Tips On Setting Up Tubeless For Road Bikes

Cycling Weekly

Setting tubeless up on road bikes can be a tricky process and there are a lot of mistakes that can be made. However, Sam Gupta has taken his years of experience as a mechanic to share all his knowledge on how to successfully set up a tubeless system on your road bike. Starting at the very beginning, all of these top tips for setting up tubeless will mean that hopefully you can get it done right first time round.

Transcript

00:00I'll be honest, ever since tubeless tech made its way onto road bikes, I was never a fan. It felt

00:05like the same products that were being used in the mountain bike world were just being repackaged

00:10and marketed to road bike users. The issue being that the requirements of the two different

00:15disciplines are actually pretty different. During my time working as a mechanic, I also saw all the

00:21problems that the technology was causing people, from simply trying to get it set up in the first

00:26place, to blowouts, to then punctures that just wouldn't seal. In fairness, being a mechanic does

00:32mean you're always left to pick up the pieces and maybe not seeing all the times that the technology

00:37is actually working. So this may have pushed my bias further into the extreme. As reluctant as I was,

00:44I have now ridden a fair few bikes with tubeless setups. So I'm going to pair that experience with

00:49all the time that I spent setting up other people's tubeless systems to let you know everything that I

00:55wish I knew at the very start. I'm going to start at the very top because before anyone gets anywhere

01:05close to leaving their inner tubes at home, we need to make sure that we've sourced all of the

01:10correct components. We have actually made an entire video comparing some of the most popular sealants

01:15on the market, so you can go and give that a watch to work out which sealant you would want to use.

01:20In this instance though, I'm going to be using this, the Stan's sealant. I've also got

01:25some pretty standard valves and I'll be using these Paneracer Agilist TLR tires. And then for the

01:32wheels, we have got the Hologram R45 wheels from Cannondale. Luckily, these wheels are actually

01:38tubeless ready because they have the tape pre-installed. Now one of the key things that you

01:44don't want to get wrong at the very start is actually your tire selection. Even though you can

01:49set up tubeless with narrower tires, I would always opt for something that's kind of 28C

01:54as a minimum. As we know from the gravel and mountain biking world, tubeless works best at

02:00lower pressures. And I'm sure there's a whole bunch of you that have been running tubeless setups on 25C

02:05tires and you maybe haven't had any issues. But I would potentially put this down more to luck

02:11than anything else. If you want to make sure that you're giving your sealant the best chance possible

02:16at doing its job, then go wide on your tires so that you can run a lower pressure.

02:26It's pretty well known that tubeless tires can be a complete nightmare to get onto your rims. It can

02:32almost leave you feeling like you'll never be able to stretch them on. You can end up with blood

02:37blisters, sore hands, and not to mention just feeling incredibly demoralized. But there are a few things

02:44that you can do to make life a little easier when it comes to getting them onto that rim for the very

02:49first time. Before you try and actually get them onto the rim, what I would say is place your new

02:55tires somewhere warm overnight. Ideally, maybe next to a radiator as that is going to help the rubber

03:02become more malleable. Then if you have an older set of wheels, try fitting the tires to these first with

03:08an inner tube and stretch them out a bit. Now, of course, sometimes older wheels, which aren't made

03:13for tubeless setups can be a little easier to mount tires to, but this can be a little bit hit and miss.

03:19So don't worry if it doesn't work out. If however, you can get the tires on again, I would say leave

03:25them inflated with that inner tube again in a warm place, and it's just going to make those tires a

03:31little bit easier to manage. Getting your tubeless wheels ready and prepared is absolutely crucial

03:40before you can even think about trying to get them set up. First, make sure that they're incredibly

03:46clean. You don't really want any gunk left from any previous tubeless setups. Also, check the rims for

03:52any dents or dings, which could hinder the ability for the tire to seat properly. Make sure that the rim

03:58tape is tight and evenly covering the inside of the rim and make sure that your valve is inserted

04:04correctly and it's right in the bed of the rim and potentially in the correct direction if it needs

04:11to be. Also, just make sure you utilize the little o-ring on the valve as well. You'd be amazed at how

04:17often these little o-rings can actually make a huge difference to getting your tire seated first time.

04:23If you're reusing valves, then pull the cores out and ensure that they're clean and they aren't gunked

04:28up on the inside. Once you've got your wheels prepped, then without getting any sealant involved,

04:38try and mount the tires. As always, be sure to utilize the deepest parts of the wheels to ensure

04:43that you get the maximum amount of leverage and just slowly work it all the way around. If you are

04:49able to get the tires on from this point, then great. Get them inflated and see if you can get those

04:55tires to pop into the bead. If you can't get the tires onto the rim, then actually there are tools

05:04that can help you, like one of these tire grabbers. Now, you can get these from places like Brand X,

05:10Lifeline or Challenge. They simultaneously hook onto the rim and grab the edge of the tire and then as you

05:17squeeze, it will then maneuver it into place. Now, as you keep working it around, you should be able to get

05:23it on. But don't be shy about putting a fair bit of force through one of these. They can absolutely

05:28save your hands so much pain and actually they are built to take a fair bit of strain.

05:38If you've successfully completed a dry fit on your wheels and if your sealant is fairly runny,

05:43then you can remove the valve core and inject the sealant directly into the wheel and then simply

05:48re-inflate. However, if your sealant is a bit too thick and would just coagulate inside the valve,

05:54then pop off a small section of the tire, pour in the correct amount of sealant and then spin the

05:59wheels by 180 degrees and then work the tire back into place. There's always one part of the tubeless

06:08setup process which always has my nerves on edge and that is when you start to introduce air for the

06:14first time to get the tire to seat. Just remember that the pop is your friend and what I like to do

06:24to save myself from the dreaded tubeless explosion is to get the tire to pop into place using a compressor

06:30or track pump with a recharge facility and then finish it off with a hand pump to fine tune that

06:37pressure inside the tire. This leads me really nicely onto my next point and that's to make sure

06:46that you monitor the pressure that is going into your tires. You may be very used to the amount of

06:51air you've been filling your inner tubes with, however tubeless tires and hookless rims do have

06:57some pretty different requirements. A lot of tubeless tires and hookless rims have a maximum pressure

07:03of around 70 psi. Of course be sure not to exceed any maximum recommended pressure but more importantly

07:11make sure the pressure is right for your combined bike and rider weight. This is how you can start

07:16to reap the benefits of running a more comfortable fast rolling tire setup. Now I like to use the SRAM

07:22calculator to help me work out what pressure I should be putting into my tires.

07:27One of the things that I really started to hate about tubeless setups especially during my time

07:36as a mechanic was the issues caused when the system went wrong and I must say that the time

07:42that my tubeless setup went wrong well it was a complete and utter nightmare. I had to fight with

07:48a tight fitting sealant cover tire to drain out the remaining sealant to then try and fit an inner

07:54tube which in reality was like trying to wrestle a wet fish into a small hole. However the mistake

08:00that I made was that I wasn't carrying any bacon strips or plugs to fill the hole that the sealant

08:05couldn't deal with. I think that if I had some of those then I probably could have sorted out the tire

08:10fairly easily so don't be like me make sure you're carrying the necessary tools to fix the basic problems.

08:18I won't lie to you I'm still pretty skeptical about running tubeless on the road. For me simply

08:25replacing or repairing an inner tube compared to wrestling with a tight fitting sealant covered

08:31tire when a puncture just won't seal is still my preferred option. However I think if you ensure

08:37you carry the right tools with you you fit tires with a nice large volume and utilize quality sealant

08:43and also run the right pressure for your bike and ride on weight well you might just be okay.

08:49Is there anything though that you wish you knew before you went tubeless? Let me know down in the

08:54comments below. If you enjoyed the video then please do drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for

08:59more content and I'll see you again very soon.

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