I decided to set my bike up with tubeless tires today.
The process is easily described, but you should watch this video by Park Tool for a proper step-by-step guide. Starting with the wheels off the bike,
- Remove the tire, inner tube, and existing rim strip.
- Clean the inside of the rim so the rim tape adheres properly.
- Apply the rim tape.
- Install tubeless valve.
- Reinstall tires (or switch to tubeless tires).
- Remove valve core, spray soapy water along both sides/beads, and inflate until seated.
- Once seated, deflate and inject tubeless sealant.
- Reinflate, and spin/agitate wheel to properly coat the interior with sealant.
I wanted to note a couple steps where things didn't go so smoothly.
Removing the tire
This
step really shouldn't be difficult. After all, it must be done every
time you get a flat tire. Unfortunately, this step took the longest. On
my rear tire, getting one side unseated wasn't so bad, but the other
side needed contorting beyond my abilities. An helped me get it loose by
laying the wheel flat on the ground, stepping on the tire as close to
the rim as possible, and pulling the wheel upwards. A photo of the
aftermath:
Since
the rim was bare, I decided to try my hand at truing my front wheel,
which had a somewhat visible wobble. I ended up strapping two tire
levers to the front fork as a jury-rigged truing stand. It worked
surprisingly well. We'll see if I regret it later.
Applying rim tape
I used some WTB rim tape
for my rims. Some reviews on Amazon said the tape didn't have much
adhesion, and unfortunately I have to agree. I was unable to get a fully
flat seal with the tape, despite my best efforts at keeping the tape
under tension as I applied it. It probably would have gone better with
more practice, but I won't be using this tape again. I'd rather just
have stickier tape, though it might be harder to remove.
Final words
Everything
else went well enough. I'm hoping that the tape holds, though I won't
be surprised if it fails in the next few test rides. Fingers crossed 🤞
PS.
I was overly optimistic with my bike shop's schedule. They won't be
able to tune up the bike before I leave, so I'm going to have to get the
basics done myself. I've already discovered that my chain is well
beyond worn (perks of buying a test-ride bike I guess), so I'll be
replacing that shortly. I'm also seriously contemplating changing the
cassette and a chainring after all, to get a lower climbing gear.