Is it possible to seal spoked wheels & go tubeless

[Frosties]

Hiya fellas,

As per title really. Had my fair share of punctures recently and getting fed up of needing new inners every time. I seem to remember reading somewhere about some form of aircraft paint that you can use on the inside of the wheels that seals the spokes and allows you to go tubeless.

Does anyone now about this or am I just wishful thinking?

Any other ideas welcome.

Cheers in advance for any help

[Mustang]

some have had excellent results with RTV sealant , it's all in the prep work .

[fishnbiker]

Absolutely!!! Mine was done about 14 years ago. Needed a bit of touch-up on a couple of spokes, but I'm happy with a slow loss of about 1~2 psi/month. We should be checking air pressure regularly even with tubes anyways.

I first tried sealing with Silicone Seal, but found it flaking off in time. After a really good wire brushing & Acetone wash, I re-sealed with a Urethane caulking glue (GOOP & GLOOZIT come to mind). 3 light layers with an hour between each one to keep a good thicker layer from drooping. A tubeless valve stem was installed during this application to be sealed integrally.

The spokes & nipples need to be confirmed in tune & good condition first as later adjustment is very messy & difficult.

I usually keep tubes on board when riding any distance off pavement, (I do about 50~50 off~on pavement) but have never had a flat in 115,000km since the conversion, so my tubes, although many years old, are "new old stock" to date. Maybe I just have horseshoes?

[Frosties]

Absolutely!!! Mine was done about 14 years ago. Needed a bit of touch-up on a couple of spokes, but I'm happy with a slow loss of about 1~2 psi/month. We should be checking air pressure regularly even with tubes anyways.

I first tried sealing with Silicone Seal, but found it flaking off in time. After a really good wire brushing & Acetone wash, I re-sealed with a Urethane caulking glue (GOOP & GLOOZIT come to mind). 3 light layers with an hour between each one to keep a good thicker layer from drooping. A tubeless valve stem was installed during this application to be sealed integrally.

The spokes & nipples need to be confirmed in tune & good condition first as later adjustment is very messy & difficult.

I usually keep tubes on board when riding any distance off pavement, (I do about 50~50 off~on pavement) but have never had a flat in 115,000km since the conversion, so my tubes, although many years old, are "new old stock" to date. Maybe I just have horseshoes?

Sounds spot on to me fella. Covers all angles with some sound advice - many thanks. Would you happen to remember the name or brand of Urethane caulking glue you used. Can most tyre places confirm that the spokes & nipples would be in tune & good condition or was this assessment made by yourself.

Cheers again

[iansoady]

Yes indeed. Did mine about 5 years ago and had absolutely no problems despite dire warnings of disaster. They lose (at most) a couple of psi per year.

Details here:

http://www.triumphrat.net/tiger-workshop-archive/46888-what-i-did-on-my-holidays-spoke-sealing.html

[Frosties]

Yes indeed. Did mine about 5 years ago and had absolutely no problems despite dire warnings of disaster. They lose (at most) a couple of psi per year.

Details here:

http://www.triumphrat.net/tiger-workshop-archive/46888-what-i-did-on-my-holidays-spoke-sealing.html

Cheers Ian, another spot on bit of advice. Much appreciated 

[Marc]

I found this one interesting as well

http://cyb.smugmug.com/gallery/7250813_ZxQA5#!i=465979306&k=6pKDBnG

[windscreenman1]

If you know a windscreen fitter like myself a polyurethane adhesive is easy to source you would need some primer and 1 tube of glue total cost about 20 spondulies should do both rims
I did 2 rims for a mates rm 250 been no bother since and that was 6 mths agoif you get stuck I could send you some let me know if I can help
Cheers

[Frosties]

If you know a windscreen fitter like myself a polyurethane adhesive is easy to source you would need some primer and 1 tube of glue total cost about 20 spondulies should do both rims
I did 2 rims for a mates rm 250 been no bother since and that was 6 mths agoif you get stuck I could send you some let me know if I can help
Cheers

Many thanks for that fella - cracking offer.

If i can't source some then will definitely give you a shout.

Much appreciated 

[Milton]

Did mine about 2.5 years ago. Rear rim didn't do so well so I had to re-do it and I haven't had any trouble since. It's the way to go.

[Sin_Tiger]

Collected an "Outex" kit last weekend, only because I was too lazy to source all the individual components 

Picked up my bare rims from the workshop an hour ago.

Tonights little project 

[Bob Tosi]

mine were done when I got the steamer.  It looks like rtv sealant.  Ive ran Michelin Pilot roads, kenda bigblocks,and now Heidenau K60
scouts.  Ive road it hard off road and fast on the street and never had any problem with leaking.  It will  loose maybe  a couple of psi a month.  If its done right you wont have a problem.  Ive picked up flats and just plugged them and moved on

[Sin_Tiger]

Right, ended up being two nights work. Did the rear first, dropped it off at the workshop. Did the rear the next night and waited for my mechanic to refit the tyres. Not such good news on Friday afternoon, front was good not dropping any pressure over 24hrs, the rear was dropping half a bar in an hour.

Unfortunately it's lunar new year this weekend so the everything is shutdown  got fed up this morning after a weekend of almost nonstop rain, the tyres on the Thruxton are not fun in the rain. Sod it I'm going to whip the back wheel off at the workshop and do it with hand tools. I suspected the leak was at the valve and as best I could tell, that's where must of it was coming from.

The Japanese company that sells the kit, Outex=http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~outex/tubelesskitenglishlist.htm in the instructions says you cut a hole through the two tapes the same size as the valve but after taking the Tyre off it could be seen that the tape had moved when the valve stem was tightened, so I cut the tape out slightly larger than the end of the stem. Heated the remaining tape and pushed it back just to be sure. Cleaned it all again with denatured alcohol, applied a small amount of Dow Corning sealant and refitted the valve stem.

I also polished up the weld joint, I did that on the front room but didn't think the surface warranted it on the back originally, not taking any chances this time.

The front was tougher trying to keep the tape straight due to the width of the tape compared to the depth of the rim cup, the tape tends to catch the edges before the base, potentially trapping air. I took 2.5 - 3 hours per rim. Use acetone if you can get it, if not brake cleaner for the heavy cleaning followed up with denatured alcohol for final clean, don't use label remover, it leaves a film you can't see. If you can, get a mate to help hold / turn the rim while you concentrate on keeping it straight. Have as powerful a hairdryer or heart gun on low for the cover tape, its harder to adjust the lead in angle being more or less hard.

Off to blow up the rear, my little pocket compressor wouldn't work from the small power supply, fingers crossed.

If this works out, the Thruxton is next, then the Steamer 

2 hours later it's still sitting just under 3 bar from when I filled it 

[Sin_Tiger]

Update.

Front still holding same pressure as last week.

Rear went down overnight, suspected cable washer getting deformed, the hole in the rim is about 1.5mm bigger than the stem supplied. Changed the rubber washers from another make of valve stem which improved things, no detectable leaks. Suspected also that the "Tube Type"original is not dealings will a it should on the rear rim but very hard to detect. Tried a well worn Snake on the rim and it's not dropped at all overnight.

Was hoping to get at least another 5k kms out of the originals but have decided to go with new Anakee 2 Tubeless. The originals have sat on the rims stationary for over a year, so that may have been a factor.

Waiting for delivery of the new Anakee's, unfortunately the 3 is not yet available locally, I would have liked to try those as initial reports appear good.

[JetdocX]

There's this:

http://www.cyclegear.com/eng/product/TUbliss-Core_Off-Road_Tire_System/web1005210

Looks like the ticket to me.