My new bike finally arrived in after waiting about 5 weeks (yay! '05 giant xtc2 LE...)

I am really happy with it at the moment but i was thinking about converting to tubeless tires. How hard it this to do? Will i need to get new rims/tires?

As a question to anyone using/has used a tubeless system, is it worth it? I have heard that it is quite a costly process but i would imagine it would be a good thing in the long term.

Anyway any opinions welcome :)

Edit: Forget to mention most of my riding is XC, with a slight amount of commuting.

Tubeless aren't too clostly I bought some for my old bike, I paid $100 for both front and rear. My LBS converted my stock rims to run tubless for free so I'm not sure how much it will cost you if they charge you. They will save you money on tubes but mine tended to have blow outs where all the air would just shot out and i'd have a flat, if this happens dont stress just pump up your tire and it'll be good as new.

Keep in mind I was doing alot of urban and downhill on my tubeless so that probably caused my blow outs, but for your stlye of riding I dont see it happening too often and yes they are good in the long run esspecially if your goin to be commuting you'll never have to worry about pinch flats and glass in your road again.

hope this helped
laters antoni

Use the Stan's No-Tubes kit or something similar...that will convert both your rims and tires to tubeless. It also has the added advantage of acting like Slime, where it will seal small punctures as the tire rolls. I think the kit's about 50 bucks.

Dosn't most of the new off-road XC or AC Giants come with tires that are compatible with no tubes? I'm looking to get a Giant, are the 05' range good?

Well unfortunately i havent had a chance to really give it a good test yet since i have been fairly ill for the last few days :( but i plan on going for a decent ride this weekend. But from the very few short rides i have done so far i am impressed with what i have got for the price i have paid, it feels smooth and comfy to ride. The one thing i was slightly worried about was the fork but it doesnt feel too bad at the moment so i will see how it handles the trails and then decide if i want to upgrade later.

There was also a guy who bought an xtc 1 from my lbs and he was impressed with it.

But time to get back on topic...
I assumed that the tires i got with mine were compatible to go tubeless (Hutchinson Python Airlight) because when you look at the xtc 1 it specifically says in the specs that the tires on it are "Hutchinson Python Airlight UST tubeless foldable" so i jsut assumed that since mine dont have UST tubeless in the description they arent. It was more the rims i was worried about anyway.

I am a bit hesitant to go tubeless. I usually ride pretty hard XC, and I just know that popping a tire would lead to having to buy a new tire, which is about 30 bucks, where a tube is only 5.

A great site that examines this topic is my favorite mtb site:
http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/fix/index.htm
Look for tubeless conversion and read the page. Something to think about

The 2004 Nov. issue of MBA has a detailed step by step how to convert your wheels using this kit. They wrote that the kit is $57. Much cheaper than buying all new.

This kit is about $10 less and you avoid the problems associated with notubes.

And the December issue of MDA has a good follow-up to the Nov. article.

SS

If you can't seal the hole in the tire, you can always just put a tube in a tubeless tire and pretend it's just a regular setup. That negates the tubeless aspect, but it's a cheap fix.