Mountain Biking - Can I get tubless tires on my current rims?

I have a new cannondale mountain bike that I use for winter commutiing. Im very nervous when the weather is around zero and having a flat to fix - having it be dark on top of that. Is there something special that my rims need to accept tubless mountain bike tires?

I don't know much about tubeless but I think they are only successful at preventing pinch flats. If you run over a nail or thorn, you could still get a flat, I would think. If you are getting pinch flats, you may need to air up your tires some more. If you are worried about puncture flats, you can get self sealing tubes or liners that go between the tire and tube. I use self sealing and have only had 1 flat in 6 months from a large screw that punctured both tire and tube. I understood that the main advantage of tubeless was to run very low pressure in order to get better traction off road without having to worry about pinch flats.

No pinch flats, but I had a slow puncture leak the other day. It looked like a little piece of glass, that just got to the inner tube, it was on my morning route, got to the locker room after work for my ride back home and the tire was flat. So if the self sealer works, would it have stopped a puncture like the one I just noted?

I have heard that using tubeless tires with tubes is extremely successful in preventing flats.

I'd imagine that using tubeless tires with thornproof tubes would make for a near flatproof wheel setup. More wheel weight, but for winter riding, it may be worth it.

You can use regular tires as tubless if you get stan's conversion kit (which i hear works great) go to google and search for it...good luck

If you really want to prevent flats, here's an idea that works on hybrid/touring bikes that use 28mm (roughly) wide tyres: Instead of using an inner tube, buy a cheap tubular tyre (Vittoria makes some that can be had for less than $20) and use it as a tube. It's really heavy, and the bike will ride like *****, but practically nothing's going to get through this setup. Make the tyre an Armadillo, too, and I'd bet you won't even need to bother carrying a pump, either.

Originally posted by sshock4
You can use regular tires as tubless if you get stan's conversion kit (which i hear works great) go to google and search for it...good luck

You mean tubeless tyres on tubular rims right? As for Stan, I've purchased something from him but it wasn't the conversion kit... it was a set of converted Time ATAC pedals with the titanium springs (didn't really care about weight but wanted the smoother action). All I can say is that he shipped them out promptly and they arrived as expected... which is more than I can say for Performance. I'd buy from Stan again. Apparently it's a family-run business that also manages a go-cart track. |8^)

thats right. The tubless conversion kit is for standard tubular rims

Yup, Stan's no tubes has been pretty widely successful. I've heard lots of good things about them.


www.notubes.com

thats right. The tubless conversion kit is for standard tubular rims

The notubes kit is for converting standard clincher rims to tubeless, not for tubular rims. In fact, since the only tubeless tyres I'm aware of are mountain bike tyres, and tubular tyres are strictly for road and cyclocross bikes, I'm nearly certain this is not possible. Tubular rims have absolutely no lip on the rim-they hold the tyre on by a combination of pressure and glue.

ok, i meant clincher, didnt know there was a differance

Originally posted by PeterG1185
ok, i meant clincher, didnt know there was a differance

Actually I meant clincher too. I need to stop posting at 2AM. |8^)