Prepping The Scott Scale Plus, Rando Style

Tubeless tire kit

1/4 lb of reflectors come off!

Time to start "prepping" the Scott for trail rando fun. First off was to convert the Maxxis tires to tubeless. Loose some weight, lower air pressure, more comfy riding over the rough stuff and enhanced flat protection, esp. from those pesky thorns around here.

8oz Schwalbe tube

First off, I made the garage warm by turning on a floor heater. Warmth is important to "working" the tires and installing the sealant in them. The tires were warm up and I put the little sealant bottles next to the heater.

Alcohol wipe-down first!

Real tubeless type tires are tough to get off the traditional way, you know.. loosen them up,
tire irons, etc.  Just think inwards and it's a breeze. I soon pulled the Schwalbe tubes (lightweight ones @ 8oz/227gms) and wiped down the inside of the tire with a alcohol induced rag. One side of the tire was still sealed to the rim.

Next up was putting in the Stans tubeless stems. Tight, tight, tight is the secret here. The Syncros X-35 / 27.5" rims had tubeless ready tape in them, so the stems slipped right in for a good seal.

Stan's tubeless stem in place

Add 4oz Stans Sealant per tire.

With the tire back on, I aired them up to 40 lbs with a floor pump. No problem with this set-up, they "popped" right into place. Next up was pulling the core using a 4.5mm mini-wrench. Then with valve stem down, I added 2 bottles (4 oz) of Stans Sealant (shake well first). Valve core installed, I rotated the stem to 90 degrees and aired up to 40psi again.

Time to slosh the sealant around inside the tires. Holding the tire horzonital, I sloshed the sealant around, flipped the tire and did the same again. Then laid them on a bucket and periodically repeated the process while working on the next tire.

Tire sitting horizontal to let Stan's coat inner surface

Later on, I reinstalled the wheels and added a bottle cage. Lots of wasted space below the cage. No second cage on the seat tube... hardly any room there for one as I thought of adding one there with Riv-Nuts. Have to do something for more water storage... never did like anything on my back. Under the downtube? Front forks? HB bag? RR seat baggie (tough with a dropper). I'll figure it out

Also removed the "required" bike reflectors. They weighed 4 oz.! Left the plastic saucer on the rear wheel to protect the spokes in the future.

By removing the tubes, changing over to tubeless and removing the reflectors the Scott lost 1 lb!
Now weighs 25.26 lbs.

SCOTT Scale 710+ Walkaround Video


- randorides