For my next project I have decided to take the tubeless tire path that Gizmo and U-Turn have been raving about.
I contacted Mike Bush at www.notubes.com and he said they will ship 36inch rim strips for Coker or other 36" wheel riders on order…COOL!
He can be reached also by calling to NY, (607)739-2301
I ordered mine today along with the Notubes Tire Sealant These two items(36"rim strip & sealant) are all you need.
If you are attempting to do this yourself, you MUST view the installation video here!VERY IMPORTANT
I will follow up on my successful attempt in few weeks.
I’ve been running tubeless on my 36 for awhile now. Two tires down, no changes, no flats, no burbing (road only). If you’re using an airfoil rim, you will have to bend a washer to fit over the shrader hole or the valve lock ring will fall in the rim.
Yes, theres a latex mix fluid inside the tire, usually by one round of the tire, the hole is sealed. Note: if you get alot of punctures and/or halfway through the season, you will have to add some fluid to cover what is lost or dried up.
There is a rubber rim strip with a valve attached inside covering the spoke holes. Some fluid gets between the bead of the tire and rim strip that needs to be wiped off before re-installing the new tire. You can easily go back to a tube if it came down to it. As for tube weight, I would agree with Gizmo that it will save you around 200 grams over a Coker tube, but nothing to the lighter 29 tube.
It depends. As well as the sealant mix, there is a rim strip that has a valve on it which goes around the rim. The rim strip+goo probably comes up to about the same as a 29’er tube, depending on how much sealant you put in.
The weight saving alone makes the conversion worthwhile.
As well as that, there is the puncture protection- both from penetrating punctures as well as pinchflats.
And then there is the ride- the tyre just feels more supple with less rubber rubbing against each other. And you can put the tyre pressures right down for off-road traction. It hums
Man, I am so pumped! I finally got the tubeless to work on my Coker after weeks of failure! Thanks Gizmo and others for the idea! I’ve gone through 5 tubes and one tire, but worth the effort! It truely rides like air without the tube! It feels like riding a 24" uni instead of 36"!
So if you want be spared the trouble I have gone through, follow these steps/advises(it will save you many griefs!) What you need to do:
-get the 36" strip from notubeless.com AND the sealant
-get a weather-strip(2 1/2 inch in width) LONG enough to cover the ENTIRE rim, from your local hardware stores
-use a hand/foot pump, do NOT use air-compressor!
-see the installation video(mentioned earlier)
Remove the the tire and the rubber strip.
Placed the weather-strip around the rim SNUGGLY. Make sure the air-hole is covered also(you can puncture a hole for the valve later)
Put the tire one side, then the other. Pump air and see if the air “holds” in the tire. If it does not, then check the weather-strips(it may not be properly fitted)
Then with one side of the tire out, put 2 1/2 cups(provided w/ sealant)
Use a bike lever to put other side of tire then “pat” the tire down.
Pump some air in, then “shake” the tire to seal the little “leaks.” Do this for about 10minutes to make sure all the ‘leaks’ are sealed!
When no more air is leaking out, put more air using the hand pump. DO NOT PUT MORE THEN 25 psi!! The tubeless feature cause you to put LESS air then if the tube exists.
I am glad you got it to work and thanks for sharing your experience. However, I think the how-to you provided may be a little confusing.
Apparently you just forgot to include “install rim strip”.
You should explain why you are putting foam weatherstripping in. I assume to hold the tire beads against the rim for easier inflation.
Generally an air compressor is used, eliminating the need for the foam strip, I think. Are you avoiding the air compressor because you blew up 5 29er tubes with one?
I have not done the tubeless conversion yet. I think a lot of us plan to try it so I just wanted the information here to be as helpful as possible to everyone. Please clarify.
You are right Scott! Sorry about that, I was so excited to get back on my Coker I forget the details! You asked if the foam weather-strip is necessary; YOUR COKER CAN’T GO TUBELESS WITHOUT IT! The reason is the Coker rim is so deep the air leaks out. The rubber stip and the tire does not touch. And yes, I have tried using an air compressor also; this will NOT solve this problem(I tried many times!) YOU NEED THE WEATHER-STRIP! Also the reason for the foam weather-strip is cause it was light and it will stick to the rim as you install it. Let me revise the steps once more.
Remove the the tire and the rubber strip.
Fit the weather-strip inside the rim SNUGGLY. Make sure the air-hole is covered also(you can puncture a hole for the valve later)
Put the Notubes rubber strip on TOP of the weather strip, make sure the strip does not ‘spill-over’ the rim.
Put the tire one side, then the other. Pump air and see if the air “holds” in the tire. If it does not, then check the weather-strips(it may not be properly fitted)
Then with one side of the tire out, put 2 1/2 cups(provided w/ sealant)
Use a bike lever to put other side of tire then “pat” the tire down.
Pump some air in, then “shake” the tire to seal the little “leaks.” Do this for about 10minutes to make sure all the ‘leaks’ are sealed!
When no more air is leaking out, put more air using the hand pump.
Ride around a bit to even out the sealant on the tire. You may need to pump some more air in the the next day.
(DO NOT PUT MORE THEN 30 psi!!) The tubeless feature cause you to put LESS air.
Presumably between steps 3 & 4 you have to make a valve hole in the weather strip and rim strip?
If you use a compressor couldn’t you do without the weather strip? Everything I’ve ever read about installation of NoTubes says to use a compressor. If the one of the goals of going tubeless is to lose weight, adding a weather strip won’t help here.
You may or may not need the foam tape (weather strip), it weighs next to nothing. The purpose is to build up the center of the rim so the rim strip contacts the tire bead. You do not have to cut a hole in the strip or foam tape, start and stop the tape at the valve hole. The valve is attached to the rubber rim strip. My next wheel, I’m going to spread the beads before installation so I can avoid using the foam tape. You WILL have to inflate to a high psi to get the tire to seat properly on an Airfoil rim. Stan’s recommend not going over 40 PSI, but I have run higher without problems.
The weather strip is probably necessary with the stock rim. The Coker tire fits much more loosely on the stock rim than the Airfoil rim. I don’t think Ken Looi has a foam strip in his Airfoil rim for the tubeless conversion.
The Notube rubber strip has a valve attached(see photo), so all you need to do is punch a small hole through the weather-strip. This is to minimize the gap between the foam. The Notube install video does says use compressor and does not mentioned the weather-strip. But they did not have to deal with the 36inch Coker tire! As for the weight of the tire after install, my experience is my Coker riders much lighter(foam weather-strip is light). If you can make it without the weather-strip, then share how you did it.
I converted my no-tubes set without a foam strip by bringing it to my local bike shop and letting them deal with it. They advised using lot’s of soapy water. You can use it to find where there are leaks are (from the bubbles) and just rotate the latex mix around to seal up the leaks as you pump it up with a compressor.
Alas- I am back on the Coker Tube because I have a defective Coker tyre. Apparently the bead on my new Coker is broken in one spot. My bike mechanic blew it up- it stayed up for a minute or so, and then it blew up. It looks the defective bead will not set on the rim properly (or at least maintain a seal). Does not matter if I’m using a tube, but it means that I’m unable to convert back to tubeless.
So it’s back to using to a tube for the lifespan of my current Coker tyre
In terms of PSI I was running much higher than 40PSI on the road. Off road I can let it right down to almost nothing and not worry about pinch flatting.
attempt in few weeks.
