Setting tubeless up on road bikes can be a tricky process and there are a lot of mistakes that can be made. However, Sam Gupta has taken his years of experience as a mechanic to share all his knowledge on how to successfully set up a tubeless system on your road bike. Starting at the very beginning, all of these top tips for setting up tubeless will mean that hopefully you can get it done right first time round.
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00:00I'll be honest, ever since Tubeless Tech made its way onto road bikes, I was never a fan. It felt
00:05like the same products that were being used in the mountain bike world were just being repackaged and
00:10marketed to road bike users. The issue being that the requirements of the two different disciplines
00:16are actually pretty different. During my time working as a mechanic, I also saw all the problems
00:21that the technology was causing people, from simply trying to get it set up in the first place,
00:26to blowouts, to then punctures that just wouldn't seal. In fairness, being a mechanic does mean
00:32you're always left to pick up the pieces and maybe not seeing all the times that the technology is
00:37actually working. So this may have pushed my bias further into the extreme. As reluctant as I was,
00:44I have now ridden a fair few bikes with tubeless setup. So I'm going to pair that experience with
00:49all the time that I spent setting up other people's tubeless systems to let you know
00:54everything that I wish I knew at the very start.
01:02I'm going to start at the very top because before anyone gets anywhere close to leaving their inner
01:06tubes at home, we need to make sure that we've sourced all of the correct components. We have
01:11actually made an entire video comparing some of the most popular sealants on the market, so you
01:16can go and give that a watch to work out which sealant you would want to use. In this instance
01:21though, I'm going to be using this, the Stans sealant. I've also got some pretty standard
01:26valves and I'll be using these Paneracer Agilis TLR tyres. And then for the wheels, we have got
01:33the Hologram R45 wheels from Cannondale. Luckily, these wheels are actually tubeless ready because
01:40they have the tape pre-installed. Now one of the key things that you don't want to get wrong at
01:45the very start is actually your tyre selection. Even though you can set up tubeless with narrower
01:50tyres, I would always opt for something that's kind of 28c as a minimum. As we know from the
01:57gravel and mountain biking world, tubeless works best at lower pressures. And I'm sure there's a
02:02whole bunch of you that have been running tubeless setups on 25c tyres and you maybe haven't had any
02:08issues, but I would potentially put this down more to luck than anything else. If you want to make
02:13sure that you're giving your sealant the best chance possible at doing its job, then go wide
02:18on your tyres so that you can run a lower pressure. It's pretty well known that tubeless tyres can be
02:29a complete nightmare to get onto your rims. It can almost leave you feeling like you'll never be able
02:35to stretch them on. You can end up with blood blisters, sore hands and not to mention just
02:40feeling incredibly demoralized. But there are a few things that you can do to make life a little
02:46easier when it comes to getting them onto that rim for the very first time. Before you try and
02:51actually get them onto the rim, what I would say is place your new tyres somewhere warm overnight,
02:58ideally maybe next to a radiator as that is going to help the rubber become more malleable. Then if
03:04you have an older set of wheels, try fitting the tyres to these first with an inner tube and stretch
03:09them out a bit. Now of course sometimes older wheels which aren't made for tubeless setups can
03:15be a little easier to mount tyres to but this can be a little bit hit and miss so don't worry if it
03:21doesn't work out. If however you can get the tyres on, again I would say leave them inflated with
03:26that inner tube, again in a warm place and it's just going to make those tyres a little bit easier
03:31to manage. Getting your tubeless wheels ready and prepared is absolutely crucial before you can even
03:41think about trying to get them set up. First make sure that they're incredibly clean, you don't
03:47really want any gunk left from any previous tubeless setups. Also check the rims for any
03:52dents or dings which could hinder the ability for the tyre to seat properly. Make sure that the rim
03:58tape is tight and evenly covering the inside of the rim and make sure that your valve is inserted
04:04correctly and it's right in the bed of the rim and potentially in the correct direction if it
04:10needs to be. Also just make sure you utilise the little o-ring on the valve as well, you'd be amazed
04:16at how often these little o-rings can actually make a huge difference to getting your tyre seated
04:22first time. If you're reusing valves then pull the cores out and ensure that they're clean and they
04:27aren't gunked up on the inside. Once you've got your wheels prepped then without getting any sealant
04:37involved try and mount the tyres. As always be sure to utilise the deepest part of the wheels to
04:43ensure that you get the maximum amount of leverage and just slowly work it all the way round. If you
04:49are able to get the tyres on from this point then great, get them inflated and see if you can get
04:54those tyres to pop into the bead. If you can't get the tyres onto the rim then actually there are
05:04tools that can help you, like one of these tyre grabbers. You can get these from places like
05:09Brand X, Lifeline or Challenge. They simultaneously hook onto the rim and grab the edge of the tyre
05:16and then as you squeeze it will then manoeuvre it into place. As you keep working it around
05:22you should be able to get it on but don't be shy about putting a fair bit of force through one of
05:26these. They can absolutely save your hands so much pain and actually they are built to take a fair bit
05:32of strain. If you've successfully completed a dry fit on your wheels and if your sealant is fairly
05:42runny then you can remove the valve core and inject the sealant directly into the wheel
05:47and then simply re-inflate. However, if your sealant is a bit too thick and would just coagulate
05:53inside the valve then pop off a small section of the tyre, pour in the correct amount of sealant
05:58and then spin the wheels by 180 degrees and then work the tyre back into place.
06:07There's always one part of the tubeless setup process which always has my nerves on edge
06:11and that is when you start to introduce air for the first time
06:15to get the tyre to seat. Just remember that the pop
06:21is your friend and what I like to do to save myself from the dreaded tubeless explosion
06:27is to get the tyre to pop into place using a compressor or track pump with a recharge facility
06:33and then finish it off with a hand pump to fine-tune that pressure inside the tyre.
06:43This leads me really nicely on to my next point and that's to make sure that you monitor the
06:47pressure that is going into your tyres. You may be very used to the amount of air you've been
06:52filling your inner tubes with, however, tubeless tyres and hookless rims do have some pretty
06:58different requirements. A lot of tubeless tyres and hookless rims have a maximum pressure of around
07:0470 psi. Of course, be sure not to exceed any maximum recommended pressure but more importantly
07:11make sure the pressure is right for your combined bike and rider weight. This is how you can start
07:16to reap the benefits of running a more comfortable fast rolling tyre setup. Now, I like to use the
07:22SRAM calculator to help me work out what pressure I should be putting into my tyres.
07:32One of the things that I really started to hate about tubeless setups, especially during my time
07:36as a mechanic, was the issues caused when the system went wrong and I must say that the time
07:42that my tubeless setup went wrong, well, it was a complete and utter nightmare. I had to fight
07:48with a tight fitting sealant cover tyre to drain out the remaining sealant to then try and fit an
07:54inner tube, which in reality was like trying to wrestle a wet fish into a small hole. However,
08:00the mistake that I made was that I wasn't carrying any bacon strips or plugs to fill the hole that
08:05the sealant couldn't deal with. I think that if I had some of those then I probably could have
08:09sorted out the tyre fairly easily. So, don't be like me. Make sure you're carrying the necessary
08:16tools to fix the basic problems. I won't lie to you, I'm still pretty sceptical about running
08:23tubeless on the road. For me, simply replacing or repairing an inner tube compared to wrestling with
08:29a tight fitting sealant covered tyre when a puncture just won't seal is still my preferred
08:35option. However, I think if you ensure you carry the right tools with you, you fit tyres with a
08:40nice large volume and utilise quality sealant and also run the right pressure for your bike
08:45and ride on weight, well, you might just be okay. Is there anything though that you wish you knew
08:52before you went tubeless? Let me know down in the comments below. If you enjoyed the video,
08:56then please do drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content and I'll see you again
09:00very soon.