Toobless ... Jeebuz H C

[TheBrownDog]

I'm the first to admit I can be rather hamfisted with my bike mechanics, but this is not my first rodeo when it comes to fitting tubeless. Heck, I once got my set of OO Floaters to hold air without tubes and they were the baggiest saggiest tyres ever made.

But getting my WTB Rangers to go up on the WTB ST rims is proving impossible. I've now spent a third sweaty sweary afternoon on the things. Urgh.

I've tried all the usual tricks like sticking in a tube and leaving it overnight. Using masses of soapy water. I can get one side seated nicely but even gently coaxing the other side on - with a tyre warmed in the sun - just results in it eventually collapsing into the rim well.

I've a good track pump and a ghetto inflator but Im starting to think £50 on an Airshot is not a bad idea.

Advice please.

[Lazarus]

Is there not two kinds of tyre for the ranger?
My TCS went on very easy and first pop on whatever Genesis longitude rims are
For an air shot try a fire extinguisher - same thing only cheaper - you can get 3 , 6 and 9 litre ones all with a schraedar valve and they take morethan 120 psi /8 bar which does not even move my guage -not fun to pump up the 9 litre one with a track pump so go smaller than that is my advice !
Think mine was a tenner from ebay and you get the fun of emptying it to I then just cut the nozzle of and used a jubilee clip for some rubber tubing which fits inside it - not quite air tight but good enough for inflation- and fits over a presta valve

Mine says chubb hydrofoam on it -not sure what others would have the valve but I assume any refillable one ?

[Piemonster]

WTB Rangers to go up on the WTB ST rims

I will never, ever, try and fit any WTB tubeless tyres to any WTB rims again for the rest of my days.

They can go **** themselves

[BigdummySteve]

Strange, my WTB Ci31’s were the easiest thing ever with WTB tyres, pop them on (they tight fit) then gently pump them up with a normal pump. Held air fine without sealant,
One if the things I do with all rims is to pad out the centre of the rim bed so it’s pretty much flat, you can use tape or that thin closed cell foam.
The main issue with some tyre/ rim combinations is that if it sits in the bead well you will never get enough air flow/ pressure to push it into the rims edge, I’ve had identical tyres in identical rims where one was an utter bastard and the other went up with a tickle of a floor pump, the difference was an extra wrap of tape.

[TheBrownDog]

Steve Im thinking this might be the strategy - fill up the rim well so the bead moves over more easily. Will report back

[ScotRoutes]

What rim tape are you using?

[TheBrownDog]

Ive got the WTB branded tessa tape. Seems sound.

[BigdummySteve]

Foam is the best, it still helps with the sealing but gives a little so you can still drop the beads into the well to make tyre fitting a little easier. The other option is get a Stanley knife blade and an appropriately sized book, blade on book then spin the roll of tape to produce a custom sized strip to sit in the well. Pop a layer on top to finish then hopefully it’ll go up without drama.

[The Cumbrian]

I struggled to fit tubeless tyres to my old hybrid. The wheels were made before tubeless was a thing (it still has rim brakes) and the Maxxis Rambler tyres were very baggy on the rims.

I found this film on YouTube, and itexplained a technique I'd never seen before. You pre-seat the bead using a tyre lever, and then pump the tyre up. I tried it this morning and after half an hour of fettling I had both wheels sorted. The first tyre went on easily first time, but the second took a couple of attempts.
https://youtu.be/tE3h4nmDdOo

[Cheeky Monkey]

One of the cheap WTB Ranger (fast&light??) tyres went up fairly easily on a Stans rim recently for me. Took a little bubble solution (washing up liquid not to hand) to help it slide and was with Gorilla tape for the rim. IIRC they it was a bit tight and needed a lever at first.

Did use a new (to me) Joe Blow blaster tubeless pumps / reservoir thing. Was OK, little underwhelming as I had expected far more drama

[thenorthwind]

Have you tried the strap round the circumference trick to reduce the volume while you pop the bead on? Never had to resort to it myself but have heard it used.

My WTB Rangers on Scrapers are tight as too, but I find with enough pressure (luckily I have a compressor) that actually helps as they seal enough to allow the pressure to pop the bead on. Getting them off on the other hand...

[TheBrownDog]

I found this film on YouTube, and itexplained a technique I'd never seen before. You pre-seat the bead using a tyre lever, and then pump the tyre up. I tried it this morning and after half an hour of fettling I had both wheels sorted. The first tyre went on easily first time, but the second took a couple of attempts.
https://youtu.be/tE3h4nmDdOo

Thanks, I saw that too and gave it a whirl - no dice, but at least I now have a couple of exquisite little chunks taken out of my knuckles. It's a good technique and I can see how it will work with a more malleable tyre. l managed to get half of one side set on the bead but the bits that weren't just wouldn't play.

I've got some foam tape arriving today and will try that with a few different combinations of tape. And if that doesn't work I'm ordering an Airshot and sod the expense.

[BigdummySteve]

Tim, I use an old fire extinguisher with a rubber hose on. I could probably pop it in if you want I’m up and down the M40 all week.

[Mart]

I used to hate choobless, i used to really struggle until Paramart helped me

I always us gorilla tape now and put a few layers on the rim before putting the tyre on
You need enough for the tyre to be tight on the rim before using the track pump
Too much and you won’t get the tyre on, too little and it leaks air and won’t go up. As gorilla tape is thicker than the stand tape, I go round the rim twice and that’s about right.

Not had a problem since, just using the track pump

[TheBrownDog]

Tim, I use an old fire extinguisher with a rubber hose on. I could probably pop it in if you want I’m up and down the M40 all week.

Steve thanks for the offer but I've got three bikes to do and, well, you'd never get it back.

[TheBrownDog]

Update.

An Airshot arrived yesterday and this afternoon I set to it. Removed all the foam and grunge and gorilla tape, gave each rim a clean with an alcohol wipe. I ran a few wraps of lekky tape round each the rim as I'd read rim tape sticks to it nicely. It did.

10 minutes later the front tyre was up. Bit of weird bubbling coming through the sidewalls which really p'ed me off as its the reason I spent quillions on the tubeless tyres in the first place ... but that stopped when the sealant went in. The back tyre was equally accommodating and went up first time and stayed up, with a tiny bit of leakage at the value that stopped when the sealant went in.

So I've stuck 40psi in both of them and will not look at em till the morning. I think I may have it sorted, but chicks aint chickens, eh? Still, I think it's good.

So. How much did this cost me? Here goes.

Sealant: £22 (bought a big bottle of Stans)
Rim tape: £13
WTB Vales £16 (never again ... )
WTB TCS Rangers £68 .... really they're a great tyre. Far better than the Conti XKings Ive run for 2-3 years.
Airshot: £50

So £169 to get it sorted. Feeecckkking hell. Most expensive tyres on earth.

Ive got two more bikes to go ..... my OOF and my Whyte 150. I dunno .... gotta feed the kids at some point .....

[Lazarus]

at least they will be cheaper to fit

[ScotRoutes]

I just buy the cheapest valves possible off ebay.

Last tubeless setup I did was the fatbike and I just used the electrical tape.

[sean_iow]

So £169 to get it sorted. Feeecckkking hell. Most expensive tyres on earth.

One of my mates has an E36 M3, our hobby is virtually free compared to tyres for that

I had the bubbling sidewalls with my wtb resolutes but as you say the sealant stopped it and not had any issues since.

Of note is that setting up the wtb tyres tubeless is the worst I've ever done, both on wtb rims and stans.

[Scattamah]

I too have been subjected to the hours of swearing/cleaning of sealant off surfaces other than the tyre where it should be...ugh! Someone's probably made a database of this sort of thing. If it hasn't been made, maybe it should be. Could make for less swearing and more riding.

Bonty tyres on Bonty Mustang - Bonty tape; goes on by hand; needs Airshot; bubbles on sidewall
Nano/NineLine (TCS lite) on Mustang - G tape; goes on by hand/levers in cold; needs Airshot; bubbles on sidewall
Woverine/Trailboss (TCS lite) on Mustang - G tape; goes on by hand/levers in cold; needs Airshot; all bubble on sidewall
Ikon on same Mustang rim - Bonty tape; easy lever on; goes up with track pump; bubbles on sidewall
Nano/NineLine on DTS Spline 1900 - DTS factory tape; break levers to go on; goes up with hand pump
TrailBoss on DT X432 rim - unknown bikeshop tape; goes on with levers; needs Airshot

Your mileage may vary on the above selection.

[Edit: Stans/round valves I have no luck with. Using DTS/rectangular valve, there's no issue.]

Greetz

S.

[TheBrownDog]

Got it ... finally got it. The rear rim wasn't happy with foam in the well so a wrap of (yes) gorilla tape went in, then the tubeless tape. Night before last I needed two steel tyre levers to get the thing on, but this morning it was just thumbs. Go figure.

First attempt and it seemed to want to inflate, so off with the tyre and tubeless tape, another wrap of gorilla, put it all together, loads of soapy water, 100psi in the Airshot and success. I'd also swapped the round WTB valve with the round base for one that had been kicking about in my tool box for at least 5 years. It has a small almost rectangular base that took up less room in the well and seems to have let the tyre take the bead at that point.

So there. Done. I should be elated, but feel strangely hollow. Could it be the gouges on my knuckles? The flare up of the tendinitis in my left elbow? The fact it turned me, a mild mannered reporter, into a sweaty ranting sweary bear? Or the £170 hole in my wallet?

Or maybe it's because I'm now looking at my OOF, thinking it needs to go back to full fat for sh!ts n giggles and tubeless 4in tyres are so nice .... sure. Let's give it a go. Will start tomorrow before we leave for Swinley. What can possibly go wrong?

[BordersSteve]

So there. Done. I should be elated, but feel strangely hollow.

Definitely a familiar feeling. I think the relief of it finally being sorted is somewhat overtaken by that nagging sense that you've spent god knows how many hours on a job that *should* have taken 10 minutes.

[yourguitarhero]

One of the few jobs I get the shop to do

[ton]

i still use tubes. been fine for 39 years.

[RIP]

Same ones? .

Yeah not interested in choobless. Every post seems to begin with 'Tubeless is great'. The next word is nearly always 'but' followed by some time-wasting messy horror story, followed by 'but it's still worth it' .