigger tyres are more puncture resistant in general - now that I’ve squeezed a 28 on my summer bike, I don’t see any need to go tubeless.
For a multi-day trip, I see even less need to go tubeless. It takes 10 mins to change an inner tube. It’s risk free once you know what you’re doing.

In summer, when the crap has been blown off the roads, punctures happen much less frequently anyway. Almost all of mine are caused by wet, dirty roads in spring/autumn when still on the summer bike.

I appreciate that I’m a luddite on this but when I head off on my next trip round Wales, I will worry about many things and tyres won’t be one of them.

I took CO2 last time, I wouldn’t bother again. A decent hand pump is enough on 25mm tyres and fatter

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Wasn’t there quite a few crashes at Paris-Roubaix caused by tubeless tyres blowing off the rims?

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Yeah that’s pretty much the conclusion I’ve come around to now.

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Luke Rowe was quite critical about the teams that use tubeless without inserts - which mitigate blowouts to some degree - to save 2 or 3 watts.

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