Ended up with a 2011 Giant XTC 29er 1. Broke it in by commuting to work on it on bike paths – yeah makes a lot of sense but...
Anyway, that first example died an ignoble death after being run over by a blind-arsed dufus of a motorist who watched me coming through a roundabout and then at the last possible second decided to blow the giveway sign and plow into me. I was put onto the bonnet and then ejected when he hit the skids, doing a nice three point landing and then bleeding profusely over the road via a nicely scratched up face and nose. One trip to the emergency ward via 'waammbulance' later showed I was only superficially damaged, which was more than could be said for the 29er – it had a terminal case of hole-punched-in-the-frame-itis and severe non-roundess-wheelus.
Eight months later and various dealings with an almost completely intransigent insurer, I got the new MTB – exactly the same model bike!
So, this time the bike and I hit the trails (literally on a few occasions!) with the upshot being that I decided the abundance of punctures had to go away, hence the title of this post. I herein document this mod.
A. Equipment
I decided on SunRingle Black Flag Pro 29 wheels. Good value, good feedback online and I liked the looks – well at least of the black rimmed and gold hubbed version: the gold rimmed and black hubbed version was a little too bling for me. (Piccies at the end of the post). Here's a link to the SunRingle site:
SunRingle Black Flag Pro 29 Wheels
The Pros come with the Stan's No-Tubes system rims (apparently SunRingle makes all of Stan's rims anyway) beautifully pre-fitted with the yellow sealing tape, and including 2 x tubeless valves, 2 x 59 ml bottles of Stan's Sealant, and featuring 28 double butted spokes per wheel, QR9 rear axle, and fittings for QR9, QR15 (which the Fox fork on the Giant has) and 20mm thru axle for the front hub: pretty much the full deal in one package. The red anodised freewheel looks nice, sounds good and works fine. The gold anodised hubs look just dandy in my opinion.
Tyre wise, I went with Schwalbe Racing Ralph Evo Tubeless Ready Snakeskins 2.25s: a little high tech for my neophyte skills but they were a good deal, and the Maxxis Aspens that came on the bike were a little too thin (2.10) and a little too slick for my liking (great for flat hardpack tho).
I also decided to keep the original set completely built up for swap in as a commuting set, so the new wheelset had the same Shimano discs and cassette (11-36) placed on it - plus some red anodised disc bolts: goes with the few other red ano bits on the bike!
So, got the stuff. Now what to do with it!
B. Assembly
I'd read some horror stories about getting tubeless stuff set up, and my trepidation wasn't helped when I caught a cautionary tail involving the tyres I'd just purchased!
Still, armed with a viewing of the Stans Video, some soapy water, and the required Stans equipment, plus wheels and tyres, I set forth.
Turns out, for this particular combo, getting it done was easy as! Here's my procedure in step-by-step form:
Sitting down, hold the tyre upright with side facing you, take a rim, with tube hole at the topmost position, and place it completely inside the tyre well (with discs brakes I had my disc side facing me). At this stage make sure that you a) have the tyre in the correct rotation direction if applicable, and b) the tyre is dressed relative to the rim properly (i.e. labels where they should be in relation to the valve). Because the tyre fits onto the rim fairly tightly, even with only one bead on, it's hard to rotate the tyre to the correct position if the dressing isn't done first.
Start inserting the outer tyre bead (the one facing away from you) into the far side of the rim, commencing at the bottom. Work upwards, both sides evenly. I found doing it this way meant I was only having to move one half of the tyre onto the rim at a time, and also towards the end of the insertion process when the remaining bead gets tight towards the top of the rim, you can use your hands (and a suitable cloth – I used a dish towel) over the top of the tyre to grip the rim with the tyre in the palm of your hands, like you are gripping a motorbike throttle, and twist towards you. Doing it this way I was able to get all four beads of the 2 tyres on without using any levers (it takes a little time, but it worked for me).
Once the first bead is on, turn the tyre 180 degrees on it's vertical axis so the unattached bead is facing you and insert and secure the tubeless valve into the rim (it should be on the top of the rim if you've started the install the way I did). Check the dressing! Then, rotate the wheel along it's direction of travel so that the valve is on the bottom of the wheel, spin the wheel another 180 vertically so the unhooked bead is facing away from you, and repeat the second bead installation in the same way as the first, making sure that the bead on the bottom is inserted between the valve and the rim wall. Bead insertion was tight towards the top but the grip method above worked for me again.
Now, you have a tyre on the rim, oriented and dressed correctly. Time to inflate!
First off, get some thoroughly soapy water (I took some soap pieces and put them in a jar of warm water, put on the lid and shook vigorously until the water was very cloudy) and apply it with a cloth to the inside rim and the outside of the bead all the way around on both sides of the wheel. Place the tyre on the ground upright with the valve at the bottom and attach a floor pump and inflate. I found that this combo of tyre and rim held air instantly, the beads sealing against the yellow rim tape all the way around the tyre, and the tyre bead sealed with a 'thwack' or two against the rim at about 30 psi. I inflated to 40 psi (the maximum recommended by SunRingle) and left it for a few moments – no soapy bubbling at all!
Now for the sealant. Deflating the tyre saw the beads unhitch from the rim but remained sealed against the tape. Unscrew the valve portion of the tubeless valve and using the Stans 59ml bottle (whose nozzle fits directly inside the empty Presta valve) slowly squeeze all the contents into the tyre, and reinstall valve innards. At this stage I didn't move the tyre – I inflated it first again, the tyre beads seated in the rim with the same 'thwack' and the tyre went straight back up to 40 psi. Then I did the old Stan's Dance to distribute the sealant all around the inside of the tyre.
Leave laying horizontal disc side up over night to check for leaks and rinse and repeat for the other wheel/tyre! Like I said, for me with this tyre and wheel combo, easy as!
Next morning, the wheels were at the same pressure and no sign of any Stans Sealant anywhere (it could still be heard sloshing around inside the tyre). They have remained like that since with a little air from time to time.
So, piccies at completion! (couldn't be arsed waiting to take individual component pics - just wanted to get them together!)
I'm happy.
To me they look nice, ride great, no punctures and an overall weight saving over the standard Giant setup of around 600 grams – excellent!
I'll put up a longer term impression when the tyres have worn out – which the Racing Ralphs seem to do fairly quickly I've heard.
Ride Safe!
