Since we are now living in an area with great mountain biking trails and goat heads, I decided to convert my mountain bike tires to tubeless. Tubeless bicycle tires have thick liquid in them that will plug puncture holes. No more stopping to change a tube.
A special thanks to @Azjeff who not only inspired me to change to tubeless, by telling me the horrors of goat heads, and also talked me through the process and took a couple phone calls when I got stuck.
I already had tubeless valve stems that came with my Specialized Stump Jumper FSR and ordered rim tape and MUC OFF sealant.
How difficult is this conversion? It's not. If you can change a tube, then you can convert to tubeless. It's really that simple.
Front tire removed. I had to dry the tire and wheel, as there was a bit of water inside, but no rust. I cleaned the wheel and the tire thoroughly.
These valve stems came with the bike and after 2 moves and 6 years I was able to find them!
The wheels were pre-taped with non-adhesive style bands. Convenient! I didn't have to tape the wheels!
Valve stem installed
Tube removed and the tire back on wheel, then MUC OFF goes into the tire. My tire size, 27.5x3 calls for 100ml. The bottle has a sight window and is conveniently marked with a scale in 100ml increments. The bottle comes with a soft filler hose, which is a nice touch.
I bought a Presta to Schrader adapter so I could use my air compressor to seat the tire beads. I highly recommend these as it makes bead-seating much faster and easier.
The tire was back on the rim and I was ready to take the bike for a spin to get the MUC OFF distributed around the inside of the tire. Just one problem, air was leaking from around the valve stem. At first I thought the problem was the valve stems, because the rubber seal shape looked like it may not be large enough to seal the valve stem hole. I took the tire off to inspect the stem to see if it might be leaking at the seal to wheel interface. I couldn't see anything wrong, but it was leaking there, so off I went to a bike store to see of they had valve stems with cone shaped seals. I asked the guy at the shop what he thought could be the problem and he said factory wheels often have bands without adhesive and that air was likely leaking around the band into the wheel cavity, then out the valve stem hole.
I picked up a couple of new valve stems with cone shaped seals.
The wheel tape looked fine, but I lifted the edge up to see if there was any MOC OFF under the tape and sure enough, lots of MUC OFF. The factory tape wasn't sealing. Which is understandable that in 6 years it probably hardened a bit and was no longer capable of holding air.
I cleaned the inner wheel surface and put adhesive seal tape to cover the spoke holes.
In the previous picture you can see the air between the tape and the wheel. You have to really work the air out with your fingers or better yet with a soft rubber type tool.
No air between the tape and the wheel.
I did use the factory valve stems to see if they would seal and they do.
Both wheels are done the same way and now with no leaks around the spoke holes to the valve stem.
I no longer fear goat heads.
A special thanks to @Azjeff who not only inspired me to change to tubeless, by telling me the horrors of goat heads, and also talked me through the process and took a couple phone calls when I got stuck.
I already had tubeless valve stems that came with my Specialized Stump Jumper FSR and ordered rim tape and MUC OFF sealant.
How difficult is this conversion? It's not. If you can change a tube, then you can convert to tubeless. It's really that simple.
Front tire removed. I had to dry the tire and wheel, as there was a bit of water inside, but no rust. I cleaned the wheel and the tire thoroughly.
These valve stems came with the bike and after 2 moves and 6 years I was able to find them!
The wheels were pre-taped with non-adhesive style bands. Convenient! I didn't have to tape the wheels!
Valve stem installed
Tube removed and the tire back on wheel, then MUC OFF goes into the tire. My tire size, 27.5x3 calls for 100ml. The bottle has a sight window and is conveniently marked with a scale in 100ml increments. The bottle comes with a soft filler hose, which is a nice touch.
I bought a Presta to Schrader adapter so I could use my air compressor to seat the tire beads. I highly recommend these as it makes bead-seating much faster and easier.
The tire was back on the rim and I was ready to take the bike for a spin to get the MUC OFF distributed around the inside of the tire. Just one problem, air was leaking from around the valve stem. At first I thought the problem was the valve stems, because the rubber seal shape looked like it may not be large enough to seal the valve stem hole. I took the tire off to inspect the stem to see if it might be leaking at the seal to wheel interface. I couldn't see anything wrong, but it was leaking there, so off I went to a bike store to see of they had valve stems with cone shaped seals. I asked the guy at the shop what he thought could be the problem and he said factory wheels often have bands without adhesive and that air was likely leaking around the band into the wheel cavity, then out the valve stem hole.
I picked up a couple of new valve stems with cone shaped seals.
The wheel tape looked fine, but I lifted the edge up to see if there was any MOC OFF under the tape and sure enough, lots of MUC OFF. The factory tape wasn't sealing. Which is understandable that in 6 years it probably hardened a bit and was no longer capable of holding air.
I cleaned the inner wheel surface and put adhesive seal tape to cover the spoke holes.
In the previous picture you can see the air between the tape and the wheel. You have to really work the air out with your fingers or better yet with a soft rubber type tool.
No air between the tape and the wheel.
I did use the factory valve stems to see if they would seal and they do.
Both wheels are done the same way and now with no leaks around the spoke holes to the valve stem.
I no longer fear goat heads.
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Good tires and liners won't repel 10+ thorns. Had to go off road due to construction on the bike trail. Must of went right over the plant. Saved the front tire but not the back.