Cyclocross Magazine

Cyclocross Community, Forums, Classifieds, Photos and Videos

First, thanks to CX magazine for giving me the idea & tools to run tubeless. Short answer - it works.

Revelations: While I got my tires to seal up OK, and they held pretty good, in the las couple races I was burping the rear tire. Part may be the pressure (29-28 psi in the rear and  clock 180 lbs). But a good part may be I needed to build up the rim's channel a bit more. Just for grins I got some Vittoria rim strips and put those on top of the tape I was using. Then the Stan's rim strip. Holy cow, it sealed up well enough with no sealant I could have ridden it like that.

Next: I love riding tubeless. No flats from thorns. And I can run pressures low enough that off-cambers at speed are much less of an issue. Grip in the sloppy, greasy mud-on-top-of-wet-grass. I'm hooked.

QUESTION: It says in the instructions that the sealant will dry up in 2 - 6 months. So how do I stay ahea do of the curve here? Do I just add more? Do I pop the tire off the rim and dump out the old sealant?

Views: 725

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Two more revelations: A) IF i do in fact burp a tire, I can swap tires in the pits and them my wife (who I dearly love but is not much of a mechanic) can just pump the offending tire back up to 35 psi and ALL IS GOOD. No tube swap, no nothing.

And B) Last weekend at least 3 times per lap I'd bottom out (curb, log). NOT ONE PROBLEM, THANK YOU NOTUBES. I cringe to think what that would have done to my regular clinchers. And I ran the pressure so low so I could get *some* bite in the wet, muddy swamp we called a race course. Kenda Kommando at 31psi under my 180 lb. butt worked fantastic in these conditions.

You gotta eventually change the sealant. Personally I have two sets of wheels and prep them several days before my first race. For the last 2 seasons the sealant was fine for the whole season. The colder the temps the longer your sealant will last. If you're burping in the rear you could stand a few more psi..3-4lbs might make the difference.
Yes, I did need a bit more air in the back but mostly I needed to build up the center channel a bit more. I added a Vittoria rim strip under the Stan's NoTubes valve/rimstrip (being a rubber-ish substance) and that helped seal the tire up so much better. A few more pounds of air, too, and I'm golden.

Sorry if this is a total noob question: Am I correct that I can run tubeless (for CX) without buying special tires?

 

My understand of running tubeless for "road" use is that you can use a standard aluminum rim + NoTubes tape and sealant,

BUT according to the Stan's site:"unlike with mountain bike conversions, specific Road Tubeless tires are required for conversion.  They have been designed with a folding tire bead that will not stretch and cause catastrophic blowouts."

 

Based on this, do you need to use "tubeless" compatible CX tires along with the sealant/tape/existing rims?

 

Basically, I'm wondering if all I need to run NoTubes is:

My current tires: Vittoria Cross XG Pro

My current wheels: Fulcrum Racing 7

A NoTubes kit consisting of: Sealant/Rim Tape

 

If I can do the conversion and use my existing tires, and want to also occassionally run higher pressure (80-90lbs) for commuting, etc, is this amount of pressure "unsafe"?

 

Morgan;

Yes, in cross, you can run "normal" tires with a Stan's NoTubes conversion kit. I'm using the same Fulcrum Racing 7's.  The key is not to exceed 40psi, and only certain tires work, based on how tightly the bead sits on the rim. some tires won't work so well having a wire bead or low thread count casing. The Vittoria XG is a good tire for going tubeless so I think you're good to go.

Start here: http://www.cxmagazine.com/going-tubeless-cyclocross-racing-intro and follow it through all three parts. This is what really prompted me.

Now this setup isn't designed to work at 80-90psi so it's not quite the same as the road tubeless.

RSS

Sold something in our classifieds? Find this site valuable?

Consider a donation to the cause. We're cheaper than eBay fees, and it helps us here at CXM keep the lights on!

Enter any amount below, and click on the cow for some good karma. Thanks!

Amount:



Badge

Loading…

© 2024   Created by Cyclocross Magazine.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service