Tubeless Wheels

[Velocite]

I joined this forum just now after reading the excellent hubs review by madcow. What a substantial contribution, thankyou. I built myself a new bike a year or so ago and I'm very happy with it. The only reservation I have is that I didn't build the wheels - I relate more strongly to things I've built. I intended to, but having bought a Velocite ISOFLOW frame, the Velocite NIOC32 wheelset looked just right, and it's turned out well. But I've decided I like the idea of tubeless wheels, so I thought I'd build some, hence my interest in the hub review. It seems you can't buy tubeless rims, so I'm thinking HED C2's, and based on the hubs review I thought Alchemy hubs at each end. In addition to the (carbon monocoque) Velocite frame, the bike has SRAM Red, 3T Carbon bars, Oval seat post, Specialized Phenom seat and a 3T alloy stem. I'm 68, ride about 150 km per week in the hills around Warrandyte, Victoria, Australia where I live. I like the idea of tubeless for comfort and feel.

Thanks for the forum.

[Ypsylon]

Hello and welcome!

Sounds like a good plan. You can't really go wrong with the Alchemy hubs.

What sort of system are you planing on using to convert the HED rims to tubeless?

[Velocite]

Thanks for the reply. My impression is that there isn't much choice in tubeless road tyres, it's basically Hutchison Fusion 3, is that correct? My current road tyres are GP4000S, so I'm looking for a tubeless tyre to do a similar job, but better. And I believe I need some tape to seal the rim and some sealant. Stan's seems to be the default choice.

As you can tell, I'm feeling my way. Your thoughts?

[rlpaul]

Maxxis has a tubeless tire also, iirc. There's a couple others.

We've had a set of the Shimano tubeless C50s in the shop for a while, and nobody seems to want to be the first to test them out - think I've seen one guy using tubeless on road so far. So still an emerging product for roadies.

Stans is ok, but its not the only option. There's another one the mountain guys talk about, but I don't run tubeless on MTB either, so never paid attention.

[Ypsylon]

Not an expert here either, but AFAIK, depending on the rim you use you either need tape or a rubber strip.





The only road rim they list that needs the rubber rim strip is the Mavic Open Pro, but the Hed rim you mentioned doesn't exactly have standard dimensions, so it might be worth sending Stan's an e-mail.

I've heard good things about tubeless and a lot of people here would like to try it, but nobody wants to buy a pair and pass around.

[TheRedMantra]

Stans is ok, but its not the only option. There's another one the mountain guys talk about, but I don't run tubeless on MTB either, so never paid attention.

Eclipse and Caffelatex come to mind. Two more options to research.