Beast Looses Weight: Going Tubeless!

Hard to take off! OH, move them in~!

Always wanted to change a MTB over to tubeless... now is my chance! Didn't quite get to it on the C'dale Trail 29'er and I even thought about it on by SOMA rando bike. Time to study up and I did.. YouTube, blogs, Stans site & Continental website all have ideas on how to change over to tubeless and ease the flat tire hassle in the dirt.

1. Tubeless ready rims have a center trough with air-proof tape laced to the inside of the rim, covering the spoke holes. Regular rims can be converted to "ready" by installing a kit from Stans or making your own "pirate" version. They won't have the center trough for easy MTB tire installation.

2. Tubeless tires:
Tubeless- a UST tubeless tire can be mounted to a TLR rim with no further requirements.
Tubeless-Ready- a Tubeless-Ready tire requires that sealant be added a TubeLess-Ready tire after mounting to a tubeless-compatible rim.

Push valve stem in super tight

Well the Beast came with 45mm rims "tubeless ready".. meaning tape & center trough. I'll need:
2- tubeless valve stems (removable core)
4-2oz bottles of Stan's Sealant (4 oz per big wide 2.8"x27.5" tires
Small tool to remove valve core (I don't like pliers)

A. Remove tires from rim:
Those tires are tough to remove.. Ahhh, if I slide them to the inside trough, they come off easy. I took one side off and pulled the giant tube out. 27.5" x 2.7-3.4". Weighted on my postal scale and it was just over 16oz (1 pound)

B. Wipe down inside of tire with alcohol induced washcloth.

C. Installed Tubeless Valve Stem.

4oz Stans for the 27.5 x 2.8" tires

Really push in the stem as you tighten the outside nut. No pliers on the nut please! Push it super tight!


D. Put tire back on rim and slide it as far toward bead as possible. That sucker is tight, but the tape is slick.

E. Aired it up with floor pump. Easy! It "popped" into place. I went to 30 lbs pressure. Heck it might work like this!

F. Remove Valve Core. Rotate tire so stem is down.

G. Pour in two bottles of Stans (4oz). Easy with the small bottle tip. Didn't spill a drop. (Shake the crap out of the bottles first!)

H. Rotate tire so valve stem is not on the bottom. Air up tire to 40psi. 

That's not a backpack, its a 1 lb tube!

I. Hold tire horizontal and shake it. Rotate tire horizontally while shaking. Lay tire on bucket on flat surface. 30 minutes
per side and then flip and shake again, etc.

J. You may see some white Stan's sneaking out. It will seal ( No Stan's leak on the WTB's).

K. There is some Stan's in the tire sloshing around, you can hear it if you shake the tire. No to worry.

L. I left mine horizontal overnight and flipped them once or twice.

Beast Diet:
Started at 29.4 lbs.
Took off the reflectors (-4oz)

Letting Stan's do it work in the sunshine

Tubeless (-1.5 lbs) (Tubes weigh 1 lb each. Added 4oz Stans to each tire + stem)

Now at 27.7 lbs

Lighter than my C'dale Trail ever was.

Next up is the dirt test!

- randorides