Actually, did have one issue with Stans. Had a small sidewall tear. Stans would seal it up, sort of. Worked well enough to get back out of tunnel 5 and to the car. Would it have been better with a tube? I don't know. I'd imagine the tube would have shred too. I carry a spare tube because of that, but haven't needed it yet.

Not exactly on fireroads or buff trails, but no jumps or drops either. As nice a guy as he is, I'm tired of supporting my orthopedic surgeon's Porsche addiction through my lack of skills.

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~Milan Kundera

Non tubeless tire with non tubeless rims works just fine with the stans kit. I am running WTB rims with non tubeless Nevegals, and it works fine.





All tires and wheels can be run tubeless, so weight should have no effect on anything.
As for your fear of a tear in the sidewall, that is no different than if you were running a tube. If you tear the sidewall with a tube in, it is going to pop, so you will lose the air either way. Other than that, cover the tear, throw a tube in, and be on your way.
If you go tubeless you should definetly still carry a spare tube. You will more than likely rarely ever need it, but it can't hurt to have.
As far as how hard you ride, pressure is pressure tubeless or not. If you are running 20 psi with or without a tube you still run the same risk at damaging a wheel. The difference is that the tire with no tube comforms better to the terrrain when at the same given pressure.

Look, I'm no expert, actually I am a montain bike newb. However, I cannot see any factual, non internet heresay, reason not to run tubeless.
I switched to tubeless a while back, and can't say I would have it any other way. It just makes sense.

With that said, I think ghetto tubeless is probably not a bad idea. I cannot say I would recommend NoTubes as a company personally. The only thing the stan's rim strip does is give the tire some rubber to seal against, to resist burping, and gives you a valve stem. The ghetto bmx way with a 20" tube should do the same.

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Ride it until they CDFW it.

I've had a few sidewall tears that didn't pop the tube. Caused me to buy a new tire, because the tube was beginning to poke out and I'm not going to run a tire with a cut sidewall, patched or not. Some would, I won't. And the only thing that worries me is how abusive I am on my bike. I just don't think tubeless is strong enough to not burb on half the shit I do. Hell, I'm already starting to crack the frame on the Reign.... it's small, but it's there.

While you may very well be right, some videos I have seen may challenge that idea. There are vids of people using a c clamp on the tire, and clamping the sidewalls completely together and twisting pretty far before the tire burps.

More than likely, I do not ride at the level necessary to even begin to challenge this, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

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Ride it until they CDFW it.

Understood, but what your video is showing is a completely different kind of force. Think of it as a static force versus a dymanic force. Static would be like clamping the tire and twisting, just like in your video. Dynamic would be like smashing the tire into a rock garden at a high rate of speed with constantly differing forces acting on the tire.

GP_Pilots' burp at TW was where he was going like a half mile per hour. It was just the way he rolled off this one rock that made his tire burp, and the pressure his weight put on the tire.

I can't argue when I only have heresay, and limited experience whereas you guys have real life trail experience.
Personally I went tubeless to avoid pinch flats. I'm thinking it has to do with my newb stylz, lol. All I know is that I had 3 pinchflats one week at 30-35 psi, and the bike felt too squirrely at 40-45psi. Since going tubeless, I have not taken either wheel off my bike.

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Ride it until they CDFW it.

Not all tubeless is equal. I think there's a fundamental difference between tubeless (rims and tires) and BMX tube / Stans Ghetto. With the latter, the Stans seals the BMX tube to your tire. Changing your tire requires ripping them apart. Should be pretty sound.

Or at least that's been my experience.

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~Milan Kundera

I had the same thing. The tear wasn't that bad but must've been in just the right spot that the Stan's couldn't and wouldn't take hold well enough to seal really well. Although in defense of the Stan's, it was kind of old and I should have replaced it sooner. I patched the inside of the tire when I got home though and it was good as new.

OK, I mis-read your intent in your first post. My bad.



The low-speed "tire burps" don't make a lot of sense to me and are a little aggravating. I've had them happen a few times when climbing--like the rear wheel goes into a rut and the tire side wall rolls coming out of it and burps. Mine always re-seated themselves though. I lost a little Stan's and some air pressure so I had to stop and pump the tire back up.

It doesn't happen that often though, so I'd say the Pros definitely out-weigh the Cons. When you can lessen rolling resistance/friction/weight all while decreasing the likelihood of getting a flat, I say go for it. It's probably not a good idea if your riding leads more to the Gravity side though.

If you think about it a gash in the sidewall is different than a hole in the tread. Every time you hit a bump or rock a puncture in the tread pushes in. The force of the air goes away from the hole. Besides, that's where the latex is anyway. The sidewall flexes out and the pressure of the air opens the 'wound'.

Sidewall punctures in vehicle tires, the same, the tire is trashed.

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~Milan Kundera

I never thought about it like that. Makes sense. Good point!

After my fun today, I won't be thinking of tubeless anytime soon.

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Seriously?

So when you have Ust rims and Ust tires are you good to go? Or is there usually problems and you should sport a little bit of stans.

You still need Stans. Without it, the tire will still loose air in a couple of days and thorns/goatheads will result in a leak as well. Tubeless bike tire is not the same as radial (tubeless) tire on a car.

You don't have to use Stans, there are other types of sealant. But, yes, you should use some type of sealant no matter which type of tubeless you run.

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Ride it until they CDFW it.