Ghetto Tubeless Do & Don't

Knackers

I had my first failure on a ghetto tubeless setup a few days ago - while experimenting with lower pressures and landing a small jump I had the front tyre lose pressure... with the amusing (not at the time) side effect of putting me right over the bars and landing my little chaps on the top tube. Painful. And the tyre didn't re-seal properly, either, leaving me with a wheel I had no confidence in, with a slow puncture. Time to head home...

Rim Tape

Sometimes, you can't DIY...

With a combination of the rubbish UK weather and an injured shoulder, I've only been riding the road bike lately. I had two mysterious flat tyres within the space of few days... both without any thorns, and both while the bike was in the car. Easy enough to fix, if a bit of a pain and cut short a ride or two. So what was behind the mystery?

The tube had bulged into them there holes.

Turns out that it was all my fault (of course, these things usually are). When I'd built the wheels I'd used a few wraps of electrical tape to cover the spoke holes. Now this is all perfectly satisfactory in the land of 30psi mountain bike tyres, but when it comes to road bikes, the high pressures (100psi+) are far too much for the tape to support, and the tube had squished itself down into the spoke holes. Now, take the bike out for a few rides, and presto - much chafing action.

Lesson learned: no more electrical tape for me - proper stuff only, from now on.