So I have had many differing opinions and recommendations on whether to go tubeless, and if so what setup. For now I will stick with the rims that came on my '14 Remedy 9 29er. First question, for the upper Mid-west (Twin Cities area and Duluth area), and a bit of a Clydesdale.. would you recomend Tubless? If so which set-up (Slime, Orange, Stans or something else). I plan to convert over in Spring as my riding is over for the year as I recoup from my first mtb caused injury.
I would recommend tubeless no matter where someone rides as long as they have compatible rims and tires. It's cheap, easy, and gives many benefits. Bottle of stans, valves, and some gorilla tape.
I now can do tubeless myself but the first time I ventured that way, my lbs charged $20 per wheel. It was the best $40 I have ever spent on my bikes. I don't think your weight is much of a factor unless you are already stressing your wheels beyond their design. However, some rims work better than others as tubeless and some don't work at all -- another reason why maybe leave it to the lbs the first time. Tires matter too but with rims designed for tubeless most tires will work.
On the other hand I just experience my first ever tire blown off the rim with the compressor. That is a freaking scary event!! If that had happened to me when I first tried tubeless I probably would have given up the idea then and there.
Your questions are so subjective and will undoubtedly spawn many opinions and noteworthy beliefs. Dig a little and form your own thoughts. Don't follow the herd mentality for the sake of fitting in. Find what works for you and move forward.
I live a few hrs south if u and am a Clyde. Did home made tubeless except stans valves. Best money I've ever spent for me. U can go to ur lbs and they have bontrager kit specifically for ur wheels, really simple that route.
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First off, if you have a Remedy and are thinking about going tubeless, get the Bontrager tubeless setup, and don't even think about any other.
Bontrager has it all figured out for their rims, and it is a PERFECT, STUPID EASY thing to install. Makes the Stan's kit seem complicated, and Stan's is great.
If you get flats regularly, tubeless can be a worthwhile upgrade that also has a small performance benefit as well. If your set up to deal with it, great. If not, and you don't get very many flats, it may not seem (or be) a worthwhile thing to do.
As for sealant, straight Stans works fine. I have used the kit from orange to do a friend's bike and it worked great too. Personally, I use a mixture of Stans or another similar latex sealant, along with some slime and water. I try to keep the Stans to water ratio at about 3:1 and water down to the consistency of milk. Getting it at a perfect ratio does not seem to be super critical.
The wheels on your bike are tubeless ready. If you have some skills and are comfortable working on a bike, tubeless can be a good thing. It's more work in the garage up front, but much less likely to need attention on the trail. If you do need to do something on the trail, it can be messy.
Personally, I'm OK with the tubeless tradeoffs, but your situation could be different.
Keep in mind as much as I love tubeless and am generally a tubeless fanboy, it is more work/hassle and needs to be maintained (sealant dries up). If this isn't something you want to deal with then stick with tried and true tubes and deal with an occasional flat.
Keep in mind as much as I love tubeless and am generally a tubeless fanboy, it is more work/hassle and needs to be maintained (sealant dries up). If this isn't something you want to deal with then stick with tried and true tubes and deal with an occasional flat.
I'm tubeless and for the most part it has to do with my need to run lower pressures and avoid pinch flats. However, my wife runs tubes with sealant in them and goes everywhere I go (goatheads, thorns and all). She has experienced ZERO flats in more than a year and, to add to that, I have performed ZERO maintenance on her tires. No sealant replenishment, no flats, nothing.
Me on the other hand (tubeless) have to dick with adding sealant and air on a regular basis and this is just the price for going tubeless and avoiding pinch flats. It's hot here and adding sealant is a monthly task during summer months. Some who live in cooler areas can go much longer between sealant replenishment.
Point here is if you don't really need to go tubeless or just don't want to, you can do so flat-free if you use sealant in your tubes. It can be Stan's, or Slime or some ghetto sealant, but just because your running tubes does NOT meant you have to endure flats.
I would recommend switching to tubeless if your current wheels are designed for it. Bontragers have a kit designed especially for them, so use that over any ghetto tubeless set up. Ghetto tubeless setups have a propensity to be a real PITA if you don't know exactly what you're doing.
Tubeless Pros:
-Lighter weight than tubes
-With a good sealant, no more small punctures
-better grip and ride quality because you can run lower pressures without worrying about pinch flats.
Tubeless cons:
-Some tire and rim combos are not the easiest to get seated on the rim intitially. A compressor is sometimes required.
-Tubeless ready tires are slightly more expensive. Some non-TLR tires do work tubeless but you're taking a gamble there, some definitely do not work.
-When you do 'pinch flat' you pinch the tire, not the non-existent tube. this can cause damage to the tire causing you to need a replacement.
-Running lower pressures can increase the likelihood that you damage a rim by bottoming out on something hard.
-Higher maintenance than tubes. Sealant needs to be refreshed and air pressure needs to be checked before every ride.
I'm happy I went tubeless. I used a Stan's conversion kit.
Getting the setup right was very frustrating. Replenishing the sealant was frustrating the first time and a piece of cake the second.
Knowing, while on the trail that I don't need to worry about goathead thorns or about pinch flats from hitting small rocks makes for a much more enjoyable ride. My riding consists mostly of cruising on fire roads in the mountains or service roads in the desert. I avoid thrilling descents and drops of more that a foot, so I'm unlikely to burp or roll a tire.
I can't think of any reason not to go tubeless. you bought a Trek Remedy, right? go to your Trek shop and buy the Bontrager rim strips that fit in your rim and the valves to go with them. I think the strips should be about $10 each but I can't remember how much the valves cost. those Bonty strips have to be snapped into the rim tight, so take your time making them fit tight in the rim.
for your tires, do they say "TLR" or some form of "tubeless ready" on the side? if so, watch the videos on notubes.com and do it yourself. you might need an air compressor, but I can get most tubeless tires to fit on tubeless-ready rims with a floor pump and some elbow grease. if the tires are not tubeless-ready, the tires might work, but I recommend tires that are tubeless-specific.
Stan's sealant has worked fine for me for years, but I am about to make some home brew. look for a "50% off one item" at Michael's and you can get liquid latex mold builder cheap.
Yeah, get the TLR strips and do it that way. I have one TLR rim on the rear due to a warranty issue, and it works pretty well. I can seat a non-tubeless ready tire with a cheap floor pump, but it's not easy. Once you get the tire mounted, there's not a whole lot involved other than putting in some sealant every now and then.
I've had two flats within the past year or two. One was a significant puncture caused by something I hit while night riding; I suspect the other was caused by using the tire a little too long. I was hoping to change the tire this winter, but it didn't make it.
I personally enjoy working on my bike so the tubeless maintenance is a fun chore for me. In regards to the pump/compressor, I have seated tubeless several times with a floor pump without issue. It took some quick pumps but it wasn't all that bad. Although rim and tire combo plays a factor there. I do use an air compressor now though and it is much easier.
I was told that it is best to use new tires when going tubeless and to not use the tires that you were running tubes in as they tend to not seat as well or something. Not sure the validity of that thing as I never used tires I ran tubes in for tubeless.
I never could get my Maxxis tires to seal on my WTB wheels with a floor pump, with an air compressor, no problems. With my new set up, Specialized Ground Control with Stans Flow EX, floor pump, co2, doesn't seem to matter much what I use.
Regards to tires, my LBS honors Specialized 90 day unconditional satisfaction. I nearly tore a sidewall in a race last weekend, took it in, the replaced it with a brand new ground control. I do plan on getting the tougher sidewall version as soon as they get them in stock though, one of my fears is blowing a side wall.
I'm 280-290 depending on day of the week, and run tubeless. I've already been saved numerous times with thorns and bad line off the trail riding, even with the rock scraping my sidewall and nearly tearing it, it sealed right up. Stans seems to dry up quicker than other products and home brews, but I know it works, no testing or anything. I'll unseat the bead every 3 months and replace the sealant, no problems. I do plan on trying the orange sealant soon as it's supposed to last longer, the Spec. sealant I used didn't do crap for me with a pinch flat when it was in tubes.
Sorry been absent for a couple of days, work has been a beast... Thank you all for the advice as I was completely unaware of the kit for my rims specifically, that really seems the way to go. I will pick it up from a different shop as aside from the great discount on my Remedy, I have had some pretty poor experiences with after the sale stuff....shame really.
Yeah, tubless seems the way to go and I think once I get more seat time and save up for a nice set of Clyde worthy rims and hubs I will replace them with the UST set up as well....seems most risk free.
Man I love this community, can be a little surly from time to time, and we definately have our favored way we like stuff (HT vs FS, Tube vs Tubeless...) I would go ride with any of you!
Yeah, for now going to use what I have which is tubeless compatible, but when I eventually upgrade the wheels I will go with UST, I like the standard and the reports of how solid the fit performs seems like a good way to go. Again, probably a preference more than anything.
If you are going to use the Bontrager rim strips, the Bontrager TLR tires are made to be used with them. I believe the Bonty rim strips are compatible with UST tires, but the Bontrager TLR tires work great with their rims & rim strips. It's a very high quality system. I've always been able to seat them with just a floor pump and they fit very securely. Work great with other tubeless ready rims too.
UST is designed to be used without sealant on UST rims. UST is a standard developed and licensed by Mavic. If you want to run them, of course that's fine, but just know that UST tires are generally heavier, and have relatively stiffer sidewalls. If you get a puncture and don't use sealant, you're still going to flat. I'd still recommend running sealant with UST for that reason, which makes the whole thing that much heavier.
If you're set on UST, Mavic is pretty conservative with their rim widths, but their new EN 821 would be a solid choice and 21mm inner width is serviceable for tire widths that are appropriate for your Remedy. No strips or tape needed for those as the spoke bed is solid, just put a valve in and go. And you can run TLR type tires with them too.
Yeah, I have Bonte rims and tires for now so see no need to change up anything except the tubes for now, will wait untill spring for now as the bike has been dusted off and stored for the winter. Thanks again for the advice and tips!
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