Can I go tubeless? Confusion...

[w2ge]

Newbie here... so TIA

I bought a 2021 Powerfly 4, wheels are Bontrager Connection... they do not say they are tubeless ready. Local bike shop repaired a flat and said they could be converted, Trek shop says I need new wheels, saying the bead is different? So does that mean I can’t even mount tubeless ready tires, as I think the stock tires are bit slippery. Thinking of Maxxis Rekons. Or, is it just the rim bead will hold tubeless ready tires but would not hold air without tube?

I’d hate to have to spend another $300-500 for rims after just spending $$$ on bike. ?

TIA, Phil

 

[BrentD]

The Bontrager Connection tyres do not appear to be tubeless ready but you plan to swap those out and Rekons (which are tubeless ready in 27.5 and 29 sizes) would be a good choice.

You could convert the rims to tubeless with the Stans No Tubes tape (or similar from Muc Off, etc.) from what I can see though I note that the rims are drilled for Schrader valves (like a car rim) so you will need Schrader tubeless valves which do exist but you might need to do a bit of hunting to find them. You might even to be able to use a car tubeless valve if it will fit in the rim bed. It will be a bit heavier than a bicycle specific one but not really an issue on an e-bike.

 

[Mabman]

Or just get the Rekons and mount them on your wheels using your existing rim strips and tubes, pull the valve cores and insert 3-4 oz. of "tubeless" sealant into the valves and replace core. Inflate to preferred psi/bar and it will be alot cheaper and provide good puncture sealing and more aggressive tires will help with the traction you seek.

 

[KennyB]

Tried putting Stan's in a tube and all that happened when it punctures is liquid sealant getting all over the inside of the tyre and not sealing. Apparently the spray of sealant interacting with the air is what does the sealing. May work with other sealants. Self sealing tubes are also available.

 

[Voluptua]

I found these images which may explain the "bead" difference that the Trek people were talking about. There's a flat land on the tubeless compatible rim that the bead of the tyre will sit on and provide a seal, even at low pressures. Is your wheel similar to one of these examples?

Here's the link: Tubeless rims article

 

[Gary]

Any bicycle rim and tyre can be set-up tubeless with a little care.
I just set up my neighbours cheap (£900) Carrera Ebike tubeless for him and it had non tubeless, pinned, shrader drilled rims and I used a set of non tubeless Schwalbe rons.
either tape the rim carefully the full width of the well or use a split innertube.
to create a better seal at the bead simply wet the edge of the tyre (bead) with neat sealant when fitting. once popped on the bead will bond to the rim/tape/tube
You simply need to use a little more sealant if using non tubeless tyres.
and if you want to run presta tubeless valves in a shrader drilled rim you simply have to build up the valve hole with miltiple layers of tape to create a better seal.

 

[steve_sordy]

Another tip with tyres that are not tubeless ready is to make sure you use a latex sealant (loads of them about, and the most commonly used). The sealant goes off after a few moths or so, but the latex seals the sidewalls of the tyre much faster and better than the non latex sealants do. So why use a non-latex sealant? Because they don't go off.

 

[Sidepod]

All of the above has slow puncture written all over it for me.

 

[KennyB]

Why use a latex sealant? Stan's DART is brilliant and only works with it.

 

[steve_sordy]

Why use a latex sealant? Stan's DART is brilliant and only works with it.

My Continental Revo sealant (a latex sealant with particles in it) worked with a Stans dart.
The hole was weeping steadily but slowly over two rides, so I used a Dart and that was that!