hey there, Looking for a tire to run Tubeless other than Hutchinson. I've tried Michelin Muds in the past and the did not do so well. Stans told me that it was most likely because of the Open pro rim. They said a Dt swiss rim would be better.

Anyone with have insight? Thanks

I have been running the Michelin Mud 2 on front and a Vittoria Cross Evo XG on the rear and have had great results. I am using Velocity A23 rims with two layers of Stan's yellow tape and the Stan's all mountain 26" conversion rim strips stretched out on the wide 700c rims (recommended to me by Velocity) and ample amounts of sealant.

I have been riding them both sub 30psi and have had no issues. Over the last week I raced them in two mock races, cornering at full bore, and one of the courses being on very rough, rocky, bumpy MTB trails.

No burps or fails to speak of. I did have one puncture the first day on the rear but it sealed instantly.

In my opinion (as with my experience with MTB tubeless) almost any tire will work out pretty well. The most important thing is building up the inside of the rim so that the bead of the tire can lock into the rim properly. If you achieve this, you will be in tubeless bliss. If you don't, there will be too much room for the bead to slip around and you will burp.

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Which wheels are you running?

Has anyone been running tubeless on Kinlin rims?

Thanks Derek, I'm thinking of going with the a23 too. I have the Hed c2's on my road bike.

I was running the Open Pro but must have not built it up enough on the inside.

I'm new to cross, but I just had my LBS just set up a pair of Mavic Aksiums with Kenda Slant 6 tires as tubeless.

It took a few days of jiggling the wheels to get the Stans to spread evenly and for the wheels to hold air, but it is finally working.

We originally tried the set up with Michelin Mud tires, but they just would not hold - my mechanic told me he basically was covered in Stans by the time he gave up. The Kendas held much better on the Aksium rims.

Back when I experimented with tubeless a few years ago, one of the many rims that "burped" was a Velocity. The guys at Stans told me those are particularly bad for tubeless setups because the hook on the rim is really small. So for whoever is thinking of A23's...maybe not for tubeless.

The guys at Stans don't seem to race 'cross either, so they really don't know what works and what doesn't. Back when I experimented a few years ago they were of no help. Their sponsored teams are still "experimenting" with what works.

If folks are considering getting new rims/wheels/tires just to make tubeless work, I give you my advice after a season's worth of messing around with it: Just run tubulars. Easier, cheaper, more reliable, better performance. Tubeless systems are just not consistently reliable enough for 'cross at the moment. For every person who claims to have a setup that works, there's another who has burped in a race. Everyone I've seen locally who gets them to "work" also has to run really high pressure to do it, the kind of pressure you can use with a regular tubed clincher, thus negating one supposed advantage.

Gluing tires is not hard, there are a lot of tire/rim/wheel options for 'cross tubulars at various price points.

@JBV - your line about the small bead hook on the A23 causing problems doesn't make any sense. The bead hooks on 'tubeless' rims are almost all tiny, NoTubes amongst the smallest of them all.

It's what I was told by the NoTubes support staff, perhaps underscoring my point about them.

I get where you're coming from JBV.

They're involved with CX racing though and they're a sponsor too - from their Facebook: Just heard that the Stan's NoTubes CX Team is using 20-25 PSI

It just sounds like a lot of people assume it's an 'easy option' to get something for nothing without actually looking at how tubeless tyres work (nothing bicycle specific either) and then are less than impressed with their results and blame the concept, rather than a halfhearted attempt.

My problem with this is that I know several people on their team, and have talked about this with them.

Sorry if I come across as a tubeless hater, I just want people to go into it with their eyes open. Tubeless setups can fail in a way that makes them somewhat more of a risk than other systems, and there's way less data on what really works due to their relative newness.

Ok, I know have several weeks of training and one race on my Mavic Aksiums with Kenda Slant Six tires set up tubeless. I've been running them with 35-40 psi.

I had one burp in my front wheel during a training ride. I was taking a turn very tight and pulled the tire off the rim. It was not so bad that I didn't have enough air left to ride home.

The wheels held up fine during the race, though during some post race riding on gravel roads, I again turned too tightly and caused another front-wheel burp. This time enough air escaped that I had to pull out a CO2 cartridge and fill up the tire.

Since then, my LBS acquired some Stan's Cyclocross tubeless rim strips. We installed them earlier this week, and the tires sealed up perfectly - much better than before. I have yet to ride them. It has been raining quite a bit, and the neighbors around the park where we practice have asked that we limit our riding during/after rain so as to not destroy the park's turf.

I'll report back in a few weeks about how this new set up is working.

If you're already burping at 35-40...what advantages are there? I'm already running 35-40 with tubes.
Is the setup lighter? Rolls better?

Okay, after my first ride on the new setup with Stan's Cross Specific rim strips, I am having no problems. The wheels are holding air much better than before and no burps.

And Foo, the goal is to get to lower tire pressure, but under my previous set up, I had to keep the pressure high to keep force the Stans into the seams to hold the air. I think I can go lower now.

I just wrote up a fairly detailed tutorial on converting rims for tubeless use and some keys to burp prevention.

Thought it would have some interest here.
http://eatrideworksleep.tumblr.com/post/12524613728/loose-the-tubes

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