Ghetto Tubeless Yea or Nay?

**Subluxation** · 09-24-2009, 03:40 PM

I'm interested in whether or not it's worth the time/effort to go the Ghetto route or not and if so, whether to go "old tube" ghetto orthe "tape" ghetto route? Share your experiences and whether or not there's a real bonus to be had. I'm rolling Halo 29 hoops and a mix of non-tubeless and tubeless ready rubber. (2) pinches in Durango got me thinking.

**venom600** · 09-24-2009, 05:47 PM

I've had great luck with ghetto tubeless. Performance has been great, no flats on that wheelset since I started (over a year ago). But, changing tires can be a pain in the ass if you trim your tubes too close to the rim. Also, make sure to use shraeder valve tubes with removable cores.....makes adding sealing much easier.
--Ben

**marshalolson** · 09-24-2009, 05:50 PM

dude, just doing the stans yellow tape and olympic valve works awesome, is marginally more expensive, and long run mush less expensive. and on a xc bike works really well.

**Shepherd Wong** · 09-24-2009, 05:53 PM

I've had great luck doing the tube method, best thing I have ever done to my bike.
Running non-ust Minions on my heavy metal bike and Ardents on my 29" hippie bike.

**Big Blue** · 09-24-2009, 07:18 PM

The only problem I've run into is getting really loose beaded tires to seat. Anything with a decently tight bead will be easy.

**PrankMonkey** · 09-24-2009, 09:03 PM

I've had great luck (one caveat) with the ghetto 20" tubeless setup. Seals up much easier than sealing to the rim (mount it the tire with a real tube and let it sit overnight first, use some soapy water and i've gotten it with a handpump every time), and you don't get stan's all up in wheel (when you replace the tire and tube you have a clean and fresh start. Also, the stan's kind of sticks the tube to the tire and seems to prevent the seal from failing when the pressure gets too low (I haven't burped once either). The Caveot: it does take up extra space in the bead, if you try it with a UST tire (which already has a larger bead) the bead may not seat securely and there is a possibility of the bead failing and the tire esploderizing at some random point in time (I still have stan's stains on the wall and carpet in my living room). Another down side is that if you trim the tube and your tire fits sufficiently tight to the rim, it's almost impossible to properly reposition the tube for reuse; so a tire change means $2.50 worth of tube, but I change my tires when the tire wears out so it's $47 for the tire+2.50 every 6 months... not a real big extra dent.

WARNING/DISCLAIMER: Make sure that the tires you use fit tightly to the rim and securely seat. If you have doubts; don't do it. A fairly accomplished riding partner of mine has a permanent scar from where his face hit a rock and folded his cheek back to his ear, a result of his front tire's stan's setup catastrophically failing at an inopportune time. He was using Kenda's with a less than tight bead, pushed 'em hard and fast into a rock garden and BLAMMO, the bead completely unseated and blew the tire off to one side of the rim. That being said, I had one blow up in the living room, and I thought I had a sure thing going. So remember, this is a ghetto rigged way of doing UST (Stan's strips are just a commercially available ghetto setup), it has many performance advantages but is subject to all the dangers of everything that gets ghetto fabricated. Just because it worked for someone else (or has worked for you up to this point) doesn't necessarily mean it won't put you in the ER.

**squirrelmurphy** · 09-24-2009, 09:15 PM

Currently having great luck with Gorilla Tape and a valve stem from an old tube (although with a removable core). Running 2.4 Schwalbe Nobby Nic USTs on a Sun Singletrack rim in the front and a WTB laserdisc trail in the rear. Both working awesome.

**frorider** · 09-24-2009, 09:34 PM

ghetto isn't really ghetto anymore. sure, you can run tires like the Kendas that aren't well-suited to being run tubeless, if you want to get that ghetto feeling.

or you can take advantage of the fact that there are now a million tubeless-ready tires on the market now that seat well on most rims, and just require a little stan's to seal the sidewall itself.

while it's true that many family values republican politicians have been caught lately having affairs with barnyard animals and children, i don't extrapolate from there to conclude that all republicans are pedophiles into bestiality. by the same token, even though there are many reports of tubeless failures with tires that aren't well suited to being run tubeless, that has little relevance to the tubeless setups i run.

**The Reverend Floater** · 09-25-2009, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by frorider

while it's true that many family values republican politicians have been caught lately having affairs with barnyard animals and children, i don't extrapolate from there to conclude that all republicans are pedophiles into bestiality. by the same token, even though there are many reports of tubeless failures with tires that aren't well suited to being run tubeless, that has little relevance to the tubeless setups i run.

Gold, Jerry. Gold.

**Subluxation** · 09-26-2009, 04:39 PM

Money Fro, Money.

**donutlynx** · 09-28-2009, 04:15 PM

Why not? Ghetto'ed the cross bike for the first time this year. Seems to work even better than tubular setups for me.

**mmmm...pow!** · 09-28-2009, 11:42 PM

People who have likely never been to the ghetto using the term ghetto = nay.
And the only tubeless setups I've run are Stan's strips and tubeless ready wheels, always standard tires with Stan's sealant - more options, less weight, never a problem in about ten years.

**powpig** · 09-29-2009, 12:16 PM

Count me in. Was less than impressed with the Stan's strips (defective valve) but loving the Ghetto setup, 20" tubes are cheaper and easy to come by and the WTB MotoRaptor I had trouble with using the Stan's strip was a piece of cake when I went Ghetto.

**marshalolson** · 09-29-2009, 12:32 PM

Originally Posted by powpig

Count me in. Was less than impressed with the Stan's strips (defective valve)

FYI that costs $1 to replace, and any shop should replace it no questions asked, as they probably have 100 tubes w/ valves they could grab from.

**good4nothing** · 09-30-2009, 07:00 AM

Not sure why people are adamant about saving 30$ on a 2000$+ bike - a roll of yellow tape, olympic valve stems, and enough stan's sealant to convert the 29er cost me 34$ at the LBS. Everything set up and sealed on the first shot and has railed since.

**BushwackerinPA** · 09-30-2009, 07:26 AM

Originally Posted by mmmm...pow!

People who have likely never been to the ghetto using the term ghetto = nay.
And the only tubeless setups I've run are Stan's strips and tubeless ready wheels, always standard tires with Stan's sealant - more options, less weight, never a problem in about ten years.

in this case the term 'ghetto" is used as term of endearment. AKA ghetto is actually good.

you can back to your hole now politically correct troll.

**donutlynx** · 09-30-2009, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by good4nothing

Not sure why people are adamant about saving 30$ on a 2000$+ bike - a roll of yellow tape, olympic valve stems, and enough stan's sealant to convert the 29er cost me 34$ at the LBS. Everything set up and sealed on the first shot and has railed since.

Beer $...

**spicy cha cha** · 10-01-2009, 05:16 PM

Originally Posted by marshalolson

dude, just doing the stans yellow tape and olympic valve works awesome, is marginally more expensive, and long run mush less expensive. and on a xc bike works really well.

damn. so the yellow tape and a valve = their rubber strips?

**XXX-er** · 05-13-2010, 04:13 PM

I measured all this once but its been awhile ,a regular xc tube is around 200grams , stans liquid and a strip is I think about 160grams

for my money ust rim and ust tire(200grams more rubber in a UST tire ) is the best and I didnt need any fluid but we don't have thorns up here ,you might add stans if punctures are a problem

if you don't have UST rims,ghetto or stans is IMO the same concept ,a rubber sealing strip for the tire bead to rim which I think you defiantley need maybe not with all tires but some tires

carving up a 20" tube for the ghetto method is just a 1 use strip IMO ,you could use it again if you could get the positioning right ...but you likely can't

**hick** · 05-13-2010, 06:36 PM

I've been using 24" tubes (20 was stretching to tight and blowing out for me, 24 has been great). Been cutting them wide, cause I don't give a shit how it looks and reuse, no problems. Loving the ghetto.

**powking12** · 05-13-2010, 06:45 PM

I'm running the gorilla tape on both bikes this year. So far so good but it's early still.

Minions and Alex Supra D's

**squirrelmurphy** · 05-13-2010, 10:42 PM

Me too. Gorilla tape, non tubeless wheels, non tubeless tires, stans. No problems. Rides soooooo much nicer than tubes.

**powderwhore** · 05-13-2010, 11:01 PM

I love it! But my current High Roller has some leaky sidewalls.

**scrublover** · 05-14-2010, 07:07 AM

Three rear wheels, all with the Gorilla Tape method. All sealed with a floor pump, and have been holding air for a couple months now. Did it more for pinch prevention than anything else. Lets me run lighter tires, and run less pressure without pinching? Win. Lots of sharp pointy rocks around here too.

Intense 2.25" system 4 XC, Maxxis Minion 2.35 DHF, and a Minion 2.5 DHF - all working well.